Turtle question

[esmie316]

I recently noticed my turtles shell has two raised pleurals on each side of his body. He's 18 years old and I wanted to know if it was normal ?

 

[woody390]

Could be pyramiding, usually a lack of calcium. How much sun light does it get?

 

[esmie316]

About 3 hours a day is that not long enough? He use to sit in front of a window and get sun all day but now I moved him to a shadier place

 

[Pleco1415]

Someone mentioned pyramiding. Pyramiding is caused by long term over feeding. I use to feed my turtle too much when he was young and now you can see what it has done to his shell. I'll post a photo after. I would recommend giving your turtle more UVB. The stuff your turtle absorbs from the sun can not be absorbed through a window so if you don't have I would recommend getting a UVB lamp.Your turtle looks to be full grown so It might not make a difference. What do you feed your turtle?

 

[woody390]

Yeah UVB can't travel through glass, I've got a UVB lamp I leave on for 12 hours a day maybe don't need it quite that long but like to give the turtles options to get out as and when they want. Also the food can make a difference do you feed a lot of pellet food?

 

[esmie316]

Mostly pellet some veggies/ fruit and sometimes fish/cooked chicken

 

[Pleco1415]

Mostly pellet some veggies/ fruit and sometimes fish/cooked chicken

That's ok but too much protein. How often do you feed?

 

[esmie316]

Every other day sometimes I skip 2 days

 

[Pleco1415]

Every other day sometimes I skip 2 days

That's how I feed my guy. I mix up what I feed him. I only feed reptomin pellets, lettuce, and sometimes minnows. Your gonna say that's a pretty boring diet but sometimes simple is healthy. Remember when ever you feed your turtle only feed as much as can fit in there head. What I mean by this is pretend your turtle's head is hollow. Only feed enough so that you fill there head, no more than that. Make sense? I know it sounds like a weird rule but you have to do it. Turtles don't when there full and they will eat tell they throw up. Btw how big is your tank?

 

[esmie316]

I did not know that. I knew not to over feed him but not the head thing. THANKS.... Maybe I've been over feeding him?