Problem with my Diamondback?
 

Hello,

I have a sub-adult, almost adult female diamondback. I got her in February and so far she was doing great; however, recently I've noticed a thick white line that runs between a few of her back scutes.

I'm not quite sure what it is. When I catch her basking, the scutes in that area curl up, (they look like flakes) and there's more white underneath them. I don't know if it's shell rot or not because it's only in that spot. Everywhere else on her body is fine. But I'm really worried for her!

Here's a list of what she has:

--Enclosure is a 40gal tank
--Water is cleaned once a week/ water conditioner is added
--Bulb used is a 100 watt Mega-Ray mercury vapour UVB lamp
--2 turtle landing pads
--A 501 Zoo Med filter
--Diet includes Natural Zoo Med Aquatic turtle food, occasional mixed baby greens, and minnows (when she can catch them at least)

If anyone can help me I'd be very grateful.

Set up:

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Miss Emmie:

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Are the white lines along the edges of the scutes? If so, it could just be new growth. Sometimes when turtles/tortoises grow at an accelerated pace their new shell looks white. Also, are you keeping her in fresh or brackish water? If she was originally living in one and then you switched her to the other, that could cause some health problems.

I'm afraid that she was raised in fresh water. At least that's what I was told when I purchased her in February. Also, the solid white runs between the scutes. It's only in one place on her shell. I had pictures of her up, but they're not showing up.

My mother seems to think that maybe she got injured and her shell is white because it's healing. When you hurt your fingernail, underneath it turns white...so maybe that's what her shell is doing. :shrug01:

The bone beneath the keratin layer of the shell is usually white. Now that I reread your post, what temperature is the basking spot at the height of the top of your turtle's shell? The light could be burning her, causing the keratin to flake off and expose bone. The damage caused by lamps doesn't usually present as a straight line in the pictures I've seen, but it is still possible. Pics would be great.

If the pictures work this time, here's some of Emmie and her setup.

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I'm no expert, but it does look like it could be a burn. Try raising the lamp a couple inches or go to a lower wattage bulb. Don't worry too much about the damage, though... it should heal over time.

It sounds like shell rot to me. I also have a very limited knowledge of DBT's, but it looks like shell rot and what I found when I did a little research points to shell rot. As we all know, online information needs to be taken with a grain of salt. There is a lot of good stuff out there, but there is also a lot of misinformation. The key that I saw is that it is in fresh water and more than a few sources say this is common if you don't keep it in brackish water. Chelonia.org is a great site and I trust most of what they publish. To be safe, I would contact a reptile vet or at least try treating it with betadine and drying periods. She's a gorgeous girl and i'd hate to see you lose her.

Here are a few random sites I found that may help:

http://www.diamondbackterrapin.com/index2.html
(You might want to email this guy. He looks like he runs a great operation.)

http://www.neoterrapin.com/care/

http://www.chelonia.org/articles/Malaclemyscare.htm

Wouldn't shell rot start appearing in other places on her body though? From what I've heard, shell rot is caused by a fungus that grows on the shell due to the water not being clean. Also, shell rot can usually be treated by gently cleaning off the fungus. The spot on hers is not sticky but completely solid. Whatever the white streak is it's not coming off!

In all seriousness, it looks like solid bone. Which leads me to believe that perhaps she was basking for too long and burned her shell. I got her MegaRay 100 watt bulb only a week ago. Before she had a different bulb that was 150 watt.

I got a few sulfa blocks, so hopefully that may help her. If it is a burn, I suppose there's not much I can do for her. :(