General Care Discussion :: Introducing myself, my RES and its home

[Carlos]

Hi all,

My Res is probably leaving longer and safer because of you guys!!

I bought it last saturday from a local pet shop in the Brazilian city of Salvador. To make a long story short.. no one knows how to handle them properly and the conditions sugested are way bellow what i now know necessary.

The RES ( It does not have a name yet ) is about 2´´, maybe a little less. I got a 20 galon glass aquarium for her and could not fill as much as needed because i coundn´t find a proper basking place so far, The rock i got is too low... I intend to raise the water level some 2 inches soon. There are no fitting bulbs around to buy so i will have to internet order them soon. For now i am using a cold light which might supply some UV light ( does it ? ). I got to know basking is important, so will make it ASAP. No thermomiters so far, so i am not sure about the temperature. The city is very hot so water temp might not be a problem. I just bought a fluval 204 which is more then a match for the tank.... one last thing... a white spot on her shell was just noticed.. might it be a problem?? Well.. all sugestions are more than wellcome....

I have no site to post the picutes just right now.... waer level is

[JessicaTS]

The way to measure a turtle is SCL (Straight Lenght Carapace). Measure straight down the spine, starting from one end of the shell to the other. Do not include the head, tail, or the curve of the spine

A 20 gallon tank will do for now, but baby RES grow fast and big, so be prepared to upgrade your tank to a bigger one.
Since youngsters need to master their swimming and floating skills, they require deep water. You can go to a pet store and pick up one of the floating docks or buy one online
Turtle Dock

UVB and UVA bulbs are both needed. UVB light emits vitamin d3 that corresponds with calcium absorbtion. UVA gives off heat to the basking area. You can use a household clamp lamp for UVA sources.

Investing in a thermometer is a good idea. Water temperatures should be 75-78 degrees (depending on your turtle's size) Since I believe your res is a little one, 78F would do. Basking temperatures should be about 10 degrees higher than the water temperature, around mid to high 80s

If the water temperature gets too high, you use frozen water bottles to cool down the water. It is sugested that you get a submersible heater if the temperatures drop.

The white spot could be Severe Ulcerative Shell Disease (Shell Rot). Any odor, puss discharge, is it squishy?
SUSD could have resulted from cracks, cuts, lesions in the shell and progressed into a fungal infection.
What you can do about it now is using Betamine or Silver Sulfadiazine Cream.

Is your turtles eating anything? Here is a list of foods you can offer to your turtle RES Feed Sticky and here is a list of foods you shouldn't offer to your turtle RES Do NOT Feed Sticky

To site photos, http://www.photobucket.com is very helpful
Please take some shots of your turtle, habitat and the rot you were describing.

Welcome to Turtle Talk

[Carlos]

Tks Jessica for the prompt response!!!

I´ll be measoring my RES soon.

I understand now the need for space. I had an aquarium builder tell me how much, a much bigger aquarium would cost.... and after he told me the price i decided to postpone the purchase for some months. I will try to migrate from this 20G one to a 100G straight.

In my country, raising national turtles is forbidden and importation is allowed but VERY scarce. It took me almost a year to find the little RES. So no special goodies or vets will be found.

I´ll try to have a glass or wooden dock made specialy for her. i just hope i have it done very soon.

About the Bulbs i´ll have them ordered today. I was only unlucky with the thermomiter... they had none to sell yesterday... i will buy one until next weekend.

No smell or ooze from the spot. Now that I got a picture.. It is located in the botton left corner of the shell. Still think it is a good idea to use the sugested medicine?

For food i´ve been giving the RES baby pallets and just bought some fish for her ( they might be a little big for her atm ). Me and my wife work out and barely eat home so we still need to buy the veggies.

The photos site worked fine.

Well anything else you guys can help me now?








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[JessicaTS]

Your turtle is a cutie
Actually, the tank looks pretty good When you do get your hands on a dock that can go higher, fill up the water and make sure the dock does not stay damp or is submerged under the water. Turtles need to dry off their carapace (top shell) as well as their plastron (bottom shell)
The white spot, if you touch it, doesthe turtle seem disturbed? Is it peeling or any type of that matter? How often is your turtle basking?

Feed your turtle the amount of pellets that will fit inside his head. Offer veggies such as romaine and redleaf lettuce, kale, escarole, squash, sweet potato, as well as aquatic plants such as anacharis, water fern/hyacinth/sprite/lillies, hornwort, duckweed, frogbit

How often do you clean the tank and do water changes?

I really like two golden butterflies on top ofthe tank I have three of them

[steve]

very nice pictures. you will eventually need to find a UVB light source, either natural or artificial.

he may not be interested in vegetables just yet, but you should still try. he might also like small crickets.

what are the water and basking temperatures?

[Carlos]

Well,

Some 3 months have passed. O looked for several vets, a dozen big pet shops, internet pet shots all over my country... and so far could not find the medicine you told to find for the condition my RES is in. I guess it is shell rot. Now it has spread all over the shell and it is realy ugly.

I finaly bought the bulbs I needed but i don´t think it will heal by itself. Can you guys tell me the ingredients for the medicine or some alternative way to deal with it? There is simply no way to properly care of turtles in my city and I regret I can´t do nothing else to treat my turtle.

What else can I do?

PS. She´s got some proper basking dock and both bulbs. She´s eating pellets and some live fish from time to time. No greens so far. She´s some 5 months old and about 3 inches long.