- Joined
- Jan 30, 2013
- Messages
- 15
Hey everyone, I'm raising a bit of a runty red-footed. He's 9 months old (I think it's a male but feel free to correct me), and was underweight when I got him. He's currently around 90 g and recently started eating like a champ (thanks to some great diet advice from Madkins), and I was just hoping that someone could take a look at his photos and let me know if they think his shell growth is normal? Both his carapace and plastron are a bit springy, and I know that can be normal for juveniles, but it makes me nervous. I think that he had a bit of metabolic bone disease when I got him, and the hunger strike didn't help. He also developed very mild shell rot around his umbilicus, which is resolving with topical treatment and a substrate change. So we've been fighting an uphill battle, but I think he's getting better overall.
So here are my questions: are the growth lines on his carapace ok, or are they too wide? The white area near his umbilicus is the old shell rot. What about the paler yellow areas to the outside of that area, is that normal or could that be environmental shell rot? Also, I can easily express his bladder when I push on the center of his plastron, which doesn't seem normal to me (too pliable?).
He currently eats a diet of collard greens, bok choy, carrots, red/yellow bell peppers, mushrooms, squash (all blended together) and some berries/melons as occasional treats, with a pinkie every other week. I sprinkle calcium powder on once a week, but he hates it and eats around it. I've also offered a cuttlebone but he won't touch it. Does anyone have any other tips for getting more calcium into him?
He is a very active little dude with a great appetite, and other than hating calcium he's doing quite well.
Any advice would be great, thanks guys!
-Katie
So here are my questions: are the growth lines on his carapace ok, or are they too wide? The white area near his umbilicus is the old shell rot. What about the paler yellow areas to the outside of that area, is that normal or could that be environmental shell rot? Also, I can easily express his bladder when I push on the center of his plastron, which doesn't seem normal to me (too pliable?).
He currently eats a diet of collard greens, bok choy, carrots, red/yellow bell peppers, mushrooms, squash (all blended together) and some berries/melons as occasional treats, with a pinkie every other week. I sprinkle calcium powder on once a week, but he hates it and eats around it. I've also offered a cuttlebone but he won't touch it. Does anyone have any other tips for getting more calcium into him?
He is a very active little dude with a great appetite, and other than hating calcium he's doing quite well.
Any advice would be great, thanks guys!
-Katie