Dry Scales on Boxie

[KellBell]

Hi All,

We have a box turtle that we keep in an outdoor enclosure in the Sacramento area. Noticed some dry scales on the little guy’s head today. Wondering what I can do for it? Posted some photos.

Thanks much,

 

[Maro2Bear]

Sooo, how often do you soak this turtle. ? They thrive in moist, almost wet environments. Think the fringe of ponds & marshes. They eat slugs, snails, grubs & worms found in wet/pond-like areas.

 

[Yvonne G]

Like Maro2bear (Mark) said, the turtle may be living in a too dry area.

Also, he needs his beak trimmed.

 

[KellBell]

Sooo, how often do you soak this turtle. ? They thrive in moist, almost wet environments. Think the fringe of ponds & marshes. They eat slugs, snails, grubs & worms found in wet/pond-like areas.

It’s rare that I manually soak him. He has a large soaking dish which he seems to enjoy. His enclosure has sprinklers that water daily so 2/3 of his enclosure (6’x4’) is pretty moist. But sounds like that may not be enough?

 

[Maro2Bear]

Still sounds maybe too much open exposure, sunshine & dry.

Upload some pix of your enclosure. Try more cover, & soakings.

 

[KellBell]

Like Maro2bear (Mark) said, the turtle may be living in a too dry area.

Also, he needs his beak trimmed.

Thank you Yvonne and Maro. I’ll up the moisture level. And address his beak

 

[mark1]

i'd suspect the overgrown beak and scales on his head to be related in cause ..... both abnormal keratin

 

[KellBell]

Still sounds maybe too much open exposure, sunshine & dry.

Upload some pix of your enclosure. Try more cover, & soakings.

I’ll upload some photos Maro. Again, I appreciate the help. We’ve adjusted the irrigation to the enclosure (and hosed it down a few times) and have given him some good soaks.

Is there anything topically I should be putting on the dry patch on our little guy’s head?

 

[KellBell]

i'd suspect the overgrown beak and scales on his head to be related in cause ..... both abnormal keratin

Thank you for your reply Mark. Is there anything I can do for possible abnormal keratin?

 

[mark1]

Thank you for your reply Mark. Is there anything I can do for possible abnormal keratin?

figure out why , overgrown beaks as in birds is a metabolic issue ....... a few things are known to cause it ,you could google it , i'm sure you'll find a lot of causes ,the least of which will be lack of use ......... i'd guess mbd could be a cause , i believe in birds liver disease is a cause , liver disease is probably common in turtles and tortoises ........ depending on how long you've had him , the issues may have been previous husbandry , make sure yours is on point is about all i could think of .....

 

[jeff kushner]

Could a lack sunshine be a cause for the excessive growth? I only ask b/c it doesn't look like he gets a chance to choose sun basking or shade. While a beautiful home, it looks to be in the shade all the time with the expanse of those beautiful trees.

I compare this to 2 yr old Matilda who will make herself pretty in the sun before she goes for a morning swim then back in the sun at some point. She has a choice and the layout is fairly symmetrical. 80-85% she gravitates towards the sunny side.

That is a nice enclosure too KB....and sprinkled too? Wow, a little doting going on there! Maybe sinking a small 10" x 18" pond in it would up his humidification game and give him a chance to soak. I put a ramp in cause Matilda isn't the sharpest knife the drawer.....but once she's set in her habits, she's easy to predict.

Folks quite often think turtle and automatically think "desert" where with these guys, think more "bog" than "dry".

 

[KellBell]

Thank you for the kind reply Jeff. The light to enclosure is mostly filtered. In the afternoon it gets some more direct sun, but only for about an hour. The juniper next to the space can definitely be trimmed back, and that would open up more sun, should be easy to do.

Appreciate it!