General Care Discussion :: Rescued 25y old male RES

[Astrid]

Hi everyone! I'm new here and I have a few questions.

I've recently rescued a 25+ year old male red eared slider (called Tiny) form a neighbor who never cared for this guy properly. I'm still surprised that he's even alive and in a quite decent shape after all he's been through.

He spent half of his life in a small plastic tank, in shallow and dirty water (not even enough to cover his whole shell) without a place to bask, without any heat or UVB source and was only fed pellets. His growth was stunted too.

When I visited the neighbor 8 years ago, I asked her if she would allow me to give the poor guy a proper home, but she wouldn't have it. Tiny had signs of shell rot, his shell was discolored and soft on some places. I wanted to help her buy a proper tank, but she didn't want it. So I bought her the largest plastic tub I could find, a filter, lights and a basking platform. And gave her instructions on how to care for the poor guy. She promised she'll do everything I asked her.

After all these years, when I came back, I discovered that she didn't use the lights or the filter. She was changing Tiny's water maybe once every 14 days, he was living in his own filth. Water level only high enough to cover him. He never ate anything else than the pellets.

He did grow in size a lot. His shell now measures 8 inches (20cm). I guess he finally had a space to grow.

For the last year she kept him in her basement, without windows or any heat source. She did turn on the light for him a few hours every day (when she didn't forget).
Since his water was so incredibly dirty, Tiny spent a lot of time on the dock, drying himself. So I think the dirty water actually helped him to survive and heal the shell rot, because he was spending so much time outside.

A few weeks ago, when I found out she was being hospitalized, I asked her family if I can adopt the poor guy and they finally agreed!

I've bought him a large (300l) tank, heat lamp, UVB lamp, set up a great basking area, heavy duty filter (suitable for a 600l tank), he has plenty of water to swim in and he seems very happy and active now. He has started eating vegetables and lettuce. He's basking a lot and is even sleeping outside of water during the night.

So here are my questions:

- in the past few days his scutes are coming off incredibly fast - but the shell underneath seems healthy to me. I think this is quite normal, after all these years (he might even have a scute build-up), but I just wanted to make sure.

- he has a lot of white marks on his shell, and some look like they are rust-colored. They have an reddish-orange parts on them. The shell is hard and looks shiny, despite those marks. It doesn't smell or scrape off. Are those old shell rot scars or maybe signs of calcium deficiency?

- how can I make sure he gets enough calcium and vitamins? I have placed a few bits of cuttlefish bone in his tank, but he's not interested. What other foods should I give him, considering his history and age? I know he should eat less proteins and more fresh vegetables, but is there anything specific I can try? I've offered him his usual pellets, but he only eats one or two and just isn't interested in them anymore (no wonder, after all these years).

- here's today's photo of a (completely dry) Tiny on his basking area (he loves to watch himself in the mirror):



Do you see the rusty looking marks? And white marks? When the scute on that area fell off, the white part was almost completely transparent, like glass. There's also a small hole near the edge of his carapace, but it looks like a very old injury (not sure how or where he got it).

I think otherwise he's looking pretty amazing, considering everything he's been through. The red color of his neck in more orange than red though. Not sure if this will change over time or not.

Thanks everyone for your help.

[Jeremiah]

Great job on rescuing Tiny, and welcome to the forum! You're right, he looks surprisingly healthy for having lived in the old conditions you described. Be sure you do plenty of water changes, while the tank is cycling.

From what I can see, the shell is very dark but like you said seems mostly healthy. I don't see any white spots, though--so I can't speak for those. Do you have any plastron pictures?

I think the rusty spots you describe are actually patches of "normal" RES shell patterns that are becoming visible after many years due to his recent shedding.

With regard to overall shell coloration, I wonder if (somebody, please correct me if I'm wrong) the large amount of dark coloration is a response to the lack of light Tiny received before. Perhaps his body, as a survival measure, increased expression of dark pigments to maximize benefits from the little light that he came into contact with.

For diet, variety is key. Many people have success with red leaf lettuce and red bell pepper; you can check out the Diet section of the main redearslider.com website for more ideas. If you think he's bored of his old pellets, you'll have to keep trying different brands (i.e., Saki-Hikari, Mazuri, Omega One, Zoo Med, et cetera). If you ever have problems with retained scutes (which you don't seem to at the moment), a great addition is Hikari Wheat Germ, which contains high levels of Vitamin E (it helps with shedding). If you try lots of pellets but still don't get results, try soaking them in the water from a can of tuna before offering.

The same goes for cuttle bone (which does contain enough calcium to keep an RES healthy, when paired with good staple pellets/vegetables). I like to break it into pellet-sized pieces when I give my RES their pellets, so by the time they start eating they usually don't take the time to distinguish the food items. Whatever you do, just be sure to take off the hard backing if you buy the bone from the bird section. Tiny's an adult now, so he should be fine with daily leafy green offerings and every-other-day pellets.

One final thing to consider is the fact that he's sleeping on the basking dock. He may just have formed the habit due to his previous life, but the lack of a heater/basking area, combined with the dirtiness of his water, may have given him RI. Watch out for mucous, on-land nose bubbles, wheezing/coughing/whistling when breathing, lack of appetite, lopsided swimming, lethargy, and excessively swollen eyes (the eyes alone are not a sure indicator in the absence of any of the other symptoms).

[BabyNemo]

Congratulations on the rescue!

[Kansasslider]

Keep up the good work and congrats on the rescue!

[Astrid]

Thank you, Jeremiah and everyone!

Here's today's photo of his plastron:



The middle part has a pinkish hue to it (the color is not coming off), but it looks and feels healthy, smooth. I know the pink hue might be a sign of septicemia, but the lines between plastron scutes look perfectly healthy.

You're right, I think the patches really are his original pattern! I wonder why his shell is so dark as well. Might be the lack of light...

He started to eat the pellets again (I've switched the brand), along with red leaf lettuce, a bit of apple and carrots. He loves to eat fresh food. It's a joy to watch.

Great idea to break the cuttle bone into small pieces! I'll try that.

He loves the basking rock... yesterday he spent the whole day on it, in his "superman" pose. But today he's spending all his time in the water. He was sleeping in the water tonight as well, so I think it's all good. I've checked for the RI symptoms, but he doesn't have any. I guess he's just enjoying the new heat and UVB lamps. He was without those for so long...

Thanks so much for your help!

[BabyNemo]

He has super pretty markings. Poor thing though. I'm glad he's in the right care now!

[Jeremiah]

It's great to hear that he's acting/eating like he should. There are so many cases of turtles like Tiny that didn't have good endings, so thank you for your willingness to both conduct and apply proper research!

The pinkish color is fine. I've seen lots of healthy turtles with it.

[jonathan1683]

Very cool you may want to try and give him some reptivites D3. I dump some of it in the turtles pellet container. I am sure there is a better way to administer them, but I kind of try to hand feed the turtle before it goes into the water I know that's bad too.

[xcristina]

The pinkish color is normal, it means that Tiny is growing
Congrats on the rescue!

[Astrid]

Thanks, everyone.

Tiny has really interesting behavior... he spends every other day all day on his basking dock. After the lights are turned off, he goes for a swim (and that's when he's also eating). And every other day it's vice-versa: all day very active swimming, before the lights go off, he climbs on the dock and sleeps there. He's a funny fellow.

[Kansasslider]

That's just great!! I'm happy your turtle is enjoying life! Great job.