General Care Discussion :: Basking too much?

[mybrosteve]

Hello again everyone, im pretty sure this topic was addresed, but i couldnt find it so im asking again. One of my rescued baby turtles was adopted by my sister and is in his own tank. The turtle (Lex) has a typical setup, heater, filter, floating dock and a heat lamp. the one thing about Lex is he seems to spend more of his time out of the water than in the water. I check on him a few times a day and whenever i do, he seems so dried out that i pick him up and dip him in the water just to make sure hes ok. the water temp is between 75-80 so its not because of the water being cold. So my question is, even tho RES do bask alot, is it possible to bask too much? and if so, is there anything i can do to help that? Thanks!

Here are some pictures of Lex.

Lex's tank setup.


Lex basking away


Up close and personal

[SpotsMama]

My he's cute.

How warm is the water? Does he let you just walk up to him and pick him up? Aren't most of your little turtles a whole lot more skittish than that? How's his appetite?

[mybrosteve]

My he's cute.

How warm is the water? Does he let you just walk up to him and pick him up? Aren't most of your little turtles a whole lot more skittish than that? How's his appetite?

Water is between 75 and 80. When hes basking Lex seems to almost go into a catatonic state and only starts to move and open his eyes when hes back in the water. The other turtles i have are more skittish, but theyre slowly coming around. Lex uasually has one reptomin baby stick every day and a shrimp as an occasional treat.

[SpotsMama]

Well it seems a little odd to me but it did to you too. Hopefully someone with more experience will have better insight.

Are you sure you are feeding him enough? I think the babies are supposed to get as much as would fill their heads every day. I haven't seen the baby sticks but I'll bet more than one would fit in his head.

[megcornell]

When i fed my hatchling I fed him 3-4 baby sticks, you could probably feed him more. His scutes don't show much in terms of growth so I wouldn't worry about over feeding... goodluck.

[mybrosteve]

Thanks, ill see that he gets more. all the basking is probobly upping his metabolism too now that i think about it.

[N4784N R4613]

What is the basking temp? And do you have a UVB light source?

[mybrosteve]

I am sad to report that Lex died last night. When i went up to feed him and turn off his lights for the night, he was floating in the water motionless. The only reason i can think of that this would have happened is that there was something in his water that was bad for him, that would explain why he was so reluctant to go into it. Lex was the second of the babies to die, both within a week, so please keep them in your thoughts.

[pumpkinsherbet]

oh no, i'm so sorry to hear that

he was a cutie, though. they have kits to check ammonia levels and ph balance, you may want to invest in that. did you use a water conditioner?

[mybrosteve]

yeah i put some of that ReptiSafe in there right when i changed the water. some of that ph testing stuff would probobly be a good idea, ill pick some up next chance i get.

[pumpkinsherbet]

i wish you the best of luck.

[SpotsMama]

Oh how sad! I hope the others stay well!

When you get a test kit, get one for comprehensive kits for testing ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph. There's one called Master Freshwater Test Kit by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals that's very good. Testing for all these things is the only way you can really know that your water is healthy because some of the bad things are invisible so even if the water looks perfect it can be toxic.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Gosh mybrosteve, I'm so sorry to hear this little guy died! When they are so small, anything can happen...they are just *very* fragile. As long as the water was changed regularly, I wonder if it really was the water, or maybe something else. It didn't look like he grew that much in the picture so that made me wonder if it wasn't something else.

I don't know if it helps, but in terms of feeding, I am giving Siobhan 5 adult-size reptomin sticks per day now (!). He has grown A LOT (he's slightly over 2" in shell length now & shell is getting thick & wide) since I picked him up from you, and never stops eating (at this rate, I may have him mow my lawn, LOL!). He gets fresh romaine lettuce every day & I fed him a ton of anacharis during the first 4 weeks I had him, but this week I started him on some fresh collards too for variety. He doesn't seem to be liking the collards as much as the lettuce, but I do see little nip marks in it so he is eating some of it. So maybe you can try some romaine with your babies daily in addition to the pellets.