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Hello all. I am a new turtle mom. I say new because I've never owned a turtle before. I've had my guy or girl (not sure which it is) for about 6 months. My brother brought him to us as a gift for my daughters. He said he "liberated" him from a souvenir shop at the beach. He was a baby. 2 inches or so. We had a 30 gallon tank. So we got some small river Rick's and some big ones for him to nask on. He has a heat lamp and a bubble bar. (He loves to run along that bubble bar) Anyway...when I got him I could not get him to eat his floating pellets at all. He was lethargic and never moved.His little eyes started to get cloudy. We thought he would die. He was like that for 3 months. Then I asked my brother (he has many aquatic animals) he said that he needed a heater. That he was not warm enough. So we got him a heater. He seemed so much better. But he still wouldn't eat his pellets. We tried lettuce and dried cranberries small fish everything. He would have none of it. We we're so worried. We fed the fish as to keep them alive hoping he would eat them. And low and behold he began to eat the fish flakes! We were so excited. We let him eat them. We tried his to get him to eat his other food but he never ate them. Even when we pulled him out and place him in a smaller bowl. So my Squirtle boy is growing now he looks good. His eyes look good. BUT his shell is becoming pink looking we assume from the food. I was just wanting some ideas on what everyone thinks. Anything that will help me help him. Thanks so much.

Good to hear he is eating! Don't be tempted to overfeed him to "make up" for lost feedings. As for the pink, it sounds unusual. Any other symptoms? Can you post pictures of it?

For pellets, what brand are you using? If he's having a bit of trouble catching fish, you might have to hold the fish by the tail and let him "catch" it.

I can take a picture when I get home. He seems to have zero interest in fush. Like his fush are still living with him. It's like they are friends now. LOL! They gave been living together for almost 4 months now.

RES can be real lazy sometimes, so he's just waiting for the right opportunity.

Ok. So I tried to post the pics of Squirtle, but it said the size is to big. He's pink looking. I think it's from the food. Also, his shell is peeling. Is that normal?

Ok. I was looking it up. I guess he's molting, right? I think the pink I'm seeing is the fish food that's in the water or on the bottom of the tank is under the little lose scales.

You can email it to me and I'll post it. Also look into a site like imgur.com for 3rd party hosting.

Shell shedding is usually golden in appearance.