General Care Discussion

As a result of coming to this forum numerous times over the past few months for suggestions/tips/advice about tank setups and diet, I’ve seen dozens of posts about “sick” turtles. Having never owned a turtle, or any non-mammal for that matter, I’m paranoid that there’s something horribly wrong with him that I’m not catching, despite his behavior. I just have a few questions about which I was hoping that some of you may be able to offer input. I’m in law school, so I compulsively feel the need to add that I understand anything you say is not meant to be taken as expert advice, and if for some reason something should happen to Flippy because I took an action based on an answer, you’re not liable. I highly doubt you guys worry that much about it, because who does that? It’s just such an ingrained habit to disclaim liability that I can’t really help it. I apologize for my ramble, too; it’s 5:30 AM here and I still haven’t been able to sleep. If for some reason you would need a different picture to comment on something, tell me and I'll try to take it, or find it on my FB. I'm just too tired to look through my "pets" album, because there are over 400 pictures of our menagerie. (Six cats, three dogs, and now Flippy.)

Anyway, here are my questions:

1. Do you think Flippy is, indeed, a male? I made the judgment based on his plastron being slightly concave and the length of his nails, but it’s somewhat hard for me to determine if his clocal opening is near the base of his tail or further down because obviously he doesn’t really want me touching his tail to get a better look.

2. How old do you think he is? I got him in June and I would think he was a hatchling, so I think he’s around 7 months. I know it’s very hard to judge based on a photo, but I’ve included a picture below that is a side-by-side of me holding him 2 days after I bought him and me holding him a couple of weeks ago.

3. Do his carapace and plastron look okay? This is my biggest concern after reading about all of the health issues, because he has white lines between scutes. The logical part of me thinks that’s just a normal result of being submerged, similar to how calcium ends up in deposits on the tank from the water splashing around. Two very small translucent flakes came off when I was holding him the other day. It’s the picture where he has a washcloth around him – I always let him “shower” in the sink before letting him crawl around so that he’s not getting aquarium water everywhere . He’s in a washcloth because I was just patting off the excess aquarium water before letting him hang out under the faucet, which he loves.

4. Finally, based on what limited information you can gather from the pictures, does he seem to be in good shape? I would ask if he seems “happy” and healthy, but his markings make his face look like he’s always unamused or indifferent, which makes me laugh. Only the cats could rival his level of detachment. The only time he seems truly pleased is when he stretches out his head so I can gently rub his neck.

Thank you so much for any responses. I look forward to many discussions on the forum, now that I’m done lurking.

Here's a side-by-side of Flippy in June, and now, that might possibly help in determining his rough age:

A close-up of his carapace:

And a closeup of his head/carapace/plastron, in which you can see the white "lines" between scutes that I worry over:

And a couple of "body" shots, or at least, the best I could do since he obviously isn't a big fan of just being still:

Greetings!
I'm pretty new to these creatures too, @ 1yr with my two, but shell/carpace looks fine. Judging by the size of "him" in the first pic I'd say it's way too soon to tell sex, "he's" a tiny one, very young, although one of mine went from about that size to over 3" in a year.

He's actually around 4.5' inches now. I'm not sure if you mean that's still too early to tell, or if my pictures aren't all showing up. Either way, thanks

I just spent much too much time reading about shell conditions, so even though common sense tells me he's fine, I got worried about every little thing I've ever noticed.

From what I can tell in the pics he looks to be showing the short claws of a female. Males have notably long front claws. If you can get a pic of the tail that would make it easier to tell you for sure. Generally you can tell the sex at 4 in. of shell length.

Great, thank you. I will attempt to take a picture of his tail tomorrow. Or hers.

Here are a few pictures of the tail/claws. On a side note, s/he was grumpy this morning, and normally I say something like, "Hey, buddy, it's okay, bud." Then I said, "It's okay, pretty girl," and s/he got very still and very slowly pivoted his/her head and looked directly at me. Coincidence?

Here's a picture of him/her sitting on my palm, for size. My palm, from base to the base of my middle finger, is about 4.5".

And a close-up of the claws.

And these were the best I could do for tail shots.

She does look good, but probably has grown a bit too fast. How much are you feeding her?

Well, when I first got her, I followed the "as much as your turtle eats in ten minutes" instructions for about a month, before finding this forum. She eats around five Reptomin sticks a day, although she's been eating fewer, because I've been finding them stuck to the filter intake. A couple of times a week, I give her a couple of dried mealworms/gammarus/crickets (it's Fluker's medley treat I think, I can't remember the exact name on the bottle right now). She also occasionally gets a few shrimp "pellets" - I can't remember what brand they are right now, either. Every type of veggie I've offered her, she turns her nose up at, and it can float in the tank for days without her touching it. When I first moved her into the 80 gallon tank, I put some duckweed, anacharis, and dwarf lettuce in, and she devoured the duckweed. A couple of days ago, I ordered some more plants, because the anarcharis is the only thing that's still in there. I also got some ramshorn snails that I'm planning on keeping separate (and cold-ish, so they won't breed as fast), and giving her one or two of those (I haven't seen how big they are yet, but they're listed as "babies" so I'm imagining they're tiny) a week. She has a cuttlebone that stays in there, but she only nips at it once in awhile. I ordered the zoomed banquet blocks, because that's the only calcium supplement she'll touch. She seems to be regulating her appetite fairly well - she'll "beg", but when I look in the tank there will still be some leftover pellets.

Try attaching the veggies to a veggie clip, it'll hold it in place for her.

Already planning on it

I have to go to the store tomorrow so I'll look for one then - the shipping online was more than the clip, which is pointless. I'm going to try getting her some more dark greens, and maybe if the clip holds them still they'll tempt her. It's still so strange saying "her", though. That'll take some time to get used to.

General Care Discussion :: Does Flippy seem to be in good health? (image heavy)

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