my turtles sheel is wrong?

Question

i have a baby turtle and it has got this white marks on its shell. you can only see it when its dry. what is it?

it is a murray river turtle. it eats and swims around ok. im just worried.

Answer 1

The lighter colored marks can just mean that he's shedding. Like all reptiles, turtles will shed, both the skin and the shell scutes. Usually these will peel up along the edges first, giving them a dull appearance. Sometimes, though, an air bubble gets trapped under a scute making it look like a lighter "spot". These are most visible after the turtle has been out of the water for a while.

Another possibility is that you have hard water. If you use well water or your public water is naturally hard (meaning that there are minerals dissolved in the water), when the water evaporates off his shell, deposits of these minerals are left behind. This doesn't look too pleasing, but won't hurt your turtle. In fact, the extra calcium may be good for them!

The only thing you will need to worry about is if this is shell rot. In shell rot, the shell will look like there are "sunken" areas or pieces of the shell will be missing. If this is your turtle's problem, he'll need an antibiotic from a vet.

Here's a website where you can find more info on these conditions: http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/

Answer 2

don't listen to wOOt! :(
its all ok my yelow-bellied slider still dose that an hes 6 years old

Answer 3

Shell cancer.

But at least turtle soup is delicious.