What does it mean when a turtle has shell rot?
Turtle shell rot is also known in veterinary circles as ulcerative shell disease. It’s a generic term for a common infection that can appear in either the top half of the shell (known as the carapace) or the bottom half (known as the plastron). Symptoms of shell rot are generally more conspicuous in wild turtles than turtles in captivity.
How can I Stop my tortoise from getting shell rot?
Stopping a tortoise or turtle from developing shell rot is relatively easy. Aggression can be minimised by not mixing species and if you must mix for some reason, keeping relatively same sized animals together can make bad bites and clawing uncommon.
What kind of disease does a turtle have?
Turtle shell rot is also known in veterinary circles as ulcerative shell disease. It’s a generic term for a common infection that can appear in either the top half of the shell (known as the carapace) or the bottom half (known as the plastron).
How often should I dry dock a turtle with shell rot?
This process can be repeated in severe cases every few days. I generally dry dock turtles with shell fractures or shell rot. For shell rot cases I put them in water four one hour a day to eat and toilet then dry dock them in a soft towel with a small, shallow water bowl for the remainder of the day.
How to treat shell rot in aquatic turtles?
For early stage shell rot in aquatic turtles follow these steps: Scrub the area gently with a toothbrush and lukewarm water to remove any dirt. Let the shell dry. Apply either povidone-iodine or silver sulfadiazine ointment to the affected area.
How can you tell if a tortoise has shell rot?
There are many symptoms that you will see if your tortoise or turtle has shell rot. For starters, you can usually see the cracks in their shell . These cracks will progress to a moth-eaten white appearance. You will then start to notice that their shell does not look even.
What happens when a turtle’s shell falls off?
You may also start to see soft spots forming or even have small areas of bloody discharge. If your turtle or tortoise has a very bad shell rot, it may cause entire scutes to fall off. This would expose the bone and nerves that are underneath the hard shell covering.
Turtle shell rot is also known in veterinary circles as ulcerative shell disease. It’s a generic term for a common infection that can appear in either the top half of the shell (known as the carapace) or the bottom half (known as the plastron).
