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About a month ago I agreed to take a turtle from a friend who had just recently got it from someone needing to find it a home. (My friend decided it was to much work!) From what I can determine she is a she and is around 5 years old. I know she is a Red Ear Slider.

She came to me with only a large tank (not sure of the size), a floating dock, a heater, a small filter (I don't think it is doing a good job and am planning to get a better one), and she had some food.

I have been doing a lot of reading and have been offering her carrots, but she is just now starting to eat them, I think she has only been on a pellet diet.

She is doing great, begs for food and comes to me when I go near her tank.

My biggest question is about her shell. She has what looks like dust on her shell and it seems to have settled into the lines on her shell. I have been hesitant to clean it off, but now think I may need to. I have searched the internet and cannot find anything about this. It is not her skin shedding, I know what that looks like. I am wondering if she lived in poor conditions before she came to me, and if this is the case will the problem go away on it's own or should I clean her shell.

Next question, how do I clean her shell?

Question #3...I have read that they are beggars, but she seems to want to eat all the time, and always eats all the pellets I give her. Should I feed her once every other day? Also, I am a Preschool Director and plan for her to live at the school starting in August. Is it okay for her to not have her basking light on or any food over the weekend? Of course, I will take her home over long holidays.


Thanks for any advice you can give...I have had a lot of pets in my life, but this is my first turtle.

I can give you a few tips, but i'm sure there will be more people who will respond that will be able to help you as well.

First, I would suggest feeding your turtle some leafy greens such as collard greens, red leaf lettuce, etc. Check out the sticky in the feeding section for a good list of them. Carrots are good, but they really need a varied diet, ESPECIALLY greens. And yes, you should only feed her pellets every other day.

How about getting a timer for the basking light? That way she will still have the basking when you are not there. The turtle should be ok for a couple of days without being fed. Just feed her right before you leave on Friday and as soon as possible on Monday.

It sounds like you are on the right track on taking care of your turtle. I would highly recommend reading all the stickys at the begining of all the forums. They will give you most of the information you need. I would also check out where the closest herp vet is to you, and possibly even take your turtle for a check-up just to rule out any problems.

I would second what tissigirl has said, but add a few things. Feeding instructions on food containers are misleading. Once every other day like she said is good for a turtle over 6 months or a year. You should feed about the amount that fits in the head if it were hollow, and not include the neck area. Overfeeding leads to a variety of health problems. The veggies can be offered daily, and can be left for your turt to eat while you are gone over the weekend.

I second the idea of a timer. It would be best if the turt could bask everyday. Especially if no one is going to be there, she'll be uninterrupted. My turt won't bask when I or anyone else is in the room, so being a room with a bunch of small children may discourage her as well. You may want to put a protective barriar around her basking spot so she can't see everyone.

As for shell cleaning, I can't recommend whether or not to do it because I don't know what's on the shell. For cleaning though, you can use a soft brush, or a soft rag. I suggest keeping fingers away from the mouth area because sometimes they don't enjoy this and may bite, lol.

One other thing that I would add, taking it to school is fine, but stress to the kids that this a look and not touch pet. Turtles aren't exactly cuddly animals and can produce salmonella. A good hand washing should be obvious, lol.

Good luck and welcome to the forum!

Thanks so much for all the advice!

I am going to try to clean her shell today (doing a water change today).

I'm going to the pet store later and plan to get her a new filter and some cuttlebone (I don't think she has ever had any).

As far as the school goes...she will be in the lobby, not in a classroom. I would never let a child handle her and she will have some privacy every day. If it doesn't work out, I will bring her back home. I feel like I've taken another child to raise!

This site has been so helpful to me, I have learned so much. Thanks to all!

Hi, can you post a pic of the shell?

Also, you can determine the tank size by L x W x H (all in inches) then divide by 231.

Okay, I did a full tank water change today and cleaned her shell. It was apparently dirt! I don't think she has EVER been cleaned, and since she didn't come with a light or dock (my friend bought a turtle dock after she got her) I don't think she has ever basked.

