# Shell rot or just damaged shell?



## Sa rose

Hi people,

Really cannot tell if my terrapins have shell rot. Behaviours are fine eating as normal and not lethargic. I’ve tried scrubbing the white areas with a toothbrush and there is no debris or flaky bits or any liquid/puss coming off, it feels hard but there is definitely something going on because they are getting marks that were never there before.
I dont know if you can see the pictures.
Any observations welcome!

many thanks


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## Submariner

ok, that's probably not shell rot. in my experience - mainly from a couple of batches of turtles i bought by mail order from dealers twenty-odd years ago - shell rot usually looks like cheesy material under the edges of scutes and you can get it out with a tooth pick or similar, and oaint the area with Betadine if there is still such a thing (and let it dry before letting them back in the tank). That cured all except the one which smelt fishy; she died.

What you have there I think is just what sliders and so on look like as they grow up. I have some as a kid and worried about shell rot, but the thing is they shed their scutes - you may well find whole scutes shed off these as the algae get underneath. As far as I could tell back then, it was nothing to worry about, it's just what happens with (in my case) red ears and presumably other related turtles like painteds and map turtles at least. To me your photos look like maybe the top layer of scutes (which are like dead skin pretty much - not living tissue) are still there but getting worn and flakey.

So - probably nothing to worry about. Chessey material or raw patches (or the hard scute surface coming away so you can see the growing area underneath) - cleanup + Betadine time, or your vet of you prefer (or if it's very bad).


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## Sa rose

Thanks so much


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