General Care Discussion :: Basking and eating advice

[Karcharias]

Hi, it's me Karcharias again, I made a topic in December about the white/silvery flecks on my turtles shell.

It looks pretty much the same as it did before, but I was told not to worry about it.

Anyways, I managed to get a 75 Gallon tank for my turtle, and she's a small female, about 7-8 inches at age 6.

After about a week, she took to the basking area, she's on there every morning, sleeping from when I leave for school at around 8:30, to about 6PM. Most of the time she's up there, she's either sleeping or sticking her head out and watching me. I'm glad she's basking, but she's been basking for like 8+ hours a day, is that healthy? She's still eating and swimming around, mostly at night, but she sleeps most of the day. Also, I can't get her to eat romaine lettuce, I left a piece on a vegetable clip and didn't feed her anything else for three days, but she wouldn't even nibble it. What can I do to get her to eat lettuce and other vegetables?

[AndreaF590]

What is the temperature of the water? Do you have a water heater? If the water is too cold that might be why she isn't wanting to swim.

I've heard people mention soaking lettuce in something like tuna juice to entice the turtle to eat it. I haven't had any experience whit this. I was lucky and my little dude took to veggies right away. I would maybe do a search on the forum about that because I know I've seen it discussed before. Also, I've notice my turtle prefers certain kinds of lettuce over others. Maybe try switching it up with some green leaf lettuce or red leaf lettuce. (Which I think have a little higher nutritional value for your turtle than the romaine as well.)

[steve]

For the white spots, have you tried anything to get rid of them? If there is a texture to it, it might be a small pit.

[Karcharias]

http://prntscr.com/5ykj6g That's what the tiny white spots look like. I was told earlier they were common, but I'm thinking they could be mineral deposits. I haven't yet tried putting anything on them, if I did, what should I use? Oh and, the one eye isn't there anymore, she's been like that since she was a baby, it's looked like that for years, no eye-drops seemed to improve it for her.

Thanks for the lettuce tip, I'll buy a few different types that are edible for turtles and try feeding them to her.

I plan on buying a thermometer to test the heat of the water, I haven't been able to get one yet, after buying the expensive tank and stand. However, today she's been swimming around a lot, she really loves the water fall effect my filters have.

Thanks for all the help

[steve]

Could be a minor bacterial infection, it doesn't look serious. It should go away after she sheds.

[Karcharias]

Alright, just now I took some new photos of my turtle, she was basking, and doesn't seem to mind me coming up to her anymore aside from retreating a little into her shell. Here they are:http://prntscr.com/5z2c6m
http://prntscr.com/5z2cnp

Is there anything I can put on her shell, like some treatment to see if it goes away?

[steve]

At this point, there doesn't look like any issues. Could be shedding... I'd just wait a bit longer before deciding if you need to intervene. Plenty of UVB and basking should help the most.

[Karcharias]

That's good, she's basking a lot. Thanks for your help!