Good afternoon,
I am a long time lurker of the forum and took some of the advice from your posts. I used to think that there wasn't much wrong with my turtle, as I scoured the internet and even brought it to a nearby vet to check it up 6 months ago to see if there was any problems with the shell. However, I suspect there might be metabolic bone disease and shell rot; and I know for sure the shell has broken off when it shouldn't have.
It used to have poor husbandry as it was taken care of my grandparents during its life as a small turtle. It is a Macquarie River Turtle Short Neck and is currently 1.5 years old. It had soft shell and had a bit of whitening and lived in a small enclosure, so I had it upgraded to a 180 cm tank when it was bigger. I took it to take care of in July last year and upgraded it's tank. Currently the specifications of the tank and its diet and lighting are:
Diet:
Currently, I feed it every 2 days. So around 3-4 times a week with Earthworms, sometimes canned silkworms and algae wafers. Once a week, I feed it turtle pellets or turtle sticks. I usually make sure it eats around it's head size. Should I be purchasing calcium powder to provide more calcium in its diet?
Enclosure:
A 180cm tank with a Nautilus 2700UVC filter that I have recently cleaned. It has a basking area provided by the Aqua one tanks. The substrate is filled with sand and calgrit in the same ratio recommended in one of your previous posts. The temperature is maintained to around 24-25 degrees celsius.
Lighting:
A 75 Watt bulb that I have recently changed (as per the rule of 6 months). I make sure that the heat on the basking dock is at around 30-35 degrees celsius; and the lamp is situated above a mesh wiring. However, it likes to jump down whenever it comes across people in the living room from it's basking area so I'm not sure if it's getting the right amount of Vitamin D and enough sunlight so I tend to bring it out whenever I have the time to.
Natural Sunlight:
I take it out around twice a week on average for 30 minutes whenever I have the time to. Usually it stays in a milk crate in a grassy area in my front yard.
Here are the images attached below. Let me know if I should bring it to a vet ASAP or if there are any home remedies I can attempt to help the poor turtle. I am very worried for it.
I am a long time lurker of the forum and took some of the advice from your posts. I used to think that there wasn't much wrong with my turtle, as I scoured the internet and even brought it to a nearby vet to check it up 6 months ago to see if there was any problems with the shell. However, I suspect there might be metabolic bone disease and shell rot; and I know for sure the shell has broken off when it shouldn't have.
It used to have poor husbandry as it was taken care of my grandparents during its life as a small turtle. It is a Macquarie River Turtle Short Neck and is currently 1.5 years old. It had soft shell and had a bit of whitening and lived in a small enclosure, so I had it upgraded to a 180 cm tank when it was bigger. I took it to take care of in July last year and upgraded it's tank. Currently the specifications of the tank and its diet and lighting are:
Diet:
Currently, I feed it every 2 days. So around 3-4 times a week with Earthworms, sometimes canned silkworms and algae wafers. Once a week, I feed it turtle pellets or turtle sticks. I usually make sure it eats around it's head size. Should I be purchasing calcium powder to provide more calcium in its diet?
Enclosure:
A 180cm tank with a Nautilus 2700UVC filter that I have recently cleaned. It has a basking area provided by the Aqua one tanks. The substrate is filled with sand and calgrit in the same ratio recommended in one of your previous posts. The temperature is maintained to around 24-25 degrees celsius.
Lighting:
A 75 Watt bulb that I have recently changed (as per the rule of 6 months). I make sure that the heat on the basking dock is at around 30-35 degrees celsius; and the lamp is situated above a mesh wiring. However, it likes to jump down whenever it comes across people in the living room from it's basking area so I'm not sure if it's getting the right amount of Vitamin D and enough sunlight so I tend to bring it out whenever I have the time to.
Natural Sunlight:
I take it out around twice a week on average for 30 minutes whenever I have the time to. Usually it stays in a milk crate in a grassy area in my front yard.
Here are the images attached below. Let me know if I should bring it to a vet ASAP or if there are any home remedies I can attempt to help the poor turtle. I am very worried for it.
