We are new to turtle raising so I hope I am just being overly concerned. We got a RES from PetCo on Dec 24th. I got the all in one tank set including a 18-20 gallon tank, filter, basking area, heat lamp and uvb lamp. I also purchased the larger rock type gravel. We used bottled Walmart Spring Water to start the tank and have used the Walmart RO water when I did a partial clean and when I increased the amount of water in the tank.
I am in Utah and they do not allow the possession of tiny turtles, so I do not know how old my RES is. I would say he is about 3-4". Since we have gotten him he has not really eaten and only recently started basking. I was not too worried because I figured the move was a bit much for him. But as time went on I think I only caught him eating one stick that had sunk to the bottom. His water was initially around 72-74 degrees (3-4 days), but have since gotten a heater and it is around 76-78 degrees. I was using a 60 watt Daylight blue bulb for his heat light as recommended by the pet shop. I recently was able to use an infrared thermometer and found that the basking area was about the same temp as the water. After trying several things I finally found that raising the basking area up on the gravel/rocks and increasing the amount of water so I could get him a bit closer to the lamp I have finally started catching him basking. Now that my daughter has returned to school (his tank is in her room) he has some privacy for a few hours and I believe he is basking a lot during this time. Seems to be up on the rock every peek I get in without bothering him too much. He has been basking for about 3 days now, but still doesn't seem to be eating, at least not when I put food in the tank. I have tried repto mini sticks, natural aquatic turtle food (round) and the repto 3 in one, with sticks, shrimp and krill. I have also tried freeze dried crickets, and live crickets which is what the guy at petco said he was getting a lot of. He did not seem interested in the crickets but I tried those before he started basking. I think in all I have seen him take 3 bites, I think that is what I saw. Once of a stick that went to the bottom of the tank. Once at a shrimp that was floating. And I am not sure what the third one was.
He moves the rocks around all of the time. I don't know if he is just looking for food or what. He seems ok, but he has moments where it looks like he starts freaking out. He starts trying to climb up the side of the tank, swims around tries to climb up on the heater, looks like he is trying to fight himself in the tank reflection. Usually I see him do this at night right before it's time to shut his lights off. He normally calms down after the lights got out though. Then he settles down and sleeps on or right next to the heater.
Today was the weirdest. We got him 5 tiny goldfish, because the local pet shop says they love them. When we put them in his tank he took off after them. Chasing, chomping, swimming all around. He got really close a few times, and I thought he actually got a chunk of one, but it is still alive. Then it just seemed like he gave up. I saw him sort of swim after them a little a couple of hours later but not much. I read that younger turtles may not hunt so well so I took a fish out and held it in front of my turtle's head. He would look at it and almost look like he was scared of it. He swam away a few times and never tried to eat it. I am hoping that I am just being way too concerned but I am worried that he is not eating much. I don't know what else to do to get him to eat. He looks okay, seems to swim straight, shell seems good even though he spent a lot of time in the water. Could he be eating more than I think? Does anyone else have a turtle that took a long time to warm up to his new environment? It's been over two weeks now, but only about 3 days since he has started basking. Are there some turtles that are just that shy and won't do much in front of their owners? Any ideas would be great. Thanks
