We don’t usually look under a turtle’s body at their bottom shell but what you find when you do this may worry you, like the bottom of the shell being pink.
This article looks into why the bottom of your turtle’s shell is pink
Table of Contents
Why is the bottom of my turtle’s shell pink?
Any change in how your pet looks, the shell included, will raise questions about the animal’s health and overall well-being, understanding why this color change happened will empower you to remedy the problem
Here are reasons why the bottom of your turtle’s shell is pink:
Irritation:
If the underside of the animal’s shell is pink, and your pet isn’t in a growing stage, then this may be happening because the substrate that’s in your pet’s enclosure is irritating the underside of the animal.
Common substrates that are irritating to turtle plastrons are wood chunks or wood chips. These materials can not only irritate the plastron but they can also damage the animal’s shell over time if the wood keeps continuously rubbing the animal’s shell.
What to do:
Swapping out your pet’s current substrate, to a more comfortable substrate, should help with this issue. The animal’s plastron will take a little while to heal and look normal again
New shell growing in:
Turles, especially young turtles, grow quite quickly and their shells grow with them. The plastron is a part of the shell and when this part of the animal gets ready to grow the body sends more blood to the vessels under the plastron
This increase in blood to the plastron delivers nutrients to the shell to help it grow. A side effect of this increased blood flow is that the shell under the turtle starts to look pink.
As long as the pink is light pink, not a deep pink then your pet should be fine
What to do:
This is quite normal and happens with many growing turtles, as long as the animal is eating, drinking, and is acting normally overall then the turtle should be fine. The plastron will go back to its normal color once this growth spurt is done.
Just keep an eye on your pet to make sure that its behavior stays normal and that the animal doesn’t start to show signs of sickness.
Septicemia:
Another reason why your turtle’s shell may be pink may be because the animal has a condition called septicemia. This condition develops when bacteria gets into the animal’s body and makes its way into the animal’s bloodstream
A dirty habitat may have caused this, bacteria in the dirty habit may have made its way into the turtle’s body through a cut or wound and this may have developed into septicemia.
Unlike the light pink that is caused by the normal growth of your pet, this pink will be deeper pink or red on the animal’s patron.
What to do:
Septicemia is quite a serious ailment in your pet, one that would need antibiotics to cure. Taking your pet to the vet would be the best thing to do for your turtle if it has this condition.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Turning Pink?, Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Turning Silver?, Why Is My Turtle’s Shell Turning Gold?, Why Is My Turtle’s Skin Turning Pink?
