Standard Background info:
How big are your turtles? palstrom lengths around 7" each. (2 RES)
How long have you had them? Early January 2010
What is the water temperature? around 75 degrees (guess)
Did you use a thermometer? no
Are you using a water heater? yes. 50 watts
How much water is in there? around 50-55gallons (66 gallon tank filled to about 2" from the top)
Are you using a water conditioner? Yes. Nutrafin turtle clean
Are you using any filtration? yes. fluval 405 canister
What is the basking temperature? not sure
Is there a basking light? yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of? made of stainless steel
Is there a UVB light? yes
What have you been trying to feed them? pellets
When was the last time your turtles ate? not sure.
How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 66 gallons
Is the tank near a window? about 7 feet from one
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? mostly only me (my bedroom) which doesn't bother them unless startled
Have you read the Basic Care section? yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? yes. looking for personalized advice
Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? excessive shedding and loss of schutes
So, for the past 3 weeks or so both my RES have been shedding quite a bit, to the point where it almost clog's up the intake on my filter and results in a layer of film (assumingly skin) on top of the water which forces me to do alot of extra cleaning. For the first week or so i thought nothing of it as they have been growing fairly steadily. Also, while i have been cleaning the tank ive been keeping them in a laundry basket, which they do alot of climbing and falling around in, which has resulted in the loss of some small schutes from around the ridges of their hind legs. I have also noticed you can actually remove small pieces of the shutes with your fingers. Is this normal ? The shedding has reduced almost completely since then.
In addition, for almost 2 weeks now they have shown no interest in eating. Im guessing they have been eating some of the pellets that have sunk to the bottom of the tank, because how could they have survived otherwise ? Regardless, it worries me that they have gone from constantly begging for food to not even eating any when i feel them. When i went to feed them yesterday, one of them ate one pellet, and thats the most ive seen either of them eat in about a week. Besides that, they show no other odd behavior. They remain fairly active and do as much (or maybe more) basking as ever and appear to be just as healthy as always.
A little background on their diet: They have spent much of their lives with turtle pellets (nutrafin max which is the best available here) as about 90% of their food, but only because i cannot get them to eat any veggies. They will eat every single feeder fish in the tank as soon as they can catch them until they are gone, or any other turtle suitable food that isn't vegetarian, but they simply will not eat their veggies! They also have cuttlefish bone for extra calcium. In the past, the only way i could get them to eat lettuce has been to deprive them of pellets for 2 days or so, but even then they would eat very little of it, so its been mostly pellets and the occasional feeder fish and other treats .
Keep in mind their current setup is the very same they have been in for about 3 years, just now with better filtration and a much nicer home made basking platform they love, so unless the needs of turtles change as they get older, i have no idea what the problem could be.
From one turtle lover, to all of you out there , any help would be greatly appreciated ! thanks.
