I adopted two baby RES's (as in less than 3") from a friend. He bought them for his daughter, who never took care of them. I mean, no lights, no water changes and poor food.
One died the day I got them, in the sun this last summer (trying to help MBD)...
The other's doing pretty well now. Eats hardily, shell's hardening up (was very soft; touch and go for a bit).
Background, he shares a 135G tank with a very healthy (3" long) juvy painted turtle (found her in my driveway!). Tank has two 500 Aquaclear series filters (decent filtration) with two powerheads and an undergeravel filter.
They have UVA and UVB lighting. They have a floating turtle dock, live plants in the water, get fed pellets etc. Water's kept at 78 degrees (much warmer than the swamp my painted's from)
Seems to be pretty happy.
Now for the bad part.
He appears to be "pyramiding" on two of his pleural scales on his carapace. I am probably overfeeding him, I have stopped that. (So darn cute to have them take food from my hand!)
He also had a snapper as a tank mate for a bit. Until the snapper got overzealous at feeding time and bit both the painted and the RES. Snapper's now in a 55G by himself.
What else can I do?
