Nail Polish on a turtles shell

Question
Is it ok to paint the shell with nail polish? If not how should I get it off?

Answer
The shell is living, growing tissue. The problems with polish and paints are:
- Chemicals can be absorbed by the turtle and cause problems.
- The paint can physically make it tough for the shell to grow right, and distort it.
- The paint can cause problems with the gas exchange that happens at the skin level.

If you need to paint a turtle's shell, you need to use a paint that is safe on human skin. Then, you need to do one of these:

1. Use a paint that can be easily removed and does not form a 'shell', like face paints, or

2. Only paint small designs on the center of each scale. The growth happens at the edges, so painting in the center with a safe paint is OK for shortish periods of time.

Removing nail polish from a turtle's shell is tricky. Use whatever remover you would normally use, but work in small batches, and make sure the chemical does not stay on the shell for more than a minute or so. Rinse the shell well between times.

It usually works best to do a section, let the turtle swim and relax, do a section, etc.

You can learn more about turtles at http://www.austinsturtlepage.com