General Care Discussion :: Shell feels to soft.

[inshing]

I have 3 babies that are about 6 months old. They each have their own 29 gallon tank with proper lighting and filtration. (3 kids one turtle each, I am the primary care taker though.) I have had RES before and know quite a bit about caring for them. One of the turtles shells just feels softer than the others. If you apply any more pressure than a feather light touch it indents. He doesn't bask at all that I am aware of, despite having both a heat lamp (aprrox 87 degrees) and uvb light. (only 5.0) I have a stronger uvb lamp I could use (10.0) but I wouldn't be able to have the heat lamp up due to size. I am considering turning down the water temp to around 73 degrees, from 76, Is that warm enough for babies? I have been crushing up cuttle bone and sprinkling the powder over the water every morning, although I am sure it gets filtered out quickly. We in the midst of a heatwave and though I have been taking him outside I have to wait until late afternoon when it cools off so he is only been getting about 10 minutes of direct sunlight. Anything else I should be doing? Also he seems to be growing faster than the other two. I feed radish greens from my garden, anacharis, feeder guppies, pellets, and mini krill as a treat.

[steve]

I would up the water and basking temps. He's not really benefiting from the UVB by not basking. Sprinkling the powder will do nothing. Pick up a phosphorus free calcium supplement like Rep-Cal and the dust the pellets. Or add it to the jello-shot recipe viewtopic.php?t=17486

When he's outside, he can also be in some shade... he will get some UVB reflecting in his surroundings.

Is he eating all that other stuff?

[inshing]

Up the water temp or lower it? I am not really sure how to up the basking temp. Do I get a different bulb? He'll eat just about anything and won't stop as a long as its in there so I have to dole things out slowly to him. I once put 20 feeds in his tank at once and they were gone in a matter of days.

[steve]

I would up to 78-80F for a hatchling. To get a warmer basking area, user a higher wattage bulb or see if it can be safely moved closer.