General Care Discussion :: Has anyone seen this happen before?

[kimberly183]

We rescued two RES on Sunday so we are relatively new to this whole portion of the animal kingdom. I spent most of the day on Saturday looking at this and a few other sites and I can't find the below answer anywhere.

Our female is rather aggressive (they are bro and sis) and does not let the male bask. He has been on the dock exactly once that I have seen so far. He has a pile of rocks under the heatlamp, so he can get most of his body out of the water. Their basking light was on 12 hours today, and when I went to turn it off, I looked at the male (the UVB light is still on). His "red:" patches look at little brownish with spots. What is this? Are we indeed going to have to separate these sibs?

Thanks any and everyone!

Kimberly

[emma]

Yes. If the female is not letting the male bask you HAVE to seperate them as soon as possible. How big is your tank? If it is to small, that may be a reason that the aggression is happening.

[kimberly183]

But do you know what the brown spots are? Is it a symptom of a deficiency? It has only been 2 days, and I was very busy - he could have been basking when I wasn't in there.

The girl we got them from didn't mention this, but she didn't know a lot about turtles. Now you know why we rescued them . . .


They have a 20 Long aquarium and he is about 2.5 inches across; she is about 3.75 inches across. I was told this should last them another year or so. As I mentioned, he IS climbing up on the pile of rocks, about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way out of the water under the lamp. She is not letting him bask on the dock, though. I am more concerned about the brown spots?

[marisa]

The male really needs to be able to get out of the water to bask when he wants to. How big are the turtles (shell lengths of each not including the curves) and how big of a tank are they in?

By patches, you mean the red "ears"? They're not always uniformly red, and unless the skin is broken it's difficult to really know if there's a potential problem without a picture...

Separation is likely if they're in an adequate-sized tank and you're seeing bullying/aggression.

[kimberly183]

I had said:
<<They have a 20 Long aquarium and he is about 2.5 inches across; she is about 3.75 inches across. I was told this should last them another year or so. As I mentioned, he IS climbing up on the pile of rocks, about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way out of the water under the lamp. She is not letting him bask on the dock, though. I am more concerned about the brown spots?>>

His ears were much "redder" (more of an orangey red) earlier today. I was just concerned because they had changed in probably the last two hours.

[emma]

The brown spots are normal. All turtles have them, mine currently have them right now too.

Do the spots look like this?

[kimberly183]

But he did NOT have them earlier today, which is why I am a little panicked. (You know how new moms are!)

Are you saying I shouldn't be concerned?

[kimberly183]

Your picture came up after I posted . . . no, the spots are in the RED of his "ears" which is why taking a picture would be difficult.

[marisa]

Your info about the tank must be in another post. You measure a turtle Straight Carapace Length (SCL)---the length of the shell down the spine not including the curve of the shell. Measuring the shell across, if this is what you're doing, doesn't really tell the size.

Whatever you were told, the 20L is too small for the two of them. You ideally want 10 inches of tank per inch of shell length.

Getting 1/2 to 3/4 of the way out of the water is not getting completely out of the water...

If he's been trying to bask, and his head's been out of the water, perhaps it looks darker from being exposed to the basking light. They have both a heat light and UVB light?

[kimberly183]

Yes. I turn the UVB on first in the morning (simulating dawn), then turn the basking light on about an hour later. I leave the basking light on 10 -12 hours. After that time, I turn off the basking light, and let them stay in "twilight" of just the UVB for probably another hour or so.

He was indeed on the pile of rocks, so perhaps that is the reason. I will keep an eye on it this evening.

Thanks so much for your help! And we will have to start looking for a bigger tank, I guess . . .

[megcornell]

I don't really monitor my RES' ears too closely on a regular basis, but I imagine a slight change in color could be due to a number of things from diet to stress to just being in the new environment.
The way I judge my RES's health is mainly via her behavior- changes in appetite, basking time, swimming difficulty etc.
I wouldn't be overly concerned about the color change in the ears, something serious like a deficiency wouldn't manifest itself in two hours. And any serious injuries like an abscess or bite would be easy to see.
Have you fed them carrots lately? Sometimes orange foods can tint your RES a little around the beak and ears so it could just be a matter of that extra coloring fading away.
As you've figured out, the current tank is too small for your two RES. Now might be a good time to think about separating them as the female is clearly dominant and her pushy ways can easily turn to aggression. Ideally they should have ~10 gallons per inch of shell so buy the largest tanks you can given size and budget restraints. RES can get 10-12 inches so the longer you can accommodate them in their new tanks the less money you have to spend on upgrades.

[kimberly183]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate all of the support! We were hoping to have this tank last a little while longer . . . my husband is in his 4th of 5 years of residency and our home right now is not that big. Once WE upgrade, we were going to upgrade them as well. Right now, I think the best choice would be to get a second tank, so maybe we won;t have to get one THAT huge. Our dream is to have a 'conservatory' for our plants, with a huge turtle vivarium. But, that is not feasible given the size of the current house!

Again, thanks for everything!

[kimberly183]

If anyone is still watching this, you are NOT going to believe t his!

I think it was a "preference" not to be sharing the basking dock. I think someone is still a little shy about the new home.

Several times today, I have peeked in the room at the tank, unnoticed, and found the turtles basking together. Either someone learned to share, or someone else came "out of their shell" a little and came up to bask!

I keep forgetting we just got them Sunday. I should give them a couple more days to adjust -

But thank you to any and all who were kind enough to offer suggestions and support!

[marisa]

Glad to hear they're both basking. If it isn't, it would be good to have the basking area big enough to let them both bask comfortably and change positions without bothering each other.

[kimberly183]

We are remedying that this weekend - new tank, new filter, two basking spots.

They will be spoiled . . .