General Care Discussion

Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 8:34 pm

One of the first things I would consider is not depending on a pet store to have the answers for turtles. Most pet store clerks know two things: one when pay day is and secondly where the bathroom is. If they don't know they will guess or give you answers that would be for fish. Most of the keepers here will help and have turtles of their own. Stick to the basics of temps, filtration, lighting, etc. There is a lot to learn and turtles are not cheap to keep. Up sizing is constant with turtles.

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:25 am

She should do fine in a full tank. Just make sure and provide some resting places for her throughout the tank.

For the first few days, you can try hand feeding her, with tongs so you don't get bitten, until she's got the hang of it. My turtle can recognize his food can, so he knows when to look for pellets.

Once you have the setup ready, just place her on the basking area and she'll do the rest.

The docks are made with a ramp.

120 sounds pretty decent for an XP3. I don't know why the prices have recently increased, but that's a great deal with not having to pay for shipping.

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 1:23 am

Physical stores will likely carry a premium on nearly everything, so it might be a good idea to place an order online at one of the larger sites to save on shipping.

You can slowly increase the water level if you are concerned about swimming ability and like Christi said, you can also add additional rest/shallow areas for your turtle.

Last edited by Karawr on Thu Jul 08, 2010 10:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.

FINALLY! I've got Squirtle into her new home... or is it him? Now that I'm getting a better look, I'm not sure whether his nails are long or super long (like a males is).

Also, I've noticed that he's got this filmy thing on his skin (ie not on his shell). It almost looks like algae except it's greyish/whiteish. Could he have some sort of fungus? What is it? (some pictures below)
EDIT: After reading up on the main page about physical conditions, it looks to me like either skin shedding or a fungus. But they sound similar and I'm not sure if it's excessive shedding or a fungus. He's been living in horrible conditions with little water (and the water that was in there was INCREDIBLY dirty, I couldn't believe it), cold temperatures and no basking spot, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's a fungus. However it's all over her body (ie neck, arms, legs, skin parts), and not in just one spot, so it could be shedding.

It looks a bit like this:

When I was cleaning out his old tank, I found lots of plasticy slabs which, I assume, is from his shell due to shedding. After inspecting him I found hard flaky bits on his plastron. Is this normal?

If anyone could look at these pics and tell me, just generally (because I know you can't tell everything from just a picture!), how his health is doing? There are no "turtle doctors" here that know anything about turtles. My best bet is you guys. Thanks!

Shell and habitat:

Nails:

Filmy thing (in the second image you can see it around his neck). I tried to get a good shot of it but these don't really... "do it justice" it looks a lot thicker and filmier irl:

I am considering getting some vitamins for him since he hasn't been getting the right nutrition and vitamins (only pellets and no UVB/UVA exposure).

I'm going to look for some cuttlebone tomorrow. Should I consider Rep-Cal Calcium with Vitamin D3 since he hasn't had UVB exposure for a very long time (until now)? Is there anything else I should be feeding him to get his diet up to what it should be?

I'm also going to be getting green/red leaf lettuce for him to eat. On the main page it says "safe to use on a daily basis" but I thought you're only supposed to feed them every couple of days. What sort of menu should I put together for him? Should I feed every 2 days, or 3? When I feed him should it be a little bit of pellets with a little bit of lettuce, or...?

Also found this: "feed every other day at most, with veggies every day." Do I feed the pellets every 2nd day and then veggies everyday (even on days with pellets)?

Haha, I'm really lost on the feeding part. Good news is he has no problem eating the pellets in the water (I thought he would because he's been fed on dry land for awhile now).

I'm looking at those Jello Shots and they look interesting! Are they merely a treat or can they be used occasionally as a main-meal?

And sorry for my long posts, I've got lots to ask and say!

For sexing, the nails aren't that long, but the cloaca looks kind of low which would indicate male. It might still be too soon to tell though. How long is his/her shell?

