General Care Discussion :: Drastic lifestyle and habitat changes

[Trenton]

I've had my turtle for 16 years, but it was only a month ago did I find out that he was a RES. I was feeding him one day when it dawned on me that I didn't even know what kind of turtle he was. So I went searching online and came across this excellent site, which showed me a lot of key elements that were missing in my turtle's lifestyle and habitat. I will admit that by not seeking out the information when I first got him, it makes me an irresponsible own, but I have since begun to correct the many problems, like the lack of a basking spot, uva and uvb lights, diet and water temperature. Don't get me wrong, if I had found any problems, like discolored skin or shell, irregular swimming or any of the other symptoms you have described in your health section, I would have taken him to a vet, but in the 16 years he's gone without those elements mentioned before, he's never had any of the possible problems described in your health section. As mentioned before, I’ve started to correct the missing elements and was wondering what kind of changes to expect in terms of behavior, mental and physical turning points and such and such. Also, is there anything else you guys would recommend that I do to get things on the proper track? Any help would be most appreciated.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Hi Trenton,

Congrats on finding this site! I was very much in the same situation as you with my adult RES. I had her for 16 yrs before finding this site (it never occured to me that turtles could be so hard to care for). After losing my first 2 little turtles to RI many yrs ago, Sheba has benefitted from having clean warm reptomin-fed conditions. After finding this site, I found out that her lighting was inadequate, tank size was too small, & immediately made plans to upgrade many of these aspects. I made her a financial priority & made it all happen.

The changes in her are so amazing, I can't even begin to tell you. Sheba's attitude was always good before, she was happy to see me & I spent a lot of time with her & let her out to walk around the living room all the time. Now after she is in the right size tank with a good strong basking light, WOW, she is even MORE happy to see me, constantly begs for more food, races around the room when I let her out (is extremely active), eats a much more varied diet (lots of veggies and LOVES them!) & just goes CRAZY when she sees me. SOOOOO happy!

I hope in about 6 months you will be telling a story like mine too! Welcome to the board!!!!

[SpotsMama]

I had Spot for over two years in a totally inadequate setup. When I found this site, I made a lot of changes. Because of poor lighting, poor water quality and almost negligible basking, Spot's shell turned almost completely white - fungus I believe, plus retained scutes. I fed him too much protein, too (raw beef, lots of shrimp) and he grew faster than he should have and started pyramiding.

With lots of space, good lighting, diet and clean water, his shell is improving. You can hardly see that he had any pyramiding and the white is slowly chipping/peeling off and there's nice dark healthy shell underneath.

He used to be scared of me. He'd run away when I went to get him from his tank and hide a lot. He was also pretty grumpy - he'd try to bite me. Now, he just seems happier. How to explain it? He gets all excited when I come into the room. He doesn't run and hide any more - in fact he swims up to me and seems to ask to be picked up (he likes to roam around outside his tank). He doesn't try to bite (except once when he was mad at me about a habitat change). He's livelier and he basks a lot more.

Perhaps he changed because he just "grew up" and got more confident, or maybe he changed because he feels better and is happier. I like to think it's the latter.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Great story, Spotsmama!!!

[steve]

I would start with water temperatures and a varied diet, then work on tank size, then proper lighting/basking, a basking area and filtration.

I mention tank size before lighting/basking/filtration because those may need to be changed based on tank size.

[da sAUCE!]

well luckily I found this site before I got heavy back into RES. follow steve's advice, he has it right.

[marisa]

Welcome. Can you post a picture of your RES?

[grey goose]

Definitely post a pic, if you can......Turts are good at masking illness. Also after you get everything set up, I'd still go and find a good herp vet and have him checked out. Their insight is worth every penny. Good luck.

[Trenton]

Sorry for the delayed response, busy at work, i'll post some pics once i get my digi cams back..... Thank you all for your responses. Just another question, now that i've got uva and uvb bulbs up and running, my RES won't bask if both are on, if the uvb bulb is, he's fine and will bask all day, but if the uva bulb is on, he won't. Now the uva is a regular house bulb, 40 w I think, and generates just enough heat to warm the dock. The temp is about 5 degrees warmer then the water. Is he maybe afreaid of the other light? If so, any ideas on how to adjust him to the new lights? All help is appreciated.

[Kallistos]

Well the water temperature should be at around 75 degrees for you. Then the basking area should be 85-90, 5 degrees above the water doesn't give him an incentive to bask. Try to adjust the temperatures and see if you get different results.

[kikicool]

Spotsmama, what do you do for retained scutes? I think mine have some... is that because of something I'm doing wrong? They just dont' shed....

[SpotsMama]

My understanding is that Spot's shell problem was caused by him not basking nearly enough (he almost never completely dried out) and when he did, he didn't have any UVB so I suppose he wasn't metabolizing calcium very well.

I wasn't keeping his water clean enough either. Also, our tap water's ph in Mesquite is quite high - around 8.8.

I was told by some people on here that know what they're doing that to correct the problem I should correct the habitat deficiencies and with time the scutes would shed. Also, someone (Reptilegirl in Houston, I believe) said that her turtle had shell trouble when the water was very alkaline but that his fungus healed and he started shedding again when she lowered the ph.

Here's the thread with that discussion:

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... highlight=

As long as Spot was out in his pond in the sun last summer his shell improved pretty quickly. Big pieces of scute were coming off. I think it's still making some progress now that he's inside for the winter but not as fast as in the summer. Little pieces of shell chip off but not whole scutes.

When Spot was outside in the summer sun he basked a lot. His shell dried out and he got really good UVB. He basks inside too but I know it's not as good as natural sun. I recently got a better UVB bulb - a T-Rex 100 watt flood - and I'm hoping that the increased UVB and heat will entice him to bask more and that he'll get more benefit when he does.

I never put peat moss in the water as discussed in the thread. It sounded like a horrendous mess and Spot really needed to be absorbing his calcium. Instead I used a product called PH Down. Apparently a couple of weeks ago i got it too low (around 6.4 I believe) and killed the bacteria in the bio filter! I then raised it a bit (to 6.6 to 6.8 ) by adding tap water and the good bacteria are now thriving again.

If anyone uses PH Down, be very careful with it. Some people on here really object to it but with our water being so very alkaline and Spot having shell problems I felt I needed to do something. It's just sulfuric acid and would seriously burn your turtle if you got it on him directly. You have to dilute it BEFORE you put it in, and add it only very very slowly. The benefit of having slightly acidic water is that it inhibits the growth of bad bacteria and fungus. And it may help scutes to shed.

I'm sure Spot wouldn't still be having trouble with shedding if his shell hadn't gotten so bad in the first place. Normally, with a setup like I've got now in the house, he should have a healthy shell that sheds a whole scute at a time, like other people's turtles.

[kikicool]

Thanks, Spotsmama. I'll have to check that thread out. Could be the water. I never tested the pH. I'll buy a kit this weekend! I'm fastidious about cleanings And they DO bask... but probably not enough. Wish I could put them out in the sun... a leeeetle too cold here in NY. !! THanks again!