General Care Discussion :: New member and new turtle owner

[g35thrilla]

Hello, im a new member and also a new owner of a RES.

She is around 14 years old, and i got her from family friends. She is around 7" in lenght. She was living in a 10 gallon tank which was filled up only a few inches, No basking area, no heater for the water and pretty much no where to move except for a flat rock that she was sitting on. I got here this weekend and put her in a 70 gallon for now. I have a in tank basking area which has a CF 10.0 Mini 13w reptisun bulb and a 75watt heating bulb. Both are in a joined dome with AL reflection that sits 10 inches from her shell. The basking area temp is 85 F.

Both lights are on a timer and run for 12 hours during the day.

The water temp is set to around 75-80 F.

She is not eating at all and supposedly hasn't eaten for a while according to the other ppl that had her previously. She will look at the food but not do anything about it. Also when she is in the water she seems to panic as if she doesn't remember how to swim and hides both back feet and tail. She has recently started to swim around with her back feet however if she feels something touching her back feet in they go and she just paddles with her front and will drag her back end around in the water.

When she is in the basking area which is where she will sit for most of the time, she will stretch her feet out completely. She will kick her back feet around once in a while, but nothing frantically like a potential gravid female. I have read about turtles swimming funky/floating and not being able to dive in regards to having Res problems and i was checking for her wheezing, mucus from the mouth of nose, or constantly breathing with an open mouth. however there are no signs of that.

I'm not to sure what to do with her swimming habits/behavior, and also how to get her to eat. I have tried fish, turtle pellets, carrots.
Do you think it possible that since she hasn't swam in god know how long, it going to be like her relearning?? I know she has the use of her back feet from the fact that she moves them around and stretches out when basking.

Any help and advice would be much appreciated
Thank you

[g35thrilla]

Anyone one??

[steve]

Welcome to the forum. What kind of food have you tried? What was she fed before? How much water is in the tank?

Her basking sounds very normal. They are natural swimmers, so you might just need to raise the water levels gradually.

[MVB]

Hi there, I'd suggest trying different kinds of food until you find one she will eat - and more importantly, leaving her alone to eat it. I've read (and experienced with my own turtles) that they can be private eaters, especially when experiencing new surroundings. If you're trying to feed her by hand, she may not respond to that, because she may find you intimidating.

Try leafy greens, pellets, dried shrimp (or some of those wet shrimp/crickets they sell in little tins) and if all that fails, try feeding her a little bit of boiled chicken.

With the greens (baby romaine is a good choice, but stay away from Spinach unless it's all you've got), try leaving them in the tank overnight. When I put it in my tank they never go for it immediately, but in the morning there will only be a few shreds of leaf left. You can leave other stuff in there for an hour or two and just scoop it out if she's not into it.

[xcristina]

Everything sounds normal for a turtle that big and for such major changes in her life. It's a good thing she basks, hopefully she will start eating. My slows down her eating and basking during winter and refused to eat any lettuce for years until this summer. Just keep offering, she will eventually get used to you, her new habitat and the food that you're providing. A turtle that big can survive for weeks without eating. You can try egg whites or plain boiled chicken breast, if she eats that, she is just being picky
Congrats on the good job you seem to be doing so far!

[MVB]

The 70 gallon tank sounds appropriate for her size, they're meant to have 10 gallons per inch of shell. Is she in there on her own, or did you put her in with fish or another turtle, or something?

Those bulbs don't sound entirely right to me, but I'm still learning myself, so I might be wrong. I think you need 100W UVA and UVB bulbs. That's what I've been using at least. From what I hear, it's possible that she may be depressed, possibly from a lack of Vitamin D... so new lamps might help.

They can go long periods of time without eating, especially when stressed. The new environment might just take a little getting used to. Try to give her space and not handle her very much. Let her get used to her new tank.

[MVB]

You can give her BOILED egg whites, but that shouldn't be part of a regular RES diet. Couldn't hurt to try a few slivers though.

[xcristina]

of course I meant boiled egg whites, couldn't even think of a way to give raw egg whites to a turtle...
The egg whites and the chicken should only be used to test her appetite; as I said before, if she eats those, she's just having a rough time with the changes and she will be fine in the long run.