How big is your turtle? 4-5 inches
How long have you had it? living in a pond all summer, now in a tank for the winter (i live in NY, so it gets cold) for about two weeks now. no idea how old he is, but i believe he's at least a few years.
What is the water temperature? 78 degrees
Did you use a thermometer? yes, there is always a thermometer in the water
Are you using a water heater? yes (tetra aquatic reptile heater)
How much water is in there? its about 2/3 full
Are you using a water conditioner? yes
Are you using any filtration? yes (large reptofilter for 55 gallon tank, turtle is in a 40 gallon breeder)
What is the basking temperature? 90-95 degrees
Is there a basking light? yes 100 watt about 12 inches above basking dock
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of? zoo med floating dock
Is there a UVB light? yes 5.0
What have you been trying to feed it? he eats reptomin, shredded carrot, and zoomed canned shrimp, every other day, and ive been trying to get him to eat red leaf lettuce but so far he wont touch it
When was the last time your turtle ate? today
How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 40 gallon breeder now, 2,000 gallon pond over this past summer
Is the tank near a window? no
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? i go in there a few times a day, its my bedroom and i also have two ferrets in there to take care of
Have you read the Basic Care section? yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? a little bit
Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? not at all
ok, now that thats over with, he is my first red eared slider. like i said, we got him in the beginning of the summer, and he was living in our pond in the yard. he had a rock to bask on, and he basked very often. my mom bought him from some crappy pet shop. i have no idea how old he is, but im going to say at least a few years. (he also only has one eye, has since we got him, but its healed. who knows how what happened to the poor thing). since we got him, his shell had one big white spot on it. of course the idiots in the pet shop said its just shedding. it has progressively gotten worse, even though he basked all every day. however, for a couple weeks before we took him in, he didnt bask as much. dont know why, but since we couldnt see where in the pond he was, we couldnt get him.
now his shell is shedding, but its very white-ish looking in a very large area in the center. its not cottony looking, and it has no smell whatsoever. he is acting completely normal. he basks in his tank, i have a heat light and a uvb light. he eats commercial food, some carrots and some shrimp, but wont eat any greens. he also has a cuttlebone for calcium. here is a picture
like i said, hes acting fine, seems completely healthy, eating normal, basking normally, in less than two weeks ive already done a complete water change and of course i used water conditioner. i thought it might be shell rot, but it doesnt have any smell. ive been using a sulfadip anyway just in case, ive used it for the past two days so far. so any idea what it could be? (i know it looks really bad, but its not because of anything we've done from what i can tell, i dont know how or where he was living before we bought him. Anyway, any ideas, or help or advice would be appreciated. thanks!
and heres a pic of his tank setup right now:
and here he is!:
