General Care Discussion :: New Owner of Rescued Turtle

[AEAnimals]

Hello!

First of all, thank you for letting me join your forum

My wife and I just rescued a RES hatchling that we found on Bookoo. The owner had gotten it for their daughter who lost interest. It was in a 10 gallon on gravel with no filter and improper lighting.

On the second day of owning him, I set him up in a 10 gallon with adequate heating, lighting, and filtration. Everything is perfect, but he's not that active. No signs of RI from what I've read. I got him to eat a bit on the first day, but he's not eating much.

I've read that it can take them a few days to adjust once you get them in the right habitat. Any words?

PS - I know I need to move him up. I'm moving him up to a 40g in a month.

[steve]

Do you know if the turtle was eating before you picked it up? How long did the previous owner have it?Lethargy is not a good sign, it's possible he had very poor care before your arrival. What's the water temperature?

[AEAnimals]

I'm an idiot and I always let the excitement of a new animal overtake my brain and I forget to ask certain questions, lol. I did message the people and ask if he/she was eating and, if so, what it was eating. They didn't get back to me. I'm not sure how long they had it. I'm sure it's care before me wasn't the best. I'm hoping it can turn around now.

Water temps are at 78, basking is at 90, and it has a ReptiSun 10.0 at the proper distance.

Thanks for your help!

[steve]

Any pictures of the turtle? It will want some privacy to adjust, but I'll also try to entice it with live prey (guppies or rosy red minnows). Getting a hatching to start eating is fairly important at this stage.

[AEAnimals]

This photo of the turtle is the day we brought him home and is thus not his current setup. (http://imgur.com/8uBFvgs)

I'll get a guppy at the pet store tonight and hope it will eat it. I dunno though because it never really chooses to swim. It is moving around more lately, but it's not eating the pellet food nor is it really swimming.

[steve]

Maybe bump up the water temperatures a little.

[AEAnimals]

I actually kinda had a breakthrough. After 6 days of not eating, I had to figure something out. So, two days ago, I took a medium sized kritter keeper, filled it with a half an inch of water, put in a fish and the turtle. I dropped a pellet of food in front of the turtle and it ate it! It ended up eating 10 pellets and even seemed to snap at the fish. I did the same yesterday. It once again ate 10 pellets. I am feeling much more convinced that I may have saved this turtle's life I'll keep the thread updated with it's progress.

[steve]

That's great to hear! Though don't overfeed to "make up" for not eating.

[AEAnimals]

Thanks for the pointer, I won't I feel like 10 pellets isn't too much. It's this stuff (http://www.tetra-fish.com/Fauna/Products/amphibian-reptile-food/reptomin-mini-pellets.aspx), so very small pellets.

Today was the first day that the turtle swam down to the bottom of the tank and explored. It's also the first time that the turtle chose to swim. Typically it would just float around. I'm very happy with the progress