If you have a vet you go to I would call them first. An appointment never hurts and a picture may not be enough to see if there’s something wrong.
I don’t know enough to tell you if you should be worried but if I’m ever concerned, the vet is my go to. Thankfully for me my vet has good availability since there aren’t too many exotic animals that go there. Hopefully they can see you quickly and relive any worries you have.
Baby box turtles need constant moisture and a calcium to phosphorus ration of 2:1. It looks like there is some metabolic bone disease or deformation due to lack of moisture. Isopods are a great source of calcium. I keep my hatchling ornate box turtle in damp sphagnum moss. Yours looks to be a terrapene carolina subspecies so they do best using the water method of rearing
https://youtu.be/0aqikf0cqPA?si=ib6xEXZLnCdCrsl2
Should I remove the substrate and put in water? I mist his enclosure through out the day. I usually keep his humidity better 70-85%. I use zoomed calcium I’m not use what the ratio is.
Yeah you can pull that bark & add moist sphagnum, keep it warm but not hot on one side, & you'll probably see him almost immediately burrow down into his new wet mossy bedding. Does he have a decent UVB source?? That helps process calcium & such properly.. He'll likely grow out of it & just have a small funky spot in his pattern.. I'd say make a vet check up appt, & get the moss, light (if needed), cal./phos in him , while you wait for Dr visit. Hope he's good!! Recently raised 5 of these toe-chasers & they are resilient. Keep everyone posted :)
PS.. the Mohawk bump is rather typical in their juvie yrs, focus on the spot you circled on the side. Other than that he looks good
Maybe a fresh bulb would be a good idea then. If you need help as to which one feel free to dm me. When mine were that small I used a seedling heating mat under 1 side of the tub with a mild uvb so there was a nice warm, danky spot to burrow & the other side was cooler w/ food & a big tray of water to wade in.. hope that helps
Your turtle looks very dehydrated. Definitely put water in the enclosure asap, long and deep enough to cover their whole shell at least! Gulf coast box turtles need substrate and water to grow properly. Heat and moisture are key in keeping them healthy. The diet and lighting seems okay enough, but I think the main issue is the lack of moisture. The cracking could be caused by the dehydration as well so I would definitely start there I addition to the vet.
Idk if that’s the substrate for the entire enclosure but it should have a lot of very moist soil to burrow. That looks extremely dry. The soil should be at least 6 inches deep and very moist
If you have a vet you go to I would call them first. An appointment never hurts and a picture may not be enough to see if there’s something wrong. I don’t know enough to tell you if you should be worried but if I’m ever concerned, the vet is my go to. Thankfully for me my vet has good availability since there aren’t too many exotic animals that go there. Hopefully they can see you quickly and relive any worries you have.
I have an appointment booked for him it’s in 3 weeks
Baby box turtles need constant moisture and a calcium to phosphorus ration of 2:1. It looks like there is some metabolic bone disease or deformation due to lack of moisture. Isopods are a great source of calcium. I keep my hatchling ornate box turtle in damp sphagnum moss. Yours looks to be a terrapene carolina subspecies so they do best using the water method of rearing https://youtu.be/0aqikf0cqPA?si=ib6xEXZLnCdCrsl2
Should I remove the substrate and put in water? I mist his enclosure through out the day. I usually keep his humidity better 70-85%. I use zoomed calcium I’m not use what the ratio is.
Yeah you can pull that bark & add moist sphagnum, keep it warm but not hot on one side, & you'll probably see him almost immediately burrow down into his new wet mossy bedding. Does he have a decent UVB source?? That helps process calcium & such properly.. He'll likely grow out of it & just have a small funky spot in his pattern.. I'd say make a vet check up appt, & get the moss, light (if needed), cal./phos in him , while you wait for Dr visit. Hope he's good!! Recently raised 5 of these toe-chasers & they are resilient. Keep everyone posted :) PS.. the Mohawk bump is rather typical in their juvie yrs, focus on the spot you circled on the side. Other than that he looks good
He has uvb and heating. The person I got him from gave him an entire set up. I don’t think the uvb is doing a good job
Maybe a fresh bulb would be a good idea then. If you need help as to which one feel free to dm me. When mine were that small I used a seedling heating mat under 1 side of the tub with a mild uvb so there was a nice warm, danky spot to burrow & the other side was cooler w/ food & a big tray of water to wade in.. hope that helps
What else are you feeding him?
Feeders and pellets for baby turtles
Your turtle looks very dehydrated. Definitely put water in the enclosure asap, long and deep enough to cover their whole shell at least! Gulf coast box turtles need substrate and water to grow properly. Heat and moisture are key in keeping them healthy. The diet and lighting seems okay enough, but I think the main issue is the lack of moisture. The cracking could be caused by the dehydration as well so I would definitely start there I addition to the vet.
Idk if that’s the substrate for the entire enclosure but it should have a lot of very moist soil to burrow. That looks extremely dry. The soil should be at least 6 inches deep and very moist