Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I've had my RES for about a month now. He's about 6in long. I've got a good sized tank, UVA and UVB lighting, 75-80 degrees, basking deck and filter. He is perfectly healthy and his shell is starting to shed. My first question.. the shell is shedding tiny pieces and it looks white underneath.. is this normal? I think I can see new shell under the white pieces. Another question is about basking. He hardly ever basks! I have seen him get up there probably two or three times, and he jumps down when he sees me. Either me or my boyfriend are almost always home, so it's not like he does it and we aren't there to see him. Should I force him to bask? I take him out every night so his shell can dry out, and he loves running around on the floor. However, tonight he went crazy when I went to go put him back in the tank. Normally when I pick him up he goes in his shell. Tonight he was kicking around when I picked him up. He was whipping his neck around frantically! He whipped his neck back and the top of his head what touching the back of his shell!! It was like something out of the Exorcist movie! He then clawed at his neck once (even though there was nothing on it), and I went to rub his neck and he just stopped moving and stared at me, and he let me touch his fully extended neck. Very strange, whenever I go to touch him he pulls away. I can understand that he is starting to recognize me, but he was acting like he was on drugs. I wasn't handling him badly at all when I picked him up either! I wasn't shaking him around or anything like that! I put him back in the tank and then he was lunging back and forth, frantically biting at the glass! He was going crazy! Can anyone explain this behavior? I KNOW sliders are aggressive! I have seen him claw the glass before, but this was nuts! I wish I could have filmed it.. lol. Now he is perfectly content. I believe it's a male because he has pretty long claws and I put a mirror up to the glass once, and he did that fluttering mating thing with his claws. Do females do this too? I was worried I bought a pregnant female, and it is acting strange because it's gonna lay eggs. Thanks!

Jessica

Well that is one crazy turtle. Well it is too late in the season for the females to lay eggs. Sometimes mine do that too. The more you take them out the more they well get used to you. I have 12 so they all do different things that seem crazy. if you have anymore questions email me at jgolf117@aol.com

Thank You!

First he may not be basking because if your basking temperature is only 75-80 degrees it is too cold. Water temperature should be around 72 and basking 85-90 degrees. Do you have a heat lamp over the basking site or is it just a fluorescent UVA UVB tube?

The biting could be that he sees his reflection in the glass and is fighting what he thinks is a rival male.

Steve

The water temp is 78-80... I dont know what the temp of the basking dock is, but it is much higher than 80... I have a heat lamp and the florescent...The basking flood lamp is the UVA and the florescent is UVB right?