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Hi I am very new to turtles and my girlfriend bought one with me yesterday. The pet store owner said it was a nice turtle and i would enjoy it. However, after bringing him/her(i dont know) home one of his arms is swollen and he has not been using it to swim or walk. At first i tought that this arm was completley 'dead' but i saw him use it to swim today. I am not sure what i should do about this?

Also i originaly set up his aquarium with fish tank pebels making a land area and a water area but he had troubles climibg up the pebels and i heard that they arent a good idea. So today i bought a Zoo Med Turtle Dock. He seems to enjoy having more water now that i have gotten rid of all the pebels but my only concern is i have yet to see him climb up on the dock. Do you think he can climb up there only using his back feet and one arm?.. because he seems to avoid using his hurt arm no matter what.

thanks,
Jack

Welcome. It sounds like the limb has been injured fairly recently. Perhaps it just needs time to heal. What does the paw look like? Can you post a pic of it?

Whatever basking area you use, it needs to be super easy to get on while he's nursing that arm.

sorry the picture is not that good! his paw kind of looks like it has a scab

Is it a flap of skin? Is it sensitive to the turtle when you touch it?

no it is just some discoloration and seems a little rougher. He does not react when i touch the area and thats why at first i tought this whole limb was 'dead', but i have seen him use it once or twice while swimming. otherwise i have never seen him use it and it is always just hanging out.

I have only had him for about a day now

wow, it could be he was injured and as it healed maybe there was some nerve damage thats all that comes to mind when you say that you thought that it might be "dead" but ive never seen anything like that before.. im sorry