Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Oh my gosh!! Beautiful turtle & wonderful photos!
What species of painted is this? The red stripes on the skin are sooo different from my western painted.
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PHRatz

and its a male.

That is exactly what my little guy looks like! His bottom is very bright too. I can tell that it is dulling as he is getting older though which is a shame!

>>That is exactly what my little guy looks like! His bottom is very bright too. I can tell that it is dulling as he is getting older though which is a shame!

Yesterday I cleaned my painted's tank. He's been in his new tank for 6 months now. We upgraded to a 55 gallon in Jan.
He's closer to his basking lights with the new floating dock,I don't know if that plays a part in what I'm getting to here.
I also bought some Jurrasi aquatic turtle food and got a sample of NASCO'S Turtle Brittle food from Carolina Pet Supply online. We've always fed him a wide variety of foods, pellets are only a small part of his diet but he does eat some pellet.

Now I don't don't if it's the combination of all these things we did to change his life, if it's one or more of the foods we bought, or what, but I noticed yesterday that his plastron pattern is much more noticable than it was before.
His colors are much brighter than they were a year ago, the orange/red coloration on his shell all over is much brighter, the yellow stripes around his face are much brighter, yet he's getting older. He's 12 years old this year and looks better than ever.
I'm thinking if your turtle is fading maybe you could try one or both of these foods & see if he brightens up too.
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PHRatz