Urgent Care :: Rescue Turtle... Total novice!

[Frrit]

Hey, guys! I've been voraciously reading all the educational info on the site and it's super helpful. I'm a vet assistant at a specialty practice that only does dogs and cats. I have no exotics experience, but when someone brought in a huge (what I assume to be a) RES in a fully-aquatic 10 gallon tank that they found in their apartment complex dumpster I agreed to take it home. The ER docs took a quick look but nobody really had anything definitive to say about him.

So here I am the proud owner of a turtle for which I'm not entirely sure how to provide. I've been reading up on shells and I have some questions. This turtle's shell is almost entirely white. He (or she, but he has longer claws so I'm assuming male at this point) is shedding bits of shell and what's underneath isn't much better. The shell isn't fuzzy nor does it have any visible defects, but I have to assume that because he had no dry area to bask on he's probably got something going on to worry about.

I also can't tell if his neck skin is shedding like it's supposed to or if he's got some fungus going on.

As far as we know he's had no exposure to UVB/spectrum light. He was found with a battered old heat lamp with a broken bulb. He was cold but happy. He LOVES his new food pellets. I have no clue what he was eating before. His 10gal (yes, TINY! He couldn't turn around without climbing up the glass to do so) had a gravel bottom and one of those in-tank whisper filters. After work I got him a big 100gal tub and set him up with a few ceramic heat emitters on a dry basking spot and tossed in one of my aquarium heaters. He has an 18in full spectrum bulb on as well. I didn't put down any substrate, which is good... 24 hours later after being off his gravel he's pooped out more than a dozen pebbles. Awful! So glad he didn't get impacted.

So what is my next step? What is best for him? I'm not sure I'll be his forever home (I'm a dog/cat/fish sort of individual) but I certainly want to get him 100% healthy. Who knows, by then I might be attached, haha!
Do I need to worry about his white shell? What should I be feeding? How can I tell for sure if he's underweight or ok? Anything I can do to help any stray gravel out of his system? Is his shell shedding OK? What is the proper method for 'dry docking' and does he need it?

Thanks so much! I'll keep reading up and appreciate any and all tips. This poor guy had to have at least a few years of awful conditions... His shell is 7in long. How old might he be?

[ljapa]

Good for you for rescuing!

Post a picture of the shell for more advice. White that's there even after shedding is not good.

Others here have much more experience with shell issues and identifying it. Dry docking will probably be involved along with some medicated cream.

A full spectrum bulb likely doesn't have UVB. You'll want to get a reptile UVB bulb.

Look at the plant page on Nutrition for veggies to try. At that size the diet would include lots of veggies and not so many pellets:

http://www.redearslider.com/plants.html

If you don't have any kind of filtration going, you'll want to be doing water changes. You mentioned aquarium heater, do you have a freshwater test kit?

Also, depending on the ambient temp, that one heater may not be enough in 100 gallons.

That's a quick run down, but it sounds like you've already done an incredible job. Pictures of your turtle will really help others in offering advice.

[Frrit]

Thanks so much! I took some pictures, he looks a LOT better today when I got home from work. I think he enjoys having a dry spot to bask. He slipped into the water when I came to check on him so he's wet in the pictures, but his shell is darkening up (possibly from being dry?). I'm having issues uploading from my tablet, I'll have to try on a computer in a few days.

He's got a (old and probably ineffective) UVB light. It works but I haven't changed the bulb for years. It'll do till I can get him a proper one, at least it's better than nothing. I tested his water, ph is off but everything else is (surprisingly) ok. I'm doing 25% daily changes since this setup is in no way cycled. I might throw my old fluval 405 on it, although I'm not sure how well it will work since the tank is at floor level. Currently using a 200 watt heater, ambient room temp is warm since he's in an enclosed bathroom area with all the CHE's pumping out pretty good heat. Basking spot is currently at a roasty 95. Might have to make some adjustments!

I'll upload the pictures as soon as I can, unless someone knows of a resizing trick for tablets. Tomorrow I'll put together some turtle salad. He didn't like the strawberry I offered him as a bribe earlier!

[steve]

Welcome to the site! In most cases, the white is a shell fungus but as ljapa said, pictures will help. It'll also give us a good idea of the overall health.

If you use imgur.com, choose a suffix that will provide a smaller image (like l). You can also email them to me and I'll upload it when I can.

[Frrit]

D'oh! Of course! Thanks for the reminder. I'm not too good with the computer (if that wasn't obvious).





Hope those work!

[ljapa]

Again, I'm not really experienced with shell issues. The shell does look like it needs some help.

However, that's not a RES. I think it's a false map turtle

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-falmap.htm

Doing some quick reading, it does look like they are much more carnivorous that RES. They will still eat plants, but less than a RES would.

http://animals.pawnation.com/raising-fa ... -4805.html

http://www.theturtlesource.com/caresheet_map_turtle.asp

[Kansasslider]

Yea that's not a res. I would also have to lean toward a false map. It has the same markings on its head.

[steve]

I'm not seeing any white areas on the shell. I'd recommend strictly limiting the pellets/protein. How many pellets are you feeding daily?

You also have a lady false map