weird turtle shell in bangkok animal market

[saesaew]

So i came across these turtles in bangkok. They're plain red eared sliders and they seem pretty normal and active except for their deformed shells. Apparently the shell deformation is intentional to sell at an inflated price. does anyone know what this is?

 

[mikeylazer]

It looks like some very bad metabolic bone disease. This is horribly sad.

 

[mike taylor]

Its from poor care . No uvb or very bad diet .

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Makes me want to cry. Poor thing! That's MBD from very poor care, as already stated.

 

[Lexiii]

This breaks my heart.....that little guy looks like he is pleading for help.

 

[dmmj]

There are ways to deform the shell, quite easily actually. but this does look just like MBD to me.

 

[sibi]

It's metabolic alright, only I suspect there's some gene mutation on a metabolic level, perhaps due to chemical exposure. The form looks like a mushroom. Poor baby.

 

[Yvonne G]

Judging from the color and the texture, I'd guess there's more going on than just poor care. Like the OP stated, they do this on purpose to get more money for the animal. This leads me to believe the shell has been harmed with some sort of caustic substance. And probably painful to the turtle. This is what a MBD/poor care turtle looks like. Note the texture and color are basically normal:

 

[mtdavis254817]

That's horrible, when I lived in Nepal, I remember stories of people using string to tie around their infants nose or ears to make them deformed so they could get more money as a beggar when they get older.

 

[dmmj]

Turtles should only be dipped in ooze, in order to make ninjas, not this.

 

[wellington]

These pics are so heart breaking. Not a fan of these countries that do this and allow it. It's just plain animal abuse and these people should be punished severely.