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Hello, my name is Blair! I live in Colorado, i love reptiles and insects. My favorite reptiles are turtles and pythons, and my favorite bugs are moths, dragonflies, and scarabs I have a few years of experience caring for reptiles (bearded dragons and ball pythons) and I've kept fish before (bettas and goldfish) but this is my first time keeping anything like a RES before. I've always been very daunted by aquaria as a hobby, never daring to keep anything more intense than a single betta in a 10 gallon -- but putting my turtle's tank together was easy, albeit a bit expensive haha!

Recently I adopted a turtle from one of my friends. The turtle was her younger brother's, and the poor thing was being pretty neglected. She caught her brother going to the lake to dump the turtle. The minute she offered the RES to me I jumped on the chance. She came to me in a 15 gallon with no heater, a light i dont think was even suited for reptiles (it barely gave off any heat and im pretty sure it wasnt a uvb), and one filter. Since then, I've moved her into a 50 gal with everything she needs: a heater, a 100 watt heat lamp, UVB, two filters adding up to 75 gallons of filtration, aquatic plants, snail buddies....She *loves* to eat frogbit and water spangles !

I've only had her for a short period of time now but shes adjusting super well. She has some mild shell rot and some retained scutes, but I am treating her for it under the supervision of an exotic pet vet. I'm planning on creating a naturalistic 'blackwater' environment with natural tannins in the water from driftwood. So far everything is going great I hope to learn as much as I can about RES in order to give her the best quality life I can give, and I figured joining a forum would be helpful!

I named her Benji, and shes a compete sweetie. Very calm and loves to explore, only took her 4 days to adjust to her new tank!

Welcome Blair and Benji! I'm glad she's found you, looks like you make quite the team. Is there a reason for the tannins? It's considered harmless, but I'm wondering if you've heard of any benefits. How big is she now?

steve wrote:Welcome Blair and Benji! I'm glad she's found you, looks like you make quite the team. Is there a reason for the tannins? It's considered harmless, but I'm wondering if you've heard of any benefits. How big is she now?

Hello, thanks for the welcome <3

There is some research indicating that tannin's might provide an anti-microbial effect to the water, though this is debated/I haven't found any conclusive information on this (but i figured it couldn't hurt to see if it helps her shell). It also lowers the PH of the water ever so slightly, and in general helps keep the water perimeters healthy. I also personally just like the look of blackwater set ups, I was inspired by a huge freshwater tank at my local sports and camping supply store (it was like a 500 gal stock tank, real impressive). It's a proper blackwater set up where they kept rainbow trout and other large fish native to my state. It feels very naturalistic.

And she is about 6 and quarter inches long, and growing fast! I'm planning on moving her into a 75 gal when I move into my new house in the next year or so and have more room for it.

Fungus grows aggressively, and being in water makes it much more difficult to treat. I'm not sure if it can be successfully treated without medication but it does seem like some RES kept outdoors had a better chance to fight it off.

steve wrote:Fungus grows aggressively, and being in water makes it much more difficult to treat. I'm not sure if it can be successfully treated without medication but it does seem like some RES kept outdoors had a better chance to fight it off.

Oh yeah definitely! it's certainly not my first line of treatment. The vet gave me some topical medicine and suggested to buy a reptile wound care formula with chelated silver and/or to do betadine soaks twice-three times a week as needed. Along with changing all her husbandry for the better I hope it will be enough to keep it from getting worse. How do you feel about brushing a turtle's shell with a soft toothbrush to help keep debris and dirt off it during the healing process? I've heard it suggested many times but I'm always worried it might disturb the healing process.

Also having her outside would be the ideal. Building an outdoor enclosure would definitely be something to consider when I finally own my own property.

I have not seen Betadine really work against shell fungus. Brushing the shell is fine, just remember they will be slippery and might accidentally scratch, bite, or relieve themselves on you.

Good to know <3 Thank you for the advice Steve!