General Care Discussion :: Hatchling questions

[busywithbeans]

Hey everyone,

I've had my hatchling RES for a little over a month now. After a few days of having him, I had a reptile vet come and do a home visit to check him out, as well as his husbandry. She said both looked great, except he had a slight runny nose, but she said it would probably clear up after a few days. Thing is, she squeezed on his nose to show me how it was runny, and I don't really feel like I have the experience to squeeze his little face like that; it makes me nervous. But I don't see any other signs of RI: no frantic swimming, no coughing/mouth breathing or wheezing from what I can tell. Think it's worth it to have her come back? He is eating normally, basks regularly, sleeps and swims just fine, etc. I'm also taking him outside daily for 15 minutes of real sun, as she said that would help. Also, I never did the parasites testing, as it's hundreds of dollars and she said there's no reason to believe that he has any after checking him out. Think it's still worth the testing? Finally, just a few other questions:

-His water is at a constant 77 degrees, while his basking area is at a constant 90 degrees. I know hatchlings are supposed to be in 80+ degree water, but for the life of me I can't get it past 83 after water changes, and then it just cools down to and stays at 77. I have a ceramic infrared heater as well as a submersible water heater, but I'm thinking I need a new water heater if it needs to be at 80+. Any suggestions on one? He's in a 40 gallon breeder tank. Also, the vet said both his water and basking temps were just fine, so does it really need to be 80+?

-Any tips on getting him to eat veggies? I've tried everything, and he will not eat them! He knows it's food, because he puts them in his mouth, but then spits it out. I've even tried rolling his pellets in pureed veggies, and he puts it in his mouth, then spits it out and keeps doing this until the pellets are veggie free. Otherwise he loves his pellets (ReptoMin baby), and live prey (small gut loaded crickets/small gut loaded meal worms). I generally feed him 3-4 pellets per day and one live prey item. Is this not enough/too much? I just want him to have a varied diet and not too much protein, but he just won't eat plants/vegetables yet.

-It looks like he's shedding a little bit when he's in water, but I can't tell at all when he's out and dry. Is that normal? He just doesn't look like he's grown much in the past month+ that I've had him, but it's hard to tell if he's shedding or not.

Sorry, I know this is a lot of info, but I'm just making sure I'm doing everything right.

Thanks!

[ljapa]

77 degrees is fine for the water temp. You can get a second heater if you really want. With two plugged in, as soon as the temp is right, they will turn off.

If your turtle is eating and the activity level is good, I wouldn't worry about another vet visit. If you aren't seeing any leaky nose or other signs, it should be fine.

As to food, a comment and a question. In regards to the lettuce, keep offering small bits and taking them out when they aren't eaten. Do vary it so your turtle is exposed to different types. However, don't expect it to eat much. In the wild, a newborn RES is primarily a carnivore. As they age they gradually transition to a more and more vegetarian diet, but they will still eat prey occasionally.

So, there's nothing wrong with a hatchling that won't eat greens, but continuing the exposure is a good thing. At some point that will begin to change.

Live prey can be great stimulation. However, you do need to watch what type and how frequently. Things like crickets have a high fat content, and mealworms have a very high fat content. In the wild, they are eating insect larvae in the water, wild crustaceans, perhaps the occasional snail. RES aren't designed to handle a high fat diet.

EDIT: hot submit too soon.

As an occasional treat, they may be ok, but not daily. Can you get ghost shrimp at your fish store? That's a much more natural prey item that has a fighting chance to survive a bit in the water.

Shedding skin is not often visible out of the water. Once the scutes start shedding, you will see that when basking.

[busywithbeans]

Thanks so much for your detailed reply; much appreciated.

As for the crickets and mealworms...yikes! Now I'm very worried...the little guy has had a lot of them in the past month :/. Do you think he'll be okay? I'm worried that I may have "damaged" him now. I already discarded them. I'm really surprised the vet didn't warn me about them though. There were a couple days where he had three crickets a day, and she said that was fine. Ugh.

I will try ghost shrimp and maybe some minnows? But I think I'll hold off on any live prey for awhile, and just stick to pellets for now. Speaking of which, if that's all he's eating in a day, how many of the floating baby sticks should I give him? I know the two rules: as much as they can eat in 15 minutes or as many that could fit in their heads if they were hollow. Does 6 total in a day sound right?

Thanks again!

[steve]

Nose squeeze is a new one to me. I don't think I would be worried about the cricket/mealworm issue now. Don't just use one pellet... Reptomin is OK but also check out Omega One. Go by the "hollow head" for pellets but be a bit conservative. Maybe 2/3 of a hollow head?

[ljapa]

I wouldn't be overly concerned about the crickets/mealworms.

For one thing, you've changed the diet, which is good. For another, I suspect, that it's likely less of an issue for a hatchling which is growing quickly.

The nutrition section on the main site has some great advice on feeding:

http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html

Like Steve said, probably less than what can fill the head daily.

When I first found this site, I had fed crickets and struggled as to how much to feed. I also noticed that my turtle went through growth spurts that first year. There were times when I was likely feeding too much and times when it wasn't enough. One bit of advice I got was to look at the skin in front between the neck and arms. If it looks like it's sunken in much, you are likely under feeding. If it's bulging out, then you are over feeding.

Not sure how accurate it is, but it helped me.