General Care Discussion :: Is my turtle a dwarf?

[DubaiTurtle]

Hello everyone, I am new here and have read so many thread so far and learned so many things. I have a RES turtle his name is Nigel (not sure if Nigel is a he or a she will wait till he's 4 inches tall) I bought Nigel almost 2 years and a half ago. I feed him baby shrimps (they are almost 0.5-0.8cm in length tiny tiny ones) that is the only turtle food available in UAE markets which is where I live. For almost a year I was misguided into thinking I should feed him 2-3 small pieces of a shrimp a day. I noticed Nigel was getting duller and lazier. So I began almost a year ago giving him more food and bought him a new tank (i do not fill my tank with that much water as I have seen in the photo gallery section but he has a small bridge accessory to climb up upon and the shallowness of the water is around 2 inches, is that enough?) My concern is how come he hasn't grown much? Reading through this forum I learned many turtles reach over 4 inches in length in a years period of time. Also, he has orange stripes not red ones, is that normal? What am I doing wrong? Help me! Thanks in advance.

[powerofvoodoo]

How big is Nigel?
Have you purchased pellets for him? Shrimp have little nutritional value and should only be given as a treat. They also need to eat vegetables (a post about what they should/should not eat is on the food and nutrition section).
You really need to buy, make, or rig up something sturdy to bring up the basking area as much as possible so you can add more water in. Turtles are aquatic and love to swim so the water should be high enough that they can swim but can't escape. There are pictures of people making new basking docks or putting PVC pipe under their pre-existing basking pipe to raise the basking dock up to an appropriate level. How big is the aquarium?
Does Nigel have a UVA, UVB, and heat lamp? The lamps along with the appropriate food help turtles grow so if you don't have them, you should get them as soon as possible.
I hope I helped!

[DubaiTurtle]

Thanks for the reply powerofvoodoo I really appreciate it. Nigel is around 2.3 inches from end to end of his shell. I use to feed him pellets last year and have noticed he disliked them so I switched to mini-shrimp feeds. Today after reading the food section in the site I gave him a leaf of green lettuce he has been nibbling on it throughout the day but hasnt eaten the whole thing yet. I shall buy pellets tomorrow, but how much of pellets is he suppose to consume? the aquarium is around 12"long 6" wide and 6" tall. No he has no other gear in the aquarium, there is a bridge and lots of rocks, i have packed the rocks on one side so that he can climb up on them, but again the water is 2 inches high.. i guess i should add more water. Wouldnt it be kind of dangerous if Nigel got suddenly subjected to deep water?? He wont be use to swimming in deep water.. thanks for the help again.

[powerofvoodoo]

Add water in slowly - a couple of inches at a time. I jumped with the amount of water in my tank (an inch of water to 5" to 8" in a month) and my turtle was fine.
It may be the brand of pellets you're feeding him that he doesn't like, try another brand to see if he likes it better. Again, shrimp should not be anywhere near his main diet.
Make sure the rocks are big enough that he can't accidently eat them.
And he needs a water heater, water filter, and basking lamps if you want him to be healthy and grow properly.

You're welcome.

[SpotsMama]

Turtles are usually quite fond of shrimp - it's a treat for them. If they're expecting shrimp they may refuse pellets while waiting for their shrimp (like a person who refuses to eat his vegetables, holding out for the cake. ) Since he's used to shrimp you'll need to transition him to pellets. A method that works for a lot of people is to soak some pellets in shrimp juice or tuna fish juice to make them more attractive to the turtle. If that doesn't work, you may need to stick some pellets into the shrimp, gradually increasing the amount of pellets compared to shrimp, until your turtle is weaned off the shrimp and onto pellets.

How big is Nigel's tank?

[SpotsMama]

On your original question about size - is it possible that your turtle isn't a red earred slider but some other kind of turtle? If you could post a picture that would help greatly. Where the color of the cheek stripes is concerned, some RES have orange stripes - it's a normal varient.

If your turtle is a RES then he is small for his age. You said you've had him for 2 1/2 years. Has he grown any since you've had him?

