Should my red-footed turtles shell be bumpy?

Question

My turtles shell is kind of bumpy. I'm new at this and I'm afraid it might be pyramiding! He has a simple aquarium. It is half dirt and then it goes to sand and a little sand leads down to water. he has a small cardboard hut and i feed him lettuce, grated carrots, and occasional cat food and theres grass in his pen. he is indoors. I spray the dirt with water to make sure its wet. He does not have a heat lamp. All we have is a 100 watt red heat lamp but its not on his. Is there anything i am doing wrong? We don't want to spend a ton of money on this...

Answer 1

you are doing things that are wrong first you NEED 2 LAMPS a heat lamp and a uvb lamp, together cost $75 separately, or $50 for a uva/uvb lamp. 2nd off lettuce, carrots, cat food...all horrible. You NEED to feed him crickets, earthworms, mealworms, snails, kale, mustard greens, collards, turnip greens, and occasional tomatos+ cucumbers. Never feed catfood!!!!!!!!!!! If you can not take care of this tortoise give it a way to a responsible owner that can take care of it, and by the way the shell is bumpy because you have no uvb light, so it can not develop. you are not a good owner.  

Answer 2

steer away from the cat food, that has protein ( pyramiding) stick to veggies and maybe once every two to 3 weeks feed it cat food, if you want

or you can feed once weekly with cat food but in tiny portions  

Answer 3

yes u are doing things wrong. if you dont want to spend money a turtle was the wrong pet choice, because they are the most expensive to set up. turtles are aquatic animals, they need enough water they can swim in thats at least an inch over their shell. they also need a basking area to get out, which would be under the heat lamp- which they need. turtles are cold blooded and cannot produce their own heat. under the basking area should be about 90 degrees. the water portion also needs a filter. cardboard is a breeding ground for bacteria and mold- take that out. and you should not be feeding him cat food!!!! turtles eat veggies like peas, carrots, corn and lettuce, turtle pellets, and fish.

if its bumpy it is probably either 1)loosing calcium and its shell is breakin and or 2) has fungus on his shell.

you need to take this animal to a vet.

now, are you sure its a turtle? or is it a tortoise. by the way it sounds like u set up his home it sounds more like a tortoise, which is a land animal. so please make sure exactly what you have. and do your research before deciding to take a life into your own hands. its selfish of you to get something you cannot properly care for and make that helpless animal suffer.