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I was given a baby turtle for my daughter for Christmas. My daughter named him Gumbo and he's about the size of a fifty cent piece. For right now he's in a ten gallon aquarium with a small internal filter, a nice size dock he can climb out on if he wants to, a heater, a plastic plant that was given to us with him and that he likes to push himself underneath and move around the tank, and some large pebbles instead of gravel, he's got a uvb bulb that I added in place of the regular light that came with the tank, and a few real floating plants that he's basically eaten all of. I feed him mostly pellets though I put some romaine lettuce in the tank daily for him as well, there are a few guppies in the tank but I think he's a little small to care or catch them. I'm still really new to this and feel like I have a lot more to learn about caring for this little guy. Any tips or suggestions are more than welcome.

Sounds like you're off to a great start. Is he basking yet?

Only a few of suggestions... avoid excessive handling now (let him adjust to all those giants around him). Get a new pill box and sort out his pellets in there... people like to sneak RES extra food since they will be expert beggars. Also have your daughter practice basic sanitary routines, like washing hands before and after handling anything turtle related.

Finally, welcome to the forum and happy new year!

Every now and then he will but only for a minute or two. Mostly he stays on the ramp leading up to the dock to where he can stick his head out of the water or he'll climb up just enough to have the front half of him out of the water.

What are the temperatures? It needs to be about 10 degrees F warmer to entice him to bask. You might also want to cover some of the sides to give him more privacy.

The water is 78 degrees and his basking area has been around 80. I guess that means I need to raise the temp then of the basking area. How do I raise the temp? With a lamp type fixture? I guess if that's the case then I have to get a different kind of hood for the tank so I can use a heating lamp for him. Either way I guess it's not a big deal because I want to take care of him the right way.
He has been basking more though. Mostly when the kids are sleeping or when things are calm in the house he'll climb all the way out and spread out for awhile. I've thought about making the basking area more private but haven't done it yet that was something I was going to do this week.

What are some whats you're thinking of? There is a combo hood out there, though I don't think that is the best solution. Do you have a picture of the tank setup now?

I'm not really sure how to add a picture from my phone it always tells me the file is to big as soon as I figure out how to work it I'll add a picture.
Basically the top that came with the tank is what I'm using right now. It was a basic fish tank that came with a top an internal filter and a heater. All I did with the hood is change the bulbs in it to uvb bulbs.

you can email it to me .... redearslider@gmail.com and I can upload it, or you'll have to use a 3rd party host like imgur.com or photobucket.com

*attached file

He looks great! His seams around his scutes look a little thick, make sure he's not getting too much food. Perhaps throw some cardboard around the tank so he'll get more privacy when basking.

Thank you so much for posting the picture for me!
How do I make sure he's not eating too much? I only give him a few pellets a day as well as a little romaine is that too much? I'm really not sure how much he should be eating.

He should be getting an amount that is roughly 2/3 the size of his head. If anything, be a little more conservative than that. Pre-sort it out in a pill box in case your daughter or husband will sneak him some food. If the seams around his shell are very wide, then it might be an indication that he is growing too fast.

Thank you. I'll see about cutting back on how much he gets to eat and I'll get a little pill box to separate out his food in because my daughter does like to give him an extra bit or two sometimes.
I do have a question about his shell and if it's ok I'll take pictures tonight and send them to be added? Eventually I'll have to get my act together and use one of the sites you listed. But anyway you can't tell really in the picture I sent before but right along the middle of his shell it seems discolored there and it has since we were given him and I know he wasn't kept in the best of conditions before he came to us so I'm kind of concerned about it. It doesn't seem to be spreading or soft and it doesn't smell either but like I said I'm a little concerned about it. I hope I'm just being paranoid with it and nothing is really wrong

Feel free to send me the picture. If there is a bit of yellow down the "spine", its normal.

It certainly looks like fungus and his seams are definitely too thick.

His seams were thick when we got him but I wouldn't doubt that me not knowing how much to feed him has made it worse. How would I get his shell better from both the seams being to large and from the fungus? Fungus doesn't sound good at all and definitely can't be good for him and I imagine the worst of the two issues. I've only had him for a little while and I seem to already be botching it poor little guy.
I did put cardboard around his basking area like you suggested to make it a little more private though either it's not working or it hasn't been up long enough. My husband said he's going to order just a small heating lamp that we can put through the hood of the tank and heat up the basking area more not sure if there's such a thing but my husband is going to try and find it.