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Turtle shell question - is this normal?

M

Mokele

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I recently (within the past month) got a baby Cagle's Map turtle. So far, everything's been fine - he's happily swimming around a 20-long tank, periodically coming out to bask, and I've been doing 20% water changes daily.

However, recently his shell has developed an oddity. The edges of the scutes are white and slightly lower than the central portion of the scute, giving the overall shell a bumpy feel. The shell itself feels firm (he has a UVB light), there's no smell or discharge, and his behavior is normal and energetic.

nibblershell002.jpg


We've been feeding him 1/4th a teaspoon of Reptomin Baby Turtle every day (about 6 very small food pellets), which he eagerly devours. He's also gotten 3 bloodworm cubes over the past month, also quickly devoured, and will periodically snack on the aquarium plants.

Am I overfeeding? Underfeeding? Feeding the wrong stuff? Or is it something else?
 
Looks very healthy to me. He's feeding schedule sounds about right.
 
Relax........

Mokele said:
I recently (within the past month) got a baby Cagle's Map turtle. So far, everything's been fine - he's happily swimming around a 20-long tank, periodically coming out to bask, and I've been doing 20% water changes daily.

However, recently his shell has developed an oddity. The edges of the scutes are white and slightly lower than the central portion of the scute, giving the overall shell a bumpy feel. The shell itself feels firm (he has a UVB light), there's no smell or discharge, and his behavior is normal and energetic.

nibblershell002.jpg


We've been feeding him 1/4th a teaspoon of Reptomin Baby Turtle every day (about 6 very small food pellets), which he eagerly devours. He's also gotten 3 bloodworm cubes over the past month, also quickly devoured, and will periodically snack on the aquarium plants.

Am I overfeeding? Underfeeding? Feeding the wrong stuff? Or is it something else?
Click to expand...

I've kept quite a few cagles in the past and what your looking at is new growth. Your doing good when you see that. Your food quantity sounds fine. Key to all graptemys healthy when kept indoors is having clean, filtered water(water changes) and a basking area where they can get out and dry off completely.(Bellies and all). Maps can be touch if they cannot dry out and may develop fungus which doesn't take much for them to die from. Good luck!

Barry
 
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