Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Wassup guys and gals,

I've read in Phillipe De Vosjoli's book on Red-eared sliders and he mentioned that painted turtles should be kept separate from Trachemys or other turtles altogether. He says they may develop shell problems. Has anyone ever had to deal with this? My painteds and red-eareds seem to be doing fine in terms of health. The only thing I worry is that the red-eareds will get much bigger and start being aggressive toward the smaller painteds.

Johnny

Hi,
I , like you and many others, have kept painted with sliders at several points . I have also kept them with yellow bellies and other trachemys and also with pseudemys (red bellied turtles).. I have foud that they do fine, but in general, alone or housed with others, painteds do develop some shell problems. These are more along the lines of what are commonly called "shell rot" diseases. The remedy seems to be higher temperatures . That is to say, access to them. I have found that if painteds can get to one basking spot that is much warmer than you would expect a temperate turtle to need (and another in the normal 85 - 90 range) they do better and the incidence of shell rot (not fungus) decreases. Fungal infections are better cured by adjusting water pH.