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Skittish RES

PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 4:11 pm
by ladyazure17
I have a very recently rescued RES who is around 8-10 years old about 6 or 7" long. I put her in her new home about four or five days ago. I am able to handle her outside her tank for shell rot treatments and feeding without any issue, but a lot of the time when I walk past her tank, or set her down to dry after treatment, she dashes in the opposite direction. In the dry tub, she scrambles at the walls until I step away (It's not a tub she can jump out of). I'm using betadine after a mild soap wash to treat the rot, which is why I set her in a plastic tub.
I tend to walk and move as slowly as possible as to not frighten her, and I am getting a mesh to wrap around her tank, but what I'm most concerned about is her bonking into the walls or potentially hitting her nose/face too much.
The tank is a 50 gallon tub. She has plenty of room to swim, and places to hide, but sometimes she does her slider thing and shoots off a little too fast. I am aware that "new" turtles (and especially this one, who hasn't had a lot of positive human contact) are generally shy and skittish, but is there anything I may be missing here? Or any advice to keep the startling to a minimum? I really appreciate it.

Re: Skittish RES

PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2019 12:14 pm
by steve
Is she hitting the tank while she's in the water or is she launching off the basking platform? I would give her more time and avoid eye contact for now. Where is the tank located now?

Re: Skittish RES

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 7:30 pm
by ladyazure17
She was bumping the tank in the water, but she's calmed down a lot over the past week. She hasn't had proper swimming room in a long time, so I think she was still learning her environment.
I've also hung the mesh around the tank so she doesn't get startled as often when I walk in the room. The tank is currently by the door, but I'm planning to rearrange the room and move it to a corner that's more private for her. I think the bonking was more of a accidental result of a flight response as opposed to a neurological issue.

Re: Skittish RES

PostPosted: Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:41 pm
by steve
Do you have a background for the tank? That might help with the privacy.