Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi guys!
I posted a while back about the baby RES I found near my dad's office bldg. I went out and got him a 20 gal long tank, and he is living in that now. With the cleaner living conditions, I've noticed that he has peeling skin all over his body. He still has the discoloration on his shell, but it does seem to be getting better on its own. Also, I feed him once a day, because all he will eat in a day is one stick of turtle food, anything more gets wasted and I have to fish it out of the tank. He is alot more active since I got him the bigger tank, but he rarely comes totally out of the water. He sits under his basking lamp, with only his head sticking out of the water. After reading some of the posts here, I thought they were supposed to bask completely out of the water.Does any of this behavior sound normal? I am still trying to get my digital camera so I can get a pic up of him (so ya'll can see the shell and his new tank). Thanks again for all of the help ya'll give. I'm just a beginner, but I'm ready to learn more about caring for my new turtle.
Thanks Again!

The skin peeling usually means the water is a bit too warm. My two turtles start peeling and shedding when the water gets toward the high end of the recommended scale.

My turtles NEVER bask when I'm around. I can catch them if they don't know I'm home, but as soon as I'm spotted they dive into the water. Your turtle may be basking when the room is empty and still.

Good luck, and I hope your RES has a long, happy life.

Hello, I posted this message earlier on your first message but didn't know if you would see it so here it is again :

~on the food, when I first got my turt, she wouldn't eat much in the way of pellets, but some things she hardley ever refused were- freeze dried turtle treat shrimp, canned meal worms by ZOO MED, and this is really weird but, the pedigree dog food with the meat chunks in it that look kind of like liver, I would tak out a peice of that meat every time i fed it to my dog and cut it up into little strips, she would eat them right out of my fingers, anyway, those are just some hints. As gor the spots on its shell, When I first got my turt form a pet shop, I noticed some discolored spots on her shell that were slightly soft, if that is the case with your turtle it may be shell rot, the shell will smell kind of bad, I know its gross smelling a stinky shell, but it is a tell-tale sign, also if the rot is not under a layerof unshed scoot as some of my turts spots were, you can lightly scrape off the wet chalky stuff, with your fingernail to clean some of the fungus. ther is more about shell rot i am sure on this website, or if you find that to be the case than post another message and you will find plenty of help.