Why is my my baby turtles shell white? Is it from the calcium water?

Question

He is just a baby and hes a slider...his eating habbits are good. Also is it okay for him to eat ham? thanks for answering!

Answer 1

No, it's not ok for them to eat ham. They have very strict diets. If your turtle is under 4" in diameter it needs to only eat aquatic turtle baby food (pelets) and a couple of guppies. If your turtle is over 4" it needs to eat 50% fish (guppies, goldfish, rosie reds, and other small minnows), 25% pelet food (by then they need to have adult aquatic pelet food), and 25% leafy greens (mustard, kale, collards, etc but no iceburg or romane lettuce due to lack in calcium). The ham is too fatty for them and hard to digest which is also true for hamburger and chicken too (which many people try to feed them).
Your turtles shell is white because it has either a fungus or soft shell, both will need medical attention. Fungus can potentially kill them and soft shell is also very bad. Both can be easily fixed by a vet. You need to make sure that your turtle has a basking spot that's completely out of water with a UVB and UVA light over it. You'll need to also check the temp of the water and the land. The water needs to be between 70 and 75 degreese F and the land needs to be between 80 and 90 degreese F. Calcium water isn't the best for your turtle. Used distilled water if possible. If not, add ZooMed's Repti-Safe which reduces pH, eats chloine and chloramites, stablizes water and lots of good stuff for your tank. You seem inexperienced so I'll leave you my care sheet.
TANK

You will need a tank that allows for 10 gallons of water per square inch of shell. For instance, a 5" turtle will need about a 55 gallon aquarium. There's enough room to swim and then a little so that they can come all the way out of the water to bask. You will need to invest in either a filter specifically made for aquatic turtles or a fish filter that can do twice the amount of water in the tank. For instance, if you have a 50 gallon tank, the fish filter must say it's able to handle 100 gallons of water. This is because turtles are way more messy than fish. You'll need to replace the filter at least once a week, more if necessary. You'll need to line to bottom of the tank with river rocks. These work best because small pebbles are easily swallowed by turtles but extremely hard to digest and can result in digestive problems. They will need to have a landing made out of river rocks on one side of their tank (mine is the width of the tank) that allows them to come completely out of water to bask. It needs to be wide enough and long enough for your turtle.

LIGHTING

Your turtle needs both UVB and UVA lighting. The UVB prevents metabolic bone disease, synthesizes calcium, and produces and synthesizes vitamin D3. This light aso helps with digestion. In a 55 gallon tank, a 5.0 UVB light will do the trick. When you get to larger tanks, you'll need a bigger light like a 10.0. You'll need a basking light. These produce UVA so these take care of 2 duties at once. They provide your turtle with the UVA it needs and heats their basking spot and tank. I recomend a 75 watt bulb to 100 watt bulb.

HEATING

Their water needs to always be between 75 and 80 degreese Farenheight. Their basking area needs to be between 85 and 95 degreese F. Any hotter, and you'll burn the turtle. Any colder and it will freeze. Turtles can't produce their own heat so the temperature around them helps them regulate body temps. At night, it's ok for the temperature gets to 60 degreese F but never any lower. Their UVA/heat lamp should be placed over their basking area. My heat lamp heats both the basking area and water but sometimes it's not this lucky. If the temperatures fail to reach these temperatures, you'll want to invest in a water heater. You'll also want a water themometer placed in the water area of their tank and a land thermometer placed near their basking spot to regulate temperature.

DIET
Turtles need a balanced diet. 50% feeder fish (minnows, goldfish, rosy reds, etc, I've fed mine these and tetras, zeebra fish, scissortails, and small stuff like that) snails, crickets, grasshoppers, krill, and baby shrimp, 25% a good pelet food like ZooMed's or T-Rex (my preferance on this is ZooMed's because the T-Rex float to the bottom and make a huge mess in the tank) but brands like Wardley's and ReptoMin suffice if they have to, and finally 25% greens like mustard, collard greens, and other dark leafy greens. They don't need to have greens until they are over 4" in diameter and they don't need feeder fish until then too. Sometimes turtles lack calcium (which if they have the proper diet should not but it happens) or they have over-active jaws. An easy and inexpensive way to cure this is with a calcium bone (also called turtle bones) that float. This is always avalible and mine nibbles on it occasionally. You really don't need supplements for vitamins if you provide them with the proper habitat. It is a hard job to supplement them with the vitamins and such that they recieve in their diet and from their UV lighting.

CLEANING THE TANK

You'll probably have to clean the tank once a week if not more. I find that this is easily done with a water syphon. You can get these sepcially made for aqariums that both drain and fill the tanks. You'll want to have a back up tank or tub to put your turtle in while doing a tank cleaning. You'll also want to put any feeder fish in this too. The rocks really just need a good rinse but to really get the tank clean you have to take them out. I spray the tank with ZooMed's Wipe Out and it helps kill and prevent salmonilla, which is very common in reptiles. You could simply use anti-bacterial and animal safe soap, like Dawn, to clean the tank also.

MAINTANING A CLEAN TANK

This is really not as hard as it sounds as long as you change the filter properly. You can also use snails (sucker fish aren't really recomended as the turtle may eat them) which the turtle may eat but are really inexpensive and really good for the tank. You can also add a plant called Anacharis which eats the turtle feces, looks good in the tank, is an oxygenizer, and the turtle may eat it. You can also add water conditioner like ZooMed's Repti-Safe which reduces pH, adds electrolites, helps ammonia build up, and a big list of good stuff. To help control disease, you can also use a turtle health conditioner (TetraFauna makes a really good one). You can also add Exo-Terra's Biotize to the tank to help eat the turtle feces but is pretty uncesseary. For new arivals you may want to add something that adds electrolites as it is kinda tramatizing when they're moved around a lot and good for new arrivals. A good thing for this, I've found, is Exo-Terra's Electrodize. If you want to get really paranoid you can always use pH strips too to make sure the water is perfect for them.

Answer 2

Do you have a uvb llight bulb over the entire tank, this is a must for shell growth and development and the production of vitamin d3. also make sure you have a land area with a basking area. your turtle may be growing, and it is vital you give him the right environment. the ham is a little iffy, check out this websites diet:
http://wnyherp.org/care-sheets/turtles/red-ear-slider.php

the post above me is very helpful!!

Answer 3

I have actually heard of turtles shedding their shell, like the top layer slughing off to expose new layer underneath. just to be shure, i would be using distilled water, like bottled water. i think it is ok to feed it alittle ham every once in awhile such as a treat, like how people give dogs treats. but i wouldnt give him loads of it. if you are feeding pellets make shure it has calcium in it. i would also throw him a cricket feeder fish or fishin worm once in awhile just to supplement his diet. make shure you also have a basking light if you dont let him out to soak up some sun rays. it will help his bones stay strong and not become weak.

Answer 4

White shell would be a bad case of shell rot- it should be green/black- unless all of the scutes (scales) have come off.

Eating- ham is a real no-no. Worms, krill, shrimp, insects, etc. are good- most 'human foods' are not.

For the shell rot, try the advice in the Medical section of http://www.austinsturtlepage.com

Answer 5

i think so!

good luck!