Hi everyone,
my name is Cristiana and i'm from Portugal.
I'm a new turtle owner, i've recently adopted a beautiful False Map .
I always loved turtles, my uncle has 3 beautiful RES with almost 22 years. When i'm at his house i always try to see them and spend time with. They like to have their shells rubbed and to smuggle in our laps. SO CUTE!! So I know what a turtle requires to live a heathy and happy life.
The previous owner had her in a plastic vasin, , with almost no water at all, no uvb or uva, NOTHING!!! When I saw the i told the owner that he was killing the poor thing and he gave it to me. It was something like this "If you think you can take better care, go ahead take everything with you(Plastic Vasin, Turtle and Gammarus )", i put Sparkie the in an old fish tank of 50L, its not enough but for now its 100 times better than the previous vasin, while i'm waiting for my personalized 140L tank to arrive.
Now Sparkie the has Dr.Whos Sticks and Reptomin (mixed), heater, filter, heat lamp, basking area, uvb lamp and some plastic plants (when the new tank arrives i'm going to put real ones ) and a decent amount of water to swim and dive.. I've had him/her for about two weeks and a half, and i make sure to spend my free time calming the poor thing, to get her used to my presence. It must be working because today came running, or swimming, to the edge of the tank to eat and to be rubbed, he/she even took food out of my hand!!
This is what's worrying me some, shell appears to have retained scutes, but i'm not sure, do you think i should take him to the vet!?
Thank you for your time reading my post..