Some things I did today that I think improved her situation...

I filled her tank up much higher.

I bought her some cuddlebone and she loves it.

I bought her some feeder fish.

I bought her a large fake plant, she has already been playing in it.

I also bought a green and blue plant scene for the back of her tank, I made it wrap around one end, to give her some privacy.

And, I bought a new filter (Whisper). She loves the waterfall it makes and just sits under it sometimes.


But now I have more questions...

How often should she eat the feeder fish? She ignored them when I put them in but I caught one and held it by the tail in front of her face and she ate it!

How often should she eat cuddlebone?

Even though I got all the dirt off her shell, it looks very dark in comparison with pictures I have seen. Will that change with her better conditions?

I still plan to get some river rocks to put in and I am going to make some kind of basking place for her...she has a turtle dock (Zoo Med) but I don't like it.

Oh, and I measured her while I had her out and she is about 8 inches. When do they reach their full adult size?

I will post pictures of her when my I get my camera back from my parents, they borrowed it for a trip. Probably in the next week.

Oh, I forgot...when I had her out today it sounded like she was hissing. Do they do that?

the hissing comes from when they pull inside their shells, they have to exhale air....completely normal.

Feeder fish are a treat... my RES haven't had any for a year. Some people would offer them a few every 2 weeks or so.

Cuttlebone is a supplement. If your turtle is getting calcium through her diet (from the lettuce, pellets) then you don't need to offer much. Mine do love to chew it though. I'll give them small pea sized pieces every other day... sometimes only once a week. Some people give a lot more, some less. Since my RES has been laying eggs, I've been giving her a little more than usual.

The shells on older turtles are usually much darker than the bright green hatchlings would have.

How big is her tank?

Some people have said their RES hissed and it was when they were being picked up when they didn't want to be. If it's a "woooosh" sound, then it would be air escaping.

Thanks for the info.

Her tank is 25 gallons. I know this is too small and am planning to get a bigger one very soon.

Since she started basking (she didn't do it when I first got her) I notice that a lot of her scutes are starting to shed, I'm wondering if she is going to shed more for a while because she didn't bask before? She is now basking all day, how long is safe for her to stay up there? She goes up as soon as I turn on her light and doesn't get down until I turn it off.

Mine basked more at first, but as they got used to the basking, they eventually started running and hiding when I would walk in the room. It's like at first it was a novelty that they made the most of, and now they know it isn't going to go away. Just make sure that there are still times that she gets in the water, you don't want her dehydrated.

When you upgrade, I would go as big as you can afford. It will save you costly upgrades later and less empty tanks piled around.

I plan to get a 90 gallon, at least.

After she had been basking for several hours today, I took her out and checked her shell. I was able to pop of a lot of her shedding scutes with my nail without any effort. I know that pulling them off before they are ready will cause problems and several of them were not ready and I left them alone. But her shell is looking so much better!

I got some river rocks today from a landscaping place (they were free because they sell them by the load and didn't want to mess with pricing them individually...so they just told me to take what I wanted!). She had pebbles before and I took them all out, she had been pooping pebbles but is better now.

If your turtle was not living in the best of conditions and you improve them, I think you'll see changes, such as more shedding (especially if your turtle hasn't shed in a while--it's possible that another round of shedding will occur fairly shortly after the initial one). When I got my RES, he had been in a really bad habitat and had had no chance to bask. He spend the first 5 days basking, with me putting him in the water to hydrate and eat. He became more willing to spend time in the water when he had had his fill of basking.

Your turtle should enjoy pushing around some river rocks (you don't need to have a lot of them). Much better than the pebbles.

Thanks...that makes me feel better.

After she had basked for hours this morning I put her in the water, about 30 minutes later she was back up there! Poor thing...she can't seem to get enough of it!

Great to hear she's doing better and getting lots of basking time in! You should post some pics for us to see how she's doing.

When I changed the lighting/food/tank size for my turtle when I learned the more proper way to take care of him, his shell and especially his skin shed for what seemed like 6 months straight!