Shell Issues
Starting off by saying that my knowledge around turtles was pretty limited when I got this turtle. That being said, I learned a lot about my 10 year old today…like how apparently he’s a girl. This turtle is a pet at my work and I had a new staff member who I’d never met before (that apparently knows a lot about turtles) ask me “What’s wrong with its shell?” Honestly, that’s a question I’ve been trying to figure out for the last year or two.
I’ve never posted here before but my hope is to figure out the best next steps to take for my turtles shell health. She’s had some problems with retained scutes over the years and during the last year-ish she’s developed a sway/indent in her shell. Nothing on her shell is soft when I touch it and there aren’t any obvious signs of rot anywhere. I think I’m starting to get on top the retained scute issues with some recent changes that I’ve made. At times, it was almost like the scutes were flaking or coming off in chunks instead of coming off as a whole like they used to when she was younger. Since making some changes, I’ve noticed some of the retained scutes are starting to gradually come off. The tail end of her shell is starting to look so much better but there seems to be a lot that are still retained in the front.
Previously, her diet was mostly pellets but I’ve been working in greens more consistently as well as some wheat germ as I read a lot of different recommendations that it would be helpful. Some of her lighting was also obstructed so I’ve done a bit of an overhaul to the basking area and gotten a new lamp with both UVA and UVB and she can bask directly without any obstruction.
Now I’m trying to figure out what to do next. The person who came in and saw her said I just need to give her calcium supplements, but is it really that simple? It’s my understanding that something like this may not 100% get better but how do I keep it from getting worse? About two years ago, she escaped from the tank which means she definitely fell a few feet to the ground but I never noticed any obvious damage upon inspecting her shell. What else can I change/do better?