Why Does My Turtle Have Black Spots On Its Shell? (2 Reasons Why + What To Do)

Your turtle is bound to go through changes in its appearance as it grows and ages, some changes will be normal, but some won’t, and these abnormal changes may worry you

One change that you may see if your turtle is the animal developing black spots on its shell, this article is a look into why this develops on your pet’s shell

Why does my turtle have black spots on its shell?

The shell of a turtle is an integral part of its body, it not only looks strong, it is strong, and it keeps the animal’s fragile body protected.

Here is why your turtle may have black spots on its shell:

Shell markings:

Shell markings are one of the reasons why there may be dark spots on your pet’s shell. These animals can have different-looking shells with different colorings.

The colors that you may see on a turtle’s shell include brown, green, orange, red yellow, and black.

What to do:

You would need to test whether these black spots are just the shell coloring or if they are something else.

Test by scrubbing the shell gently with the tip of your nail, if the black spot is solid, doesn’t come off, and feels like the rest of the shell then this black is simply the shell markings

Shell rot:

The dark spots that you may be seeing on your pet’s shell could also be an overgrowth of fungus, bacteria, or blue-green aage also known as shell rot, a shell infection

This condition is caused by poor water quality or poor basking conditions.

Other signs of this condition in your pet include slime over the shell, a bad smell coming from the shell, flaking of the scutes, an easily damaged shell, a red tinge on certain areas of the shell, or dark patches on the shell

What to do:

If you think that this is what’s going wrong with your pet’s shell then take your pet to the vet to have the dark spots tested.

The vet will take a sample of the dark spot material and look at it under a microscope to figure out what it is. The vet may alternatively culture the sample, to try to grow it, and determine what it is that way

Depending on what the spot is the vet may give you antibiotics to feed the animal, give you a solution to flush out the spots, or give you a topical medication to be used on the spots

Your vet may also recommend that you dry dock the animal to give the medication enough time to penetrate the spots and work.

If you can’t immediately get the animal to the vet then you can treat the animal at home in the meantime.

Do this by using diluted betadine on the spots, dilute the betadine to a weak iced tea color. You can alternately use a diluted nolvasan/Chlorhexidine solution, on the spots, dilute it to a fault blue color.

Use a baby toothbrush to apply the solution and don’t scrub the solution in, simply rub it in, very gently, in circles. Leave the solution on after rubbing, don’t rinse the solution off

Leave the turtle in a paper towel-lined box overnight making sure the room that your pet is in is semi-warm. You can rinse the shell off and put the animal in the tank the next day.

Do this nightly until the spots are gone and the shell is healed, or until you get the turtle to the vet.

Why Does My Turtle Have Black Spots On Its Shell? (2 Reasons Why + What To Do)
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