General Care Discussion

Hi everyone, I have recently started taking care of our family 9 year old red slider turtle & would like to check if what we have been doing is fine.

Since my turtle reach 4-5 years old, we started letting him roam about freely in the house and we will only put him in a tank of water when we feed him (2-3 hours in the water a day). After that he goes back to roaming freely. I recently got him a UV lamp to bask because I dont think he has basked actively in the last few years and recently and I spotted him basking for about 2-3 hours on dry land in the last 2 weeks (by luring him to the lamp with food for the first few attempts), this usually happens after we take him out of the tank. Please advise if it is okay for us to continue taking care of him this way with most of his time spent on land.

: 5 (2).jpg (45.1 KiB) Viewed 4046 times

Also lately I started putting him on my lap and he seemed to like it. But he scared me when he suddenly retracts his head into the shell, is this normal? I also hear him burping time to time, please advise!!

I don't like them roaming around indoors because of the hair/dirt they pick up. They can also get lost, trapped and their nails might break off. I don't think I would do it for as many hours a day as you do either but that is debatable. Your turtle also needs to shed, he looks long overdue.

Thank you for your advise! I will see what I can do for his set up. To make him.shed, I supposed we need to let him stay in the water for longer period?

I think basking regularly helps with basking the most. Calcium, UVB, should help too.

I see I see, thank you. Do you if its normal for them to retract their head into the shell (the photo in the first post), I notice he does it when he is sleepy.

I also think my turtle is very very active most of the time, he will chase me everywhere I go in and always staring at the food pellets container when I am not visible to him. Could you advise how much should I feed him if I feed him daily. We normally give him veg pellet and shrimps, sometimes a leafy greens (but he does not want to eat it).

His nails are long and but I read somewhere that we should not cut it.

Attach photo of the usual food portion.

Sometimes I will give more shrimps and less Veg pellets. That is a grape, sometimes I will give him blueberries.

They sleep in all kinds of positions, I wouldn't worry about it. What kind of pellets are you using? What brand are they? I would use less shrimp and treats. Also, you are correct to not cut their nails. It would be painful and possibly lead to infection.

I have been feeding this to Xiang Xiang (everyday nutri & sankyu). I read that Wheat Germ and blueberry is good for shedding so I am trying to find a suitable brand that suits his size.

I am curremtly checking out on this brand.

Anyway do you know what could the white lines along hisnlids and mouth be? Is this a sign of Vitamin A deficiency or mouth rot?

Not sure what the white area could be, was he out of the water for awhile when the picture was taken? That could be just mineral deposits then.

My res has been basking alot more now and has been eating 50% wheat germ. He sheds more now and applying olive oil (for skin) has help as well! & one thing I've noticed about him, he seemed to like it when we rub olive oil on him, he usually walks around but he stand still and when we rub him. Hahha.

One thing I have noticed lately, he struggles alot when we wash/rinse/brush him. And he bites alot during then. Is this normal. He stops when he leaves the sink area. Is this normal, or the water is too cold? We are in Singapore where it's summer all year round.

oh and the whites around his eyes has gone off after we gave him wheat germ

Glad to hear he's doing better! As for the struggling, yes its normal. Sometimes I would let myself be scratched so they don't get the feeling of just flailing around. If you hold them long enough, you might get peed/pooped/fanned on, so just watch out for that.

hi! I would like to check if its normal for my res to have such reds. I notice the red on his leg area today, sometimes it goes away. But today it seemed pretty red, should I be worried.

I have been observing my res alot more lately and I get worried about every new observation

General Care Discussion :: Queries on turtle care & my turtle retract his head

Who is online