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Hi everyone, as some of you may have seen, one of my RES hasn't been basking very much lately (if you're curious, here's the whole story: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=36812).

Recently, he's been basking a little more (but still not a lot) as he adjusts to his new privacy barrier. (I'm able to see him through a little eyehole I cut into the barrier). Needless to say, to avoid spooking him I try not to pick him up too often. This turned out to be my downfall, since I now have no idea when this happened:




Sorry I couldn't get the whole shell, but this was the farthest I could get without losing image precision. It looks like this down the middle of the plastron (as you can see, everything is fine horizontally). Again, I have no idea when this started, since I have been trying to let him live in peace. I literally spent hours poring through this forum as well as others, and haven't found anybody else with this exact issue--which deeply concerns me. I initially suspected excess swimming time was the culprit; however, there are people who hibernate their RES all winter, and their shells don't look like this come spring time...

A piece of potentially helpful information is that he is in the middle of a major shed (maybe I offered too much Wheat Germ?), and is still in the process of recovering from retained scutes he had when I got him.

As always, thanks for reading!

It might just be representative of growth. How big is he now?

I haven't measured him since summer, so I'd say he's around 7".

That's pretty big for a male RES but he should reach his final size soon. Has he been getting more food recently?

Yes, but not too much. I used to offer pellets/greens on Day X, then nothing (or just greens) on Day Y. He started showing less interest in greens again, so I tried to entice him on "off days" by pairing greens with 3-4 Zoo Med pellets. I was hoping that wouldn't alter anything too much, since they have such a low protein content. (That being said, he's eating greens again so I should be able to go back to the original schedule at any time now).

Does it show any sensitivity or peeling at the edges?

If you're talking about the scutes around the pink line, then no--I haven't seen any peeling. When I touched the pink line, he didn't seem to notice/care. I suppose that would be a "No" for sensitivity, too.