Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a three month old RES that I just got for X-Mas and I am trying my hardest to keep it healthy, happy, and alive but I have no experience with reptiles. She was shedding a lot of skin around her neck and it looked like thin, translucent flakes hanging off her neck. They just fell off today but I am still paranoid that it may be a sign of a fungal infection. Also, I noticed her scutes appear slightly raised which is concerning me as well. Does this sound like normal growth for a young RES? Please advise. Also, I am reading mixed results regarding whether it is good to feed your turtle spinach for a snack. Input from experienced RES owners would be greatly appreciated.

This is probably the best care sheet out there for RES.

Hope it helps ya!
WCT RES Care sheet

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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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Can you give me some specifics on your set-up? Also, what are you feeding it?

Thanks, Linda

Hi Linda,

My RES is a couple inches long (3 months old) and I have her in a 15 gallon aquarium at 80 deg F with a heat lamp and a UVA/UVB lamp, which I keep on about 12 hours a day. I feed her the commercial Reptomin pellots in the morning and I give her some fruits and veggies in the afternoon, such as a piece of banana and/or a leaf of dark green lettuce or spinach. She will eat anything. I also keep the calcium block in the water, which she occasionally bites into. She seems healthy and active but I notice that she has some peeling translucent skin hanging from her. It doesn't look discolored or infected but I don't know if skin peeling is just from growth or if it is a sign of a skin infection.

Sara

Hi,

Diet sounds good just don't over feed the pellets. You want a slow growth. Do you have a basking area for the baby? if so what is the basking temp? Are you using a heater for the water?

Thanks, Linda

The water is heated to 80 degrees. I have a rock that is partially submerged for her to crawl up and bask on. The basking area is about 90 degrees.

OK,I think I know what may be causing the shedding skin. I believe the water is too warm. They are temperate turtles so they prefer water around 72-74. With the basking area they routinely climb onto it to warm up. The drying out helps with skin and shell. When your water is too warm it discourages them from basking. I would also only feed a few reptomin sticks a day as too much Vitamin A can cause excessive shedding. Shedding of skin is normal but not in excess. Shedding of their scutes is also normal as they grow. Do not force or pull these off as they start to lift. I raised my 14 year old with this set-up and never had a problem with her. She is 12" long and just over 4 lbs now.

I would try cooling the water down and see if you notice her basking more and shedding skin less.
Hope this helps

Thank you. I'll try turning down the water temperature. She hasn't been shedding as much in the past few days.

As long as the room temp is around 70 your baby will do fine. Leave the basking light on for 12 hours and let her sleep in darkness at night or if your house falls below 70 degrees at night use a low watt ceramic heater to provide gentle heat.