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Hello all,

Here's the story of this turtle. This turtle had been in my family's possession
for more than 10 years, perhaps 15. I cared for it first, then my family did
when I left town. Since the beginning, we had no idea how to care for turtles
like specified in this website. So, until about a month ago, it had been living
in shallow 1" water. It was fed various veggies, cooked rice, and sometimes
shrimp.

A month ago, I took the turtle with me. Now, it's sharing a tank with my
other smaller turtles. It immediately swam just fine despite years of not
swimming at all. At first, it ate pellets. But now it eats only veggies.
I know I'm not setting a good example by putting 3 turtles in a small tank,
but I'm not asking for a discussion about this issue. I made a decision and
I'm ready for the consequences.

I realized that the turtle needs a good shed. It doesn't have enough
calcium and vitamins intake. It has lots of retained scutes. Also, I think
it has lost its natural stripes.

Now, what I need is your help in identifying the kind of turtle it is and its
gender. The shape of its beak is not that of RES, I think. You can see
it in the front view photo. I'm in doubt about the gender because it has a
rather big tail, but short front nails. Perhaps the lack of calcium is stunting
the nail growth. However, it could be that it's actually a female.

Thank you for reading and I'm looking forward for responses.

(Please click the photos for bigger ones)

Well not all aquatic turtles get long nails. Its a male thats for sure.

Can you take a picture of the whole top of the shell? Also a picture of what the turtles whole head looks like helps. Any patterns on the head can help ID it.

I dont have a a clue as to what species it is yet.

It might possibly be a melanistic slider. To me it has a slider "look".
My first instinct was female, but with the tail tucked in it's hard to tell.

Like painteds mentioned, a pic of the top of the shell, and one of the side/top of it's head extended would help.

So we have 1 vote for a male.

Thanks for the responses, Painteds4life and Bulldog. The turtle is shy, unlike the
other 2. But I will try to get a good picture of the extended head. It certainly
looks melanistic; the whole head doesn't have stripes and I can't find any traces
of the red ear part.

The whole top shell is brown in color. The head is black to very dark brown.

I will post pictures as soon as I can take some good ones. Thanks again.

Here are some more photos. Please click on them for full view.

Top shell:

Head:

Tail:

BullDog is likely correct: it's a melanistic slider. But, what kind?
Still need to determine the gender too.
By the way, I learned from Painteds4life today that not all male aquatic
turtles have long front nails. Thanks!

With that tail, I'm going to say male as well. If you look really hard, you can kind of see some reddish colouring, but honestly, I've got no idea! Looks like he needs some TLC though!

Do you know where he originally came from? Was he from the wild or from a pet store? If he was wild, that would help narrow it down to species that are native to your area.

That is a sweet looking turtle, I love how hes almost pure black all over...Evil

Is the plastron concave at all? I know thats not a surefire way to determine the sex but maybe?

The coloration really is very interesting! Good luck with him/her.

I can't tell but I don't think it's a RES. Looks female but I will go with a melanistic male too.

Thanks, people.

So, based on the tail size it's a male. However, it doesn't have long front nails.
The bottom shell is flat, but I'm pretty sure it's irrelevant in sexing a slider.
Moreover, it looks like the bottom shell is very flat because of years of lying on
a glass tank floor without swimming at all.

Melanistic is a certain. It really doesn't matter to me what kind of slider it is, I just
want to know.

I hope the shell will shed soon. The energy is coming back for sure. It can walk
by lifting the whole body and it can climb too.

Thanks all. Still want to know the kind, if anyone can help.

Its an Asian Leaf Turtle

Okay ty for the head photo, thats what i needed for ID. He is very dark but i can still make out those neck patterns on him like turlte in first photo. Also if you look the plastron is a perfect match.


http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/world_ ... index.html

Thank you, Painteds4life. So, it looks like an Asian Leaf Turtle. Sounds exotic,
but I think we got it in a market cheap. I'm sorry I forgot, but that should answer
BullDog's earlier question.

In ATP's 3rd photo, the beak shape matches.

Very interesting. I'm going to give him TLC, hoping to improve the shell.

Very cool! Nice job IDing Painteds