General Care Discussion :: Strange question

[amsude]

I have a turtle I think he is about 3 years he was saved and we can't be sure. Over the past couple of months he has been covering his eyes and almost shivering. That is what I call it. I don't know for sure what it is. His back is up higher then his head.

I do know that he is a he he started fanning, I thought that had something to do with it but he does that without the fanning about 95 % of the time. I have tried to look up some inforamtion on it but can't seem to find anything

His water looks clear, I do a cleaning every other week and 50% change every other month. It is a 100 galloon tank with only half water.

He gets 16 pellets at 6 am and then at 6 pm he gets either collards or bibb lettuce. I did parsley for awhile and then found out that was good. I tried carrots but they sink and i think he likes floating food. The pellets i noticed he won't eat unless they are dry. We put them on his dock and he pulls them down as he wants.

His tank set up


He chases his lettuce around I love watching him do that






This is a picture of what he does. It is hard to see






I am sorry to many pictures i just love taking pictures of him

Any ideas on the shivering part?

[marisa]

In that one shot (the one you said where it was hard to see), it looks like he's positioned himself to flutter his paws at something, perhaps rocks, in the tank. I'm not sure what's meant by covering his eyes... He otherwise eats well, basks and is generally active?

It's a nice-loking set-up. Maybe it's the pic, but it looks a little dark.

You said it's a 100-gallon tank with 50 gallons of water (could be more); a cleaning (filter?) is done every other week and 25 gallons are changed every other month. That isn't much of a water change---the water does look clear, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's clean. Have you tested it for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? What kind of filter are you using on the tank?

[amsude]

So the fluttering can be OK. I guess it gets me nervous that I might be doing something wrong. He eats basks and begs pretty well. Our veggies our are only problem but that has gotten better even noticed he looks like he is finally eatting the collards.

Well we are getting another UVB light for the other side. It is a bit dark. Usually over the basking area is the UVB and heat lamp. I was waiting for my husband to finish the screens so both sides had some covering to add another UVB light. Next weekend just waiting for pay day

It is 100 gallons and sometimes it is 3/4 full but most time a little over half full. He seems to swim more when there is less water.

Filters are Fluval 4+ and 3+, media is changed every week. I guess I say 25 gallons but what we do is the water evaporates so quickly so we might only take out 25 but we put back in about 40 - 50. When i put in 50 I notice he swims less. I haven't tested in awhile need to buy testing strips, never really understood them should it be just like a fish tank set up?

[marisa]

My RES spends a fair part of some day fluttering at rocks in his tank. If this is what you're worry about, then I wouldn't (and females can flutter paws, too). You mentioned fanning in your initial post---did you mean fluttering? Fanning is when the penis is exposed; are you seeing this happen really frequently? I'm still not quite sure what is meant by shivering---is this the fluttering you're seeing?

Thought I saw something that resembled a Fluval+ in there. If you add more water (which you should) it would be really good to think of getting a canister filter.

[BullDog]

Does it look perchance like this:



Is so, then as Marisa mentioned, it's fluttering, and it's quite alright!

I'm curious, does he always do it in the same spot? Ralph always flutters at the same rock, so I was just wondering if you guy has picked out a rock of his own as well

[megcornell]

The water quality isn't quite as important as in fish tanks, but if your ammonia or nitrate levels are very high they can certainly affect and bother your turtle's eyes.
Also you said you were thinking about getting another UVB bulb for lighting the other end... is there a reason you're getting UVB and not UVA? In my experience, UVA is much cheaper, and it doesn't encourage algae growth as much as UVB.

If you start adding more water definitely look into a canister filter. They're pretty expensive right now, so keep your eyes peeled for a good online or in-store deal. I'm hoping someone will be having a spring sale soon

[marisa]

BTW, on the testing strips---I know they're easier to use, but I think using testing kits would be more accurate (and cheaper in the long run). You do use them (strips or kits) to check the water quality just as you would for fish aquariums.

[steve]

The major pet stores (Petco, Petsmart) do free testing if you bring them a sample of your water. Of course they're going to try to sell you something but as mentioned, your own test kit can be beneficial in the long run.

[amsude]

Ok it is fluttering he does, and you have all made me feel better about that. He does do it in the same spot.

The fanning did happen once not sure if it was related to that or not. It only happened once.

I thought it was suppose to be a UVB light for there shells.

We do have to fluval +. We do have fluval that goes out of the tank i just couldn't get it to work correctly so we got the in tank filters.

Thank you all for your help

[Little Luey]

It is 100 gallons and sometimes it is 3/4 full but most time a little over half full. He seems to swim more when there is less water.

The reason he seem to swim more when there is less water is because of the water moving around, I see a powerhead and the submersible filter, when you have more water you will have areas where the turtle will not feel much water current, so he won't need to swim as much. When there is less water there will be no dead spots and will seem like more current in the tank.