Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Have any of you keepers seen anything like this? What is it and how do I cure it? Is it a result of "hard water" or is it a parasite/bacteria/worm ?

hello, the only time i have seen this is on my res and it was because i didnt have a basking spot for him to dry all the way out on, i know that the ast isnt a basker but, you could try dry docking him/her for a little while to see if it reccedes. i noticed that you have more than one in the same tank, does the other one/more than one have any similar looking marks or deficiancies on thier shells?

anything change with your turtle?

dried him out for 12 hours and put him back in the tank.... no change. It's a weird shell deformity. I'm going to get a pH testing kit from the pet store and test the water to see whats up. The other snapper in the tank just joined about 1 year ago and his shell is starting to look a bit faded as well... this is getting weird.

Must be hard tap water b/c in the wild the marsh water is super acidic from the dead foilage/wood so I'm going to add a large piece of driftwood to the tank.

hey, did you have any luck with this? i think mine has the same problem, except I have a large piece of driftwood in my tank and use water conditioner to reduce the effects of hard water.

To anyone else: what should the pH range be for alligator snappers?