Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've got a few problems:

I've had my red eared slider for many, many years now, and since I can remember, she's never shed properly. She was a rescue turtle from an acquantaince who couldn't care for her anymore (kept her in a cut-off milk gallon container!) I have her in a big 30 gallon tank with adequate filtration and proper heating. I'm saving up to invest in that UVB bulb that she needs.

She LOVES basking on her rock, hardly goes into the water, and because of that, she's always dry, which has made her shell BEIGE. She never sheds, and has pyramiding because of it. I'm not sure if this is fungus, or calcium deficiency, or mineral deposits from the tap water I use in her tank, or even all three! I used to use some blue-bottled water conditioner, but it made her and the water slimy. The water is clean, and while I thought about taking out her basking rock to force her in the water, I figured there must a reason she'd rather be dry.

She's gotten obese (puffy skin sticking out the sides of her back legs) even though I hardly feed her now (once every 4 days...!) I mostly feed her NutraMin and leafy greens once in a while. and although her eyes are clear and she is very alert when I walk by and jumps in the water to follow me, she hardly moves on her own. She still LOVES to eat though! Her eyes are fine, except I feel they're a bit sunken in, especially the lower lids, like they've dried out or something. I take her out once every few days to run around my place, which she used to LOVE to explore and run around wildly, but now she just seems bored and finds a dark corner of the room, so I can't even get her to exercise. It HAS been hot lately, though...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've tried to look up herp vets in my area, and there are NONE. I went to a general VCA once and the "turtle vet" there said "I don't know" to every single question I asked and I still had to pay the office visit. I've attached a baby picture of her, taken about 5 years ago, and you can kind of see the beigy-ness I'm talking about. She's even more beige now. HELP!

WoW that's really bad. Hmmm let's see. The coloration might not be a huge problem because turtles change color over time...though i've never heard of beige.... You should get one of those UVA B lightbulbs. Even though they're around $20, it'll be good for your turtle. (They are one of those "curly" lightbulbs that look like the energy-saving ones) Maybe the water is too cold for your turtle so she only likes the basking spot because it is warm there. Water heating is really simple. Just go buy one of those heating pads intended for cramps and stuff on people. Put a couple blocks of wood or something to have the tank be around an inch off the stand and slide the pad underneth (you don't want to kill the power cord by have a 30 gallon tank sitting on it!) You probably want to put her on a diet of mostly greens and less comercial food too. good luck! and sorry if this isn't much help. Go see if you have a herp society for your area. they probably have vets to recommend

I have never heard of this condition either, but definitely get a UVA/UVB bulb, they can develop all kinds of deformities and diesease w/out it.

Is the shell soft when you push it?

You should use a heater that is designed for a fish tank so that it can be regulated with the thermostate.

Are there any other symptoms besides shell discoloration and the turtle being inactive?

You should also be using a chlorine remover- you may have used too much if the water was slimy. It shouldn't get like that- try a different brand.

Good luck and let us know.