General Care Discussion :: Fading Shell colour

[CRUSHH]

My RES colour is beginning to fade in colour. He is only 2 months old and the only changes i think have been the hot weather making the water a bit warmer than usual and he eats the fish flakes that i give to my fish. Can anyone help????

[DanielRES1180]

It might be that he is shedding. This normally happens and the warm water usually speeds the process up. Still it is perfectly normal.

You give the turtle fish flakes? Is that healthy?

[marisa]

If he's only getting fish flakes, no, that's not healthy, and will eventually affect his health (and shell). He needs a reputable turtle food as well as a variety of other foods in his diet (there's info on the site if you don't know what else to feed him).

Two months (really?) is rather early to be shedding, unless he's growing extremely fast. Is he getting UVB rays, either from a UVB light or from direct sunlight?

[KellyP]

I think he/she meant that it sometimes eats the fish flakes that they feed the fish. Not that it eats them as it's diet.

[CRUSHH]

yea KellyP is right, i give him reptomin pellets as his staple food so i dont think its that, i have a UVB/UVA but its about 3 months old so do i need to get another light?? Thanks guys

[missibsu]

UVB bulbs need to be replaced about every 6 months.

[CRUSHH]

So i shouldnt be worried about his shell if im doing everything right....i'll keep in touch if i see any other symptoms

[missibsu]

I wouldn't worry if you are doing everything right. The shell color will naturally fade with time. My two RES are not as green as they appear in my avatar because that pic was taken when they were about 3 months old, and they are now over a year.

Are you offering veggies at all? You mentioned reptomin being the staple diet. He may not be interested in the veggies just yet, but they should be offered. The sooner you can get him eating veggies, the easier the transition will go.

[CRUSHH]

Yea im offering them romaine lettuce but other things like potatoes and pumpkin and waterlemon etc how do you feed them that?? It will make all the water go bad if you put it in the tank?? How do you guys feed them those veggies/fruits???

[sonyj]

You have to put it in the water (tank) if you want him to eat since RES have reduced saliva glands and a fixed tongue. Offer a little at a time in bite size peices. If you normally feed in a special feeding bowl/tank then you can put it in there when you feed him the pellets but normally I drop all veggies in the tank.

[marisa]

I'd skip the potatoes unless they're sweet potatoes/yams. I very lightly steam foods like pumpkin, squash, yams, etc. to soften them a bit and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Try also cantelope.

[industrial_girl_2000]

The color of the shell can change over time. My RES is more of a bronze/brown color now that she is older. The babies often look green, but can become more brown as they get older.

Don't worry if he doesn't take the veggies right away. There are several recent threads on this forum about turtles eating veggies & some suggestions on how to get them to eat them. I found that if you mix the veggies with a tiny bit of canned cat food, they like the smell & will eventually eat the veggies *without* the cat food. It only took my turtle 2 weeks to get used to veggies & now I can't get her to stop eating them. She was primarily a meat-eater for the 16 yrs I had her, so it is NOT impossible! You just have to be creative.

[CRUSHH]

Thanks for the suggestion

[ninja_turtle]

hi! i have a red slider for about 2 years now. when i first got him as a baby, his shell was so green and vibrant, but now it's dull green, some brown and yellow. is my turtle lacking nutrition? (i feed him turtle pellets and occasional shrimp treats, which he loves.) and recently, i noticed that when i havent changed his water for 2 days, he would get these really green spots on his shell. when i clean him under the faucet, the green spot or skin comes off. think my turtle is sick? (he eats and sleeps, looks fine to me) or could it be some kind of chemical reaction between the dirty water and the tank? (i have a 10 gal. sterlite clear plastic container, w/ the basking lamp lighting over the tank.) please help, thanks.

is there a way to make the shell turn green again? change diet?

btw, for missibsu - regarding your turtle picture, is the turtle on top of another turtle or is that a rock?? cant really tell, but it's a cool picture!

[sonyj]

ninja_turtle, Adult RES are not green like they are when they're hatchlings. As they grow and mature their color changes anywhere from a light brown to almost black in color. Only rarely will there be a green adult RES (and then because of genetics).

What you need to focus on is providing a suitable habitat for your turtle. At 2 years old he shouldn't still be in just a ten gallon container. Recommended habitat size is ten gallons per inch of turtle (with as much water as it will hold without giving them room to escape). Here's a couple of links to read up on:
Care sheets
Basic Care.

It sounds to me that the green spots your talking about on his shell may be algae. How big is your turtle (shell from tip to tip not including the curve) and what else do you have in his set-up (filter, UVB light, heat light, heater, basking and water temps etc)?