General Care Discussion :: Shell question

[jridge]

I have had "Sam" for over two years now.... He is healthy and well taken care of thanks to the advice from this website....

My question is this.....I have never seen him shed any scutes from his shell.....

His shell is in great shape, no pyramidding, no discoloration, no fungus issues.....He basks under UVB about 5-6 hours a day, and chases his guppies the rest of the time....I feed him every other day Reptomin and veggies, and he has always shown slow consistent growth....He is now about 5.0 inches long.....His skin sheds normally, never any eye issues....He's in a 50 gallon wide breeder tank with a nice new top basking area....His water is 76 degrees during the day and about 72 at night....His lights are on a 12 on and 12 off schedule....He eats in a separate container.....I can't think of any other details y'all may need, but his health is excellent and he is a totally happy little dude.....

So why no scute shedding ??

[industrial_girl_2000]

Some of them shed scutes more than others. As long as he is otherwise healthy, I wouldn't worry.

Question about the water temp: you said it tends to get down to 72 at night. Do you have an underwater heater? Temp should remain constant 24 hours a day for optimum health.

[jridge]

Question about the water temp: you said it tends to get down to 72 at night. Do you have an underwater heater? Temp should remain constant 24 hours a day for optimum health.

Yes I have a heater....I keep it at about 72....The lights heat the water considerably during the day and I was having some skin shedding with Sam so I turned the heat down for him at night.....The skin shedding issues disappeared.....Should I try to lower the temp during the day to match the night temps? I guess I could add a fan to the canopy to pull some of the excess heat out while the lights are on....His basking area air temp stays right around 90 degrees while his lights are operating.....

[industrial_girl_2000]

How much water do you have in that tank? What kind of heat lamp are you using? The fact that your lights are heating the water by 4 degrees concerns me a bit.

I was just concerned that the temp was 72 at night....that's a little low for a tiny RES. They usually prefer the water to be a minimum of 76 all the time.

[jridge]

He's not tiny.....He's 2.5 years old......About 5 inches long.....
I have a 50 gallon tank......Probably about 45 gallons of water.....He has an above tank basking area.....

[marisa]

I think 72F is fine for him (I've got a nearly 6-year old RES and his water temp is around 70F at night and goes up several degrees during the day when the lights are on. I don't think the variation in water temp you're talking about is bad for him if he's healthy (there would be some temp variation in the wild).

How much has he grown in the two years that you've had him?

Do you have a pic of his shell dry?