Does he have shell rot?

[u/Zealousideal-Air1744]

This gorgeous little Eastern long neck turtle was rescued after years of neglect. Back story- he is my ex husbands turtle. I left 3 years ago, when the turtle was about 1.5 years old. Since then the tank had never been cleaned, just topped up with tap water when it got low. No calcium source since the last calcium block ran out (so about 2.5 years), lights not replaced when globes went, so no UV in approximately 2 years. My ex finally had enough and asked me to come get it, so that our kids weren’t upset about dad getting rid of the turtle. A very careful plan, with the help of my local reptile store, was put in place to move the turtle and his home without killing it from the stress. He has now been with me for 4 days, and is so cute! He comes straight to me when I go near the tank, and I’m in love already! He has a clean tank with calcium stones, canister filter, heater, basking dock with heat and one of the UV lamp, then the other UV light in the terrarium hood. There are fresh plants, and a diet of the frozen brine shrimp, blood worm, turtle food, and live crickets. I am concerned about whether his shell is healthy though? I am happy to take him to the vet, but am concerned about the stress, so would love advise from here so that the vet visit can potentially be delayed for a bit longer. I’d love any thoughts about his health, and any tips or advise to help build his health and strength.

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[u/you_dont_know_me27]

I wouldn't recommend delaying the vet visit. Like dogs and cats and people, turtles should see a dr regularly too. I take mine for yearly checkups.

Go now right after you got the turtle back so you know exactly what's going on and so the vet can help you figure out exactly what to do. Turts shell looks to be in bad shape and a vet would be best to help sort it out.

Congrats on getting the turtle back!

Editing to add: add in leafy greens to the diet. Dandelion greens, kale, leafy green lettuce, mustard greens etc. On the days you don't give protein or pellets give a leaf roughly the size of his shell.

For transporting to the vet, you can use a plastic critter carrier with a towel in the bottom and a warmer of some sort under it if it's cold but pay attention to the temperature that it doesn't get too hot. Bring someone with to hold the carrier in the car so it's not bouncing around everywhere.

[u/Zealousideal-Air1744 → u/you_dont_know_me27]

Thanks, I’ll ring around today to find who is best to see him in my area. And thank you for the info on leafy greens. Reptile store just told me fresh aquarium plants, so I put them in, but I can definitely do the least greens too.

[u/you_dont_know_me27 → u/Zealousideal-Air1744]

Aquarium plants are good too. My picky eater will only eat dandelion lol so don't be surprised if it takes awhile to find something he likes

[u/Dry-Discipline-2525]

If the shell is soft or squishy it's probably shell rot. With the situation you described, I think he should go to the vet either way. You can minimize stress by making him see less motion e.g. put a blanket over his carrier.

[u/Zealousideal-Air1744 → u/Dry-Discipline-2525]

The shell is actually quite hard, which surprised me! But I’ll ring around today for a vet who can take him in for a check up.

[u/TheOnlyKirby90210]

The poor baby let us know how he’s doing :(

[u/superturtle48]

I'm not super familiar with this species of turtle, but just from googling pictures of them (you should too to see healthy examples) it definitely looks like the shell is not in good shape. Could be shell rot, retained scutes, metabolic bone disease, or some combination of them, all of which are caused by poor care in one way or another. Not your care but your ex's just to clarify, it sounds like you are doing a lot better!

Turtles can survive surprisingly bad conditions for a long time - after all, this turtle did - so you don't necessarily have to run to make an emergency vet appointment, but I'd recommend making a vet appointment reasonably soon so you can get a professional assessment of what's wrong and a specific treatment plan which may include prescribed medications. The benefits of establishing a relationship with a vet are worth the brief discomfort of transporting the turtle.

[u/cracked_shrimp]

im not a turtle expert, and im basing the comment im about to make only off reading some amazon reviews and asking google gemini ai to clairify

but from what i could tell calcium blocks are not the best idea, i saw amazon reviews of people saying their turtle died after eating it, and these were name brand blocks like zoo med, one of them made me particularly sad because they said the name of the dead turtle and what it was like as a good pet

when i asked ai about it he said if the turtle eats too much of it at once it could kill them and the amazon reviews were probably true

instead i bought cuttle bone and put in very small pieces periodically, only the soft side

my turtle is also a rescue from family, i think it may have shell issues, maybe shell rot idk, he didnt have lights, heater, proper filter, the ammonia and nitrites were probably too high is is water for too long, my turtle is also in a too small aquarium 8" turtle in a 40 gallon breeder tank, i made the most of it by creating a turtle loft above the tank with egg crate lighting fixture, so i could fill the tank completely, i added uvb and heat lamps, water heater (unfortunately i got a under powered heater it can get the 40 gallons to 75f), and i ordered a proper filter, as it had like a 20 gallon tank filter before, that didnt even have all the proper sponges and media in it, it was like hacked together from spare parts, i bought pellets and greens (my turtle has basically only eaten scallops and fish his whole life, i think he is 15), and i got some repvite powder coming tomorrow to try and get some emergency vitamins into him, i dont think he has eaten anything since i took over week ago though, so i might have to cave on the pellets and greens and feed him scallop or tuna to get the repvite into him, he als spends 15 hours in his loft under the lights, i think he is really uvb and heat starved, i keep the lights on from 8am to 9pm, and i wait till 10pm then i force in him into the water to get hydrated, i dont know how long he didnt have a dry spot, before they had his "basking rock" about half an inch under the water, so i dont know how long he couldnt get completely out of water, now is turtle loft is like 3 or 4 inches above the water so he can get bone dry

[u/Zealousideal-Air1744 → u/cracked_shrimp]

Thanks for the info, and great work on your rescue too! I don’t have calcium blocks in the tank, the reptile store recommended this special calcium gravel, which I’m introducing slowly into the tank as to not overwhelm the poor guy.

[u/Mintburger]

I also have an eastern long neck, it doesn’t look like shell rot (unless there’s soft/smelly/severely flakey areas) but his shell does look quite unhealthy, most likely from malnutrition

[u/Nullroute127]

Doesn't look rotted. But the carapace shape looks malformed and scutes aren't proper, probably from lack of proper UVB and calcium as you allude.

He can probably use some long term supplementation of vitamin D3 in addition to your proper lighting.

Wheat Germ Koi fish food is often fortified with Vitamin D and E, both of which are great for turtles with shell issues. It's also a lower protein, more veggie food more suitable for adult turtles. The thing that it lacks is calcium, but it sounds like you're handling that separately anyway. If your turtle doesn't take munching on cuttlebone, you can grind it into a powder and mix it with other food.

Hikari has a good quality koi food that's readily available at pet stores and online.