I am worried about the shells of my 2 young red eared sliders. They have brownish spots on their shell (carapace), which never used to be there. One of them (Slider B) has also turned light green. I'm not sure if this is normal, shedding, dirt stain or beginning stages of shell rot. I cleaned them today with a new soft toothbrush but nothing seemed to come off. Slider B also seems to be a just a little bit bigger than Slider A, and more active and hungry. There are no white spots on them, at least as far as I can tell. Below are the pictures of them. They have a little bit of brownish stain at their underside (plastron) but I don't have pictures of that yet. I haven't managed to take pictures of their carapace when dry now as I'm trying to reduce handling as much as possible. Please let me know if this is necessary and I'll try to post them asap.
Slider A Jan 2016
Slider A Sept 2015
Slider B Jan 2016
Slider B Sept 2015
Below is some background information.
I acquired 2 baby red-eared sliders (shell length approx 1.5 inch) in August 2015. I kept them in a tank that's large enough for 2 babies (22 inch long by 10 inch water depth) with a basking dock and filter. I did not have a UVA/UVB light then. I don't have a water heater as well as I live in a country where room temperature is 26-27 degrees celsius (~80F). I fed them nutrafin pellets, approx 5 pellets each per day everyday then increased to 7 pellets each. Once a week or once a fortnight, I give them 2 pieces of freeze dried river shrimp and mealworms from Fluker's Aquatic Turtle Medley Treat Food. They have been healthy all along, normal behaviour, normal eating, normal coloration. I changed the water approx once in 2 weeks.
The above set-up I described is a tank in my university dormitory. For a month-long break in December, I moved back home and created a temporary set up as I couldn't transport my tank back. The set-up isn't ideal - it's a bit smaller and more shallow with no filter, but it has a basking dock. I change water once every 3-4 days. They took about a week to get used to the new set-up, and the transportation from my university to home stressed them out quite a bit. Now they're comfortable and respond well to me and to food. Recently I've been introducing some romaine lettuce, carrots, small bits of papaya into their diet. For the past 3 weeks, I got a UVA heat lamp then switched it to an Exo Terra Reptile UVB Compact Lamp today (as they had been out of stock at local pet stores). The shells of my sliders are currently slightly under 2 inches long.
I understand that both set-ups have not been ideal. Once I move back to my university (this Saturday!), they will be back in their big tank with the UVB light installed and with a proper filter.
Could anyone advise me on the problem my sliders have? I would appreciate any opinion on this!