[DubaiTurtle]

Thanks for your reply SpotsMama, yes Nigel has grown almost an inch since I bought him. It's been two days since I started giving him lettuce, he ate quarter a leaf of lettuce yesterday and today barely had any. I also got him pellets and he ate around 2-3 pieces but left the rest... I know he should eat as much as his head size every two days but what about veggies? Per day: half a lettuce leaf, 4 pellets, 4 shrimps? is that enough? I read the nutrition info on the site but its really vague when it comes to exact quantity. This is what he looks like:



Also, Powerofvoodoo today I trained Nigel how to swim (i guess he lacks the skill) i filled my sink with water and put him over my palm and made him paddle with his feet, did that for half an hour, then i cleaned his aquarium and added 1.5 inches extra of water and put the rocks on one side (i will try and get him a new aquarium once i have the budget to do so) but he still finds it difficult to go go up for a breath and stay down. I attached a picture so you can see how much water I'm talking about:


increased the water depth

rocks on one side

Please excuse the bad image qualities I took it from my cellphone, also the toilet in the background in one of the images
thanks again for helping me out.

[Opus]

DEATH BOWL ALERT!!!!!!!!!!is that what you kep him in?that's why he hasn't grown alot!and if that isn't his real home than just ignore me lol

[SpotsMama]

I think what Opus is trying to say is that the bowl Nigel is in lacks a lot of things a healthy turtle needs. He may have grown so slowly because his habitat and diet need upgrades. Here's a link on a basic setup for a RES:

http://www.redearslider.com/startup.html

None of the things on the equipment list are options - they are all essentials. If you need help finding some of these things in Dubai let us know - we can probably figure out equivalent work arounds.

On the diet - I suppose you are now trying to wean Nigel off the steady diet of shrimp? Keep cutting back the shrimp and increasing the pellets. Eventually, he'll be able to have some shrimp every few weeks but it won't be a daily thing.

on the quantify of pellets, the reason the directions aren't more exact is that it depends on the size of the pellets as well as the size of the turtle. Some pellets are a lot bigger than others. What you should do is imagine your turtle's head - not the neck, just the head - and then imagine that it's hollow, like a thimble. Then estimate how many pellets it would take to fill that hollow head. That's how many pellets your turtle should get every other day.

There was a really nice thread here a little bit ago with pictures of how to estimate the number of pellets. I'll see if I can find it.

Then, some pellets are more nuitritious than others. Some very good quality brands are reptomin and mazuri. There are some other good brands. What brand of pellet are you feeding to Nigel?

That's very good news about the lettuce - I mean that he's eating it pretty well. He may not eat it every day but you should offer it every day - or you can offer other types of vegetables like a little piece of a carrot or a tomato or some kale sometimes. Blueberries are good. For the lettuce, make sure it's green or red leaf lettuce type and not plain iceberg (or white) lettuce as the iceberg is particularly non-nuitritious. I don't know exactly what types of veggies are available to you in Dubai.

[TAHNEE]

You are not alone. Mine is the same size as when I got him/her. 3 years ago last month!!

[iac637]

Well I have one that we have had for almost a year and he is still small but very healthy. (He's been to the vet ) we don't know why he is so small

[SpotsMama]

Probably the same comments apply to you, Tahnee. Are your circumstances similar?

[TAHNEE]

Mine is VERY picky. He won't eat any fruit/veggies. He will only eat small/hatching pellets. I have bought so many kinds of food its not funny. I still only have 1 bulb. I do put him in the sun sometimes. Yes I know I need both. I was trying to find one thats UVA and UVB if they make it.

[SpotsMama]

I just remembered that one of the common causes of slow or no growth in turtles is intestinal parasites. For those with undersized turtles, if you haven't had a stool sample checked by a vet, by all means go ahead and get it done. It's not expensive and can be done quickly. If your turtle does have parasites, then the type of parasite (there are many different possibilities - round worms, tape worms, amoebas, etc) will dictate the treatment. Only a vet can tell you exactly what to do if your turtle needs treatment for parasites.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Hey Dubai, since you live in such a nice/warm Mediterranean climate, is there any way your turtle can get natural sunlight every day? I think one of the reasons your turtle isn't growing is because he doesn't have the proper basking light (UVA/UVB). I will warn you that UVB lights are not cheap, but they are necessary for a turtle to be able to absorb calcium into their bodies. If your turtle can't absorb calcium, he will become lethargic as you described (plus, shrimp don't have much calcium).

Definitely get him to start eating pellets as everyone suggested her, then also work on getting him some natural sunlight daily. Get a large plastic container, fill with water & put a rock in the middle where he can get out of the water & bask in the sunlight. This will help his health a lot and after a while, I think his energy level will definitely pick up!

Keep us posted & let us know if you have any other questions.