Care sheets only go so far in their applications. They can tell you reasonable point temperatures (the preferred minimum and maximum operation temps for an animal) and preferred food items, make suggestions about cage size or filtration, but they can't cover everything, and you may discover a lot in a single animal that never made it onto any care sheet for the given species.



Wild turtles of many species, even the most carnivorous ones, will go for lots of vegetation as this is often a most practically acheivable food source. As an example, snapping turtles are carnivorous, right? They eat fish, smaller turtles, anything they can secure. They even have rocket launcher necks tipped with formidable assault tips. Then why do large wild specimens normally contain more plant than animal matter? Because plants are easier to catch than are any animals and can provide elligible nutrition for at least the larger specimens that don't need lots of protein for growing. You won't normally find that sort of info in a care sheet.



Spiney softshells can be very eager feeders (not all specimens are). If yours is attacking aquarium ornamentation, ReptoMin should be no problem. And yes, it does look healthy, although fuzzy photos can hide things. Common signs of significant trouble include red streaking on the underside (not a light pink hue, as that is just the normal skin tone) and extensive basking (should you provide a basking site). Definitely provide sand or fine gravel so the animal can stay buried; the water need not be more than four or five inches deep. Keep the water extremely clean. Allow replacement water to sit out for 24 hrs to lose the chlorine instead of gunking it up with aquarium dechlorinator.

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