This is Clive, appproximately 6 years old red ear slider. From what I was told by the Vet receptionist, he was taken in to be euthanised for no medical reason, simply because the owner could not keep him. As I have a few already, they called me and i picked him up. He was ORANGE. I had never seen an orange slider turtle, research said it was a dietary side effect, too many dandelions. After a few weeks of happily swimming and sunbathing, Clive started to shed the orange scutes. At first I thought the white patches were his natural colour, but alas as the shed continued I saw the white was ugly and uneven and nothing like I'd seen before on my own turtles, or through researching online. A vague entry with similar photos described a bulb burn, which is possible. I've dry docked him for now to keep him clean as possible, he still eats and excretes fine. Any ideas on whether i should treat this as a burn or shell rot?
I've posted another 2 pics below, thanksNeed better pictures. Cannot see enough detail to tell exactly what is going on. From what I see it does not look like active shell rot. Whatever caused the light spots seems like it was a while ago and the shell is healing with new keratin growth over it.
Get some good detail pictures with proper lighting and we can tell more.
Its not obvious from the pictures what happened to the turtle in the past. Doesn't look like any injury I've seen. But somehow the scute - keratin layer - got scraped, broken, baked, eaten, off the lighter places and exposed the bone. From the location, my best guess is that it was incessantly trying to hide under something and constantly was scraping his shell to the point it wore down in the places you now see as white. The good news is that it all is healed nicely. I see nothing to worry about with the current condition of the shell.I've posted another 2 pics below, thanks
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. It was a bit jarring to discover at first but if it's healing then I'm happy with that diagnosis. I hope this wasn't foolish of me but after the white appeared, then after the first cleaning, I applied some manuka honey to his shell, with a gauze pad to prevent mess spreading. I had read that turtle shell injuries can be treated with manuka honey as a natural antibiotic. Some vets are using honey on turtles, and I certainly see him improving every day regardless. It may help you one day to know, and thanks again.Its not obvious from the pictures what happened to the turtle in the past. Doesn't look like any injury I've seen. But somehow the scute - keratin layer - got scraped, broken, baked, eaten, off the lighter places and exposed the bone. From the location, my best guess is that it was incessantly trying to hide under something and constantly was scraping his shell to the point it wore down in the places you now see as white. The good news is that it all is healed nicely. I see nothing to worry about with the current condition of the shell.