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Hi I bought two baby turtles about two months ago and they were doing fine until recently. I bought them a 25 gallon tank, a filter, a nice large basking rock, a water heater, and a UVB light. Yesterday I realized that my male (or at least I was told he was a male) is about twice the size of my female. He is also profusely shedding his skin but otherwise he seems like he is in good health. On the other hand she is still the same size as when I bought her and her shell is discolored. It is hard for me to tell if there are "soft spots" but her shell is slightly curling up and the ends. She refuses to bask lately and is always in her cave. He has now also stopped basking and I am very worried but I don't know what is wrong. Just today the light I was using exploded and now I'm really confused and I have to go out and buy a new light and I don't know what kind to get or that was even the problem! Please HELP!!!

What is their size in inches from the top of their shell to the bottom minus the curve? If they are smaller than 4 inches they can't be sexed yet.

What light exploded? The UVB? Also, not mentioned above, do you have a heat bulb for them to bask under?

Also what is the temperature of your water and basking area? Water should be around 75 for older turtles and about 78 for hatchlings. If I'm not mistaken I think I've heard that water that is too warm can cause excessive shedding. (If this isn't the case then someone correct me)

If you could answer a couple of these questions it might help us to understand what's going on better. Thanks and welcome to the forum...

Welcome. Turtles do shed skin as they grow, but the shedding shouldn't be "profuse" as you've described. Excessive shedding can be from a number of factors--too high temps, overfeeding, a too high ammonia level in the water, fungus mascarading as shedding among them.

Do you have your turtles in a tank? If so, how big is it? How much water is in it? Do you have a filter? How often do you change the water?

The curling shell of your one turtle indicates a diet that is lacking in calcium and/or Vit D3 (which is needed for calcium to be absorbed) and/or a diet that's too high in protein . What are you feeding the turtles, how much and how often?

What brand of UVB are you using? Where is it in relation to the basking area? If it was the basking lamp that exploded, just use a regular lightbulb for heat in addition to the UVB light. Did it explode because water hit it? If so, perhaps it's too close to the turtles. What's the temp of the basking area? 88-90F would be good, with the water about 10 degrees cooler so they'll want to bask for the heat.

Can you post a pic showing the discolored shell?