why is my turtles shell getting soft?

Little babies up to an inch plus have soft shells.Sliders, cooters , painted, map, yellow bellied all are basically the same and require the same basic care.

Now he should be eating feeder guppies, goldfish or minnows for protein and calcium daily drop 20 or so in the tank and watch them disappear in a few days! When I got these two 36 yrs ago all we had in back then were goldfish to feed , so after 36 yrs and still going strong. They can eat goldfish!

This way when they swim for their dinner they get exercise also!

I also feed dried cubed blood worms or tubiflex worms at least 5 times a week.

They sleep at the bottom of rivers, streams. lakes or ponds or your tank to avoid predators like coyotes, foxes, owls, hawks, possums, raccoons and even some wide mouth bass.

TOSS in a bird cuttle bone in the water for calcium that will promote better shell growth, it will dissolve real slow and if they eat it that’s fine!!

They can have garden worms, meal worms, snails, crickets, flies, crayfish small frogs, dragon flies and anything that moves, but only as a treat.

They need leafy greens Romaine, Butter lettuce. (Iceberg and cabbage are bad for them, any other leafy greens will do) for vitamin A that they need at least 3 to 4 times a week.

They love grapes and strawberries and squash..

The bigger the environment the bigger the healthier the turtle. Remember 10 gallons for every inch of turtle. I have used kiddy pools and plastic pond liners from most nurseries and worked great.

Did you know that they need to bask under a reptile light UVA/UVB for up to 8 hrs a day for the vitamin D that they need to grow. So that means getting a turtle dock also.

Leave the heater on 75 to 78 degrees always. These turtles in captivity do not hibernate their eating may slow down some but they will not hibernate. These are not cuddly pets and will bite very very hard. Under 4" they carry a disease called 'salmonella'. So you must wash after every handling.

Their water needs to be clean otherwise they get sick easily from dirty water cause they poop allot. You need a good filter system!

Total Body length: 5-8" average for males, up to 12 inches max for females. Life span: 15-25+ years

Males have the longer front nails and are used in mating. And are considered mature at about 5 yrs old. You can’t start sexing till about 3” across.

Gravel larger than they can swallow.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29035692@N03/sets/721...

You probably already know that they get sick easily, shell rot, respiratory sickness, lopsided swimming, coughing, blowing bubbles from their nose. Fungus white cotton patches on their skin?

**Swollen cloudy eyes which means lacking in Vitamin A. Which we all need for good eyes. Google ‘vegetables with Vitamin A.

Contact the “www.anapsid.org/societies, for a turtle vet / RESCUE in your city and state.

I wish you luck.

Your turtle needs a spot where he can come out entirely out of the water and bask under uvb or basking light to get vitamin d.

If you dont have the right setup for your turtle their shells can soften and warp. Your terrarium should have an area where the turtle can get out of the water, and it should have access to a uv lamp to sit under. I think it is lack of vitamin D or something that stops the shell from growing properly, and a uv lamp should immitate the suns rays.

He needs to bask under a UVB lamp so his body can metabolize the calcium in his diet. You can also suppliment the calcium in his diet with cuttle bone that you would find in the bird section of the pet store. Just chip off the hard backing first.

It sounds as if his shell is getting soft because of the fact that the turtle is in dire need of sunlight or it will die. Its shell is part of its spine and its whole body is enclosed inside . Improper formation will result in a dead or deformed animal . if you have access to sunlight for approx 1 hour a day you need to expose it as much as possible.Take it to the vet if you can.

If he's in water all the time that's why. He needs to be able to get out of the water and bask under a basking light.

Thank you all for your answers and opinions.