Im having an argument on another board in regards to a small Three Toed Boxie a friend took in recently off of Freecycle. This poor fella has major MBD, is mis-shaped cant close his shell, carapace curls up on the ends, etc etc. He also has some shell rot going on and one girl recommended my friend get some Vit E oil and rub it on the shell. I advised against that and had already recommended triple antibiotic ointment, betadine and chlorhexadine to my friend for the issue. Well of course the girl comes back and wants to tell me there are plenty of sources online that do recommend Vit E oil to retain glossiness and help with peeling. You know everything online must be correct right?

My reply

If he indeed has shell rot or some sort of bacterial infection putting any type of oil on top of it is not recommended. Their shells arent waxed and buffed (glossed) in the wild so why would you want to do so? Sorry just my thoughts and the thoughts of lots of other keepers. Just because its found on the internet doesnt necessarily make it correct. Flaking in Box Turtles can be a sign of shell rot. Again why cover it up with oil?

Anyone else have anything I should add to this? She also recommended feeding the young Boxie some cat food cuz hers love it. Yes I know there are several sites that do include it in their list of foods but I will not give it to mine. ;D

Mine love catfood too but it is an occasional treat (very). Growing up in the middle of box turtle country, I don't recall any catfood bushes but plenty of strawberries and raspberries. Also recall scrapes for worms and bugs. Forest pools full of rainwater but no Vitamin E spas. The carapaces were usually muddy dirty and dull. I never saw any with shiney clean shells but that could be because the coons and skunks saw them first.

Yeah Anja.. tell her to get her ego and emotions out of the way and think about what's best for the turtle. OIL "SMOOTHERS" THE CARAPACE.. IT CAN'T BREATHE!!!

Of course y'all know how I deal with stupid...

nerd

Anja I get the feeling no matter what you tell her, she is just not going to listen. Can think of a few poisons that are natural too. Doesn't mean I should feed them to my kids or tortoises.

I myself agree with you. I would be treating the rot. Improving the diet (for me that would mean no cat food either) and it's environment.

Well after talking to my friend, she cleaned him up really good with a toothbrush and water and what had looked like shell rot in a pic came off and he has decent looking shell underneath. He had been kept as an aquatic turtle by the previous owner!!! so Im now thinking it might have been hard water stains on his shell. Like what you see when your fish tank dries out and the white film is on the glass. She is feeding him an appropriate diet and has him setup the right way now.

Great !!! Now she has a long time friend.

Ill be posting the pics of the little fella later this evening and she is supposed to take some fresh ones of him for me as well. She will probably be joining our forum here.

I agree with the no oil especially if there was any shell rot.
I will though have to disagree to a certain extant with catfood, wet that is. I have been giving it to my adults as a main part of their diet for over 20 years. Never had any problems and they lay more eggs than I know what to do with (anyone need a box turtle )
I did though try it with hatchlings way back when. That I will never do again as it did not grow them well at all. Learned my lesson there.
I now feed my hatchlings and subadults a low fat pondfish pellet as their main diet supplemented with lots of bugs, worms and snails once they are eating the pellets well.

Danny

Hey, you are the the man Dan. Ive learned I will pretty much agree with anything you say. lol He is a young turtle, maybe 2-4 years. Im just not a big fan of cat food.

No problem Anja Just wanted to say it's not bad for all box turtles.
With this little guy having MBD and being that young I would never think of giving him catfood.

Danny