# treating shell rot... PLEASE HELP!



## rbianco (Apr 9, 2011)

Has anyone treated shell rot here before? Do you have any tips on treatment? The vet said scrubbing with a toothbrush and soap will take care of it but that seems to really **** off Sarah and she tries to push me away. Its very hard to keep her still long enough to clean the affected areas. Please help.


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## Maggie Cummings (Apr 9, 2011)

Whatever it is has to be dry-docked. Then you first scrub the affected spot lightly with a soft brush and Betadine. Then after the betadine you rinse with Nolvasan. All day you wash with the Chlorhexadine (Nolvasan). But you only use the Betadine once. Betadine kills the infection, but it also kills the white blood cells and those are needed for regrowth. So all day you wash the spot with Nolvasan. You just do it as often as you think about it. The Nolvasan needs to be mixed 20 to 1 with water so it's really thinned out. Keep a light on the animal so they stay warm and you just rinse often during the day with the Nolvasan. You do that for several days and then it should be gone...Make sure that it is actually shell rot. The spot will be soft and have a smell and you'll b3 able to scrape some of it off...it takes a few days for the treatment...I hope this helps...


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## Madkins007 (Apr 10, 2011)

Pictures would help.

Mild forms of rot can be treated pretty easily. What Maggie described works great, but if you don't have Nolvasan available, you can use triple antibiotic ointment (if you suspect the rot is bacterial- pitting, black specks, smell), or foot fungus cream if you suspect it is fungal- cheesy growths, thin white threads). If you don't see either of those, you probably just caught it early. Sometimes, if you catch it early enough, a good cleaning and keeping the substrate dryer really helps.

I cannot prove it yet, but I think keeping Red-foots on too-damp moss makes things worse in some situations. My unproven theory is that the water in the moss becomes a mild acid and eats away at the plastron over time. I know many people make moss work nicely for them, but around here (Omaha) it is hard to keep it lightly damp in the very dry winter, so it is either wet or too dry.

I have not noticed any shell rot when I use cypress mulch or a 'bioactive substrate', no matter how wet it gets.


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## Rosey (Apr 10, 2011)

I just got done trating my Rosey girl (redfoot) for shell rot. I used fungal cram first with clotrimazole. I did that for 3 days and it helped but wasn't doing it. So I bused betadine once and then triple antibiotic ointment for 5 days and it seems to be gone. My bgirl didn't have any pitting or black yet just a very flaky plastron. Rosey had the shell rot from when I got her. I keep her on bed a beast with fir chips mixed in...although I'm going to swtch to cypress mulch. I use a little moss around their plants where they don't lay to help keep humidity up. I found a good way to keep humidity up while not misting....I just put a towel over my humidifer and their cage so the humidity is forced into Rosey and Rubys enclosure ( a 55 gal terrarium). Anyhow hope this helps. Most of my info comes from Madkins page...its an excellent resource.


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