General Care Discussion :: White residue around eyes of my RES

[Roycpat]

I have a sub-adult RES that is about 7" in diamater. She lives outdoors in a heated pond (set at 84 degrees F). Everything seems normal: she eats, basks, swims, looks at me, lets me scratch under her chin ( a favorite of hers), etc. However, she's got what looks like a white residue around her eyes. In my opinion, it looks like water was around her eyes that evaporated, leaving the white residue. We live in southern Arizona (in the desert) so the humidity is very low. Evaporation is very normal. Does anyone think there could be a problem?

By the way, her eyes look normal and bright, her shell looks great, and she has normal shedding. The white residue showed up while she was basking. When she jumped back into her pnod (because I came over to her pond and surprised her), the white went away, obviously due to the water.

Just checking. Thanks.

[steve]

Sounds like salt or mineral deposits which are not harmful. Do you have hard water?

[megcornell]

Is 84 the water temp? If so that is much too high, you'll want to lower it to 75ish.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Can you post a picture? Does the white stuff disappear when the turtle gets in the water?

It does sound like hard water deposits or maybe some dry skin. My turtle gets that on her face from time to time when she is out of the water for a long period of time but it goes away (washes away) when she gets back in the water.

[Roycpat]

Thanks for the responses. I will lower the water temperature to 75 degrees. Also, the white around her eyes does go away when she gets back in the water. I would have to say that it's probably mineral deposits or something like it. Thanks again.