Sheldon is a male, as he has long front claws, a narrow head and a very long tail! One thing I noticed..... Don't talk about Sheldon's tail! LoL! For the first two weeks, every single person that came to visit him, saw his tail and said, "Wow! Look at his tail!" He would immediately pull it into his shell! LoL! Don't talk about his tail...
Sheldon is very active. At the moment, he's in a 20 gal tank with only 6" of water in it. I only have 1/2 the tank full because I had such a difficult time figuring out a basking area for him. After several tries, I managed to get large pebbles and piled them up on one side of the tank to make a ramp. If I can figure out how to create a basking area that is stable enough to be higher, then more water can be added for swimming. But for now, he seems happy. If anything, he's just bored because he has nothing to do or play with during the day while I'm at work.
OOH! And he loves the waterfall from the filter!! The filter is set up in the corner of the tank and whenever Sheldon's scared or spooked, he swims feverishly for the filter and hides under the waterfall. Sometimes he goes there just to relax, it looks like. I've seen him stay under the water, stretch his neck up and lets the water fall over his head and the top of his shell! I think he likes the feel of the water on his shell and neck.. That's his safety/security spot.