The enclosure looks good (keep an eye for a good deal on a larger tank), just make sure you put a top of some sort on it that allows light but doesn't allow the turtle to escape. They can stand up vertically on their back legs and if they can reach something they can pull themselves up onto it.

For feeding, try to incorporate veggies into the diet. This should help supply the necessary nutrients. I would hold off on getting the calcium dust until after you try cuttlebone. Cuttlebone is cheaper and easier for the turtle to eat. Depending on how you make the jello shots, you can offer them regularly. You just have to make sure you don't use a protein heavy recipe. And this is what the main site says about feeding frequency:
"It is appropriate to offer vegetables daily - even if they initially refuse. You may have to try different varieties to see which kind your RES would take. RES over a year old should be given pellets every other day or every two days."
This means offer veggies every day and only offer pellets every other day to every two days. Then you can occasionally offer treats from the occasional/rare list.

I'll have to measure his shell tomorrow, he's sleeping right now.

I've put up a small net over top of the tank because I know they climb. I think he's safe in there now and seems pretty happy.

Do you have any comments on the shedding/possible fungus growing on his skin?

EDIT: And I've also picked up a 75 gallon tank that came with heater, thermometer, filter, stand, etc and will be setting it up once I move by the end of august. It was only $150!!

Oh yeah, sorry. It looks like regular shedding to me. Just check to make sure your temps aren't too high. If they are he'll continue to shed his skin.

Great deal!!!

I checked on him today and his skin issue already looks a great deal better. Probably was a temperature thing.

I'm going to go shopping tomorrow for Jello Shot ingredients. After reading through some posts in that thread, I got the recipe of:
-Ground up Cuttlebone
-Romaine Lettuce
-Green Leaf Lettuce
-Mustard Leaves
-Collared Greens
-Radish Leaves
-Gelatin
-Water
Does that recipe sound good as a main meal, or should I add/remove something?

I haven't been able to pick up the right lettuce yet (tomorrow I'll get it) so I fed him a little bit of carrots instead. He didn't want them at first but once I left him to them, he seemed to enjoy scouting them out on the bottom of the tank and attempting to munch on them. I cut it up into very small pieces but he still seemed to have some trouble with it! At least he is attempting to eat it though, I thought he would deny anything that wasn't his reptomin sticks. I think we're on a good road to recovery.

I've noticed that sometimes Squirtle "freaks out" in the water. He starts swimming back and forth quickly and frantically and makes a lot of ruckus. I can't tell if this is playful or if he's scared. He only does it for about 10~20 seconds then settles down. Is this normal behaviour?

And his plastron is "peeling". Or is this simply shedding?

This may be a bad description but his shell looks "dry". It's not all glossy all over. Is this normal?

And the shell is about 4 1/2 inches.

The plastron's scutes also shed. I'm not sure what you mean by "dry", it should just be smooth.

When he's shedding is there anything I should be feeding him/doing in order to help the process? I know not to touch them or try to pull them out so I'm just leaving them be.

Around the edges of his scutes it looks dried up or like it's been lightly chipped away. Is this okay, and other than that, is his shell healthy?
Here are some pics to better explain his "dry" shell:

K - Mine will be short! You need 10 gallons per inch of turtle for a water tank. Water temp should be kept at 75 to 77 degrees. Basking area temp should be kept at 90 to 91 degrees with a uvb basking light. Filter should pump at least 5 times the amount of water that is in the tank buy by the gph and not some two times or three times some number. The FX5 should do fine. The key words in the 5x rule is "at least" The more the better until you get to a blender. Don't over feed.

the recipe sounds good to me. if it looks like he's having trouble eating the carrots, try peeling them with a potato peeler instead of cutting them into small pieces. This will create thin strips that will be easy for him to eat.

That's a good idea! I didn't think of that. He seems to have some chomping problems. He grabbed on to a piece of cuttlebone I was trying to feed him but he wasn't able to bite through so he let go.

General Care Discussion :: Getting an RES and need help! Warning: Long post!

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