help my turtle leo, she has a white stain

tonydude · 07-10-2009 11:52am #1

Hi, my turtle leo has a whitish stain on her shell ( one big and one small), im treating it with iodine but i dont think its doing anything, does anyone have any ideas what it is and is there anything i can do to sort it? I have a picture of leo in the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonydude1/3990078174/

jen_23 · 07-10-2009 12:19pm

I can't really see it properly in the pic but it could be where the scoots are coming off.... Does Leo have daily access to UVA and UVB? Calcium/vit D supplements?

tonydude · 07-10-2009 12:30pm

She has everything vitamin wise light/power/mineral block ill try get another pic

FAYESY · 07-10-2009 12:59pm

Looks like she is shedding - can you lift up the white section? I mean be very gentle if it is loose around the edges the tutle is shedding.

jen_23 · 07-10-2009 1:23pm

Well I doubt he's suffering a calcium/vit A deficiency then. I'd guess that he's shedding scoots. Have you seen him shed before?
I was a little wierded out the first time my guy did it but every now and again he got spots where they were just about to come off.

tonydude · 07-10-2009 3:15pm

so your telling me shes shedding a part of her shell, shes very healthy apart from this ,she shell is rock hard. Ive seen her shed her skin but thats all. im afraid it could be a fungus growing on her.

tonydude · 07-10-2009 3:16pm

Whats a scoot jen? a section of the shell

jen_23 · 07-10-2009 4:00pm

Yip Tony a scoot (correct spelling scute.. I call them scoots after scooter my turt

) is a part of the shell. You can see that the shell is divides into little 'sections' as such. These are called scutes.

They shed these as they grow so older scutes get pushed off due to newer scutes growing underneath it. This is bascially the shedding process. Scooter used shed 2-3 times a year after he was about 2 years old.

It does sound like that to me and when you havn't seen it happen before it can be quite worrying

Scooters used to pop up a little or kind of 'bubble' in a spot and turn whiteish before lifting off:)

A fungus you can treat with a little salt water on a toothbrush very gently mind. We did that every so often but the best was the I think 'tonic' salts you can get in pet shops to add to the tank.

Keep an eye on it over a day or two and you should be able to suss whether it's a fungus or a scoot

tonydude · 07-10-2009 4:50pm

ill try out the tonic salts just in case because theres a second small spot appearing now and theyve been there with a while. I never knew that happen to turtles by the way lol strange. Thxs for the info

help my turtle leo, she has a white stain

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