General Care Discussion :: New turtle without front legs

[Rebecotaus]

Hi, I just became caretaker of two little red slider turtles. One of them (Darcy) does not have her front two legs. I was told she was born this way. I have built a new habitat for them and I'm worried about how Darcy is in the water. When she gets in the water she just floats around. She uses her back legs and head to move around when she is in the basking area but she has a hard time getting out of the water. If I put more gravel in the tank neither turtle will be able to be completely submerged in the water. Are there any suggestions of what I might do?

[steve]

Can you post a picture of your setup? You might need to make an even more specialized habitat for her as it's very unusual to have RES with missing both front (or say rear) limbs. Unlikely a turtle with that disability survives in the wild, and it might make it difficult for you as her keeper.

[Jeremiah]

I'm going to guess that she wasn't born that way, it's more likely someone abused her. The main problem I'm concerned about is the conflict between the RES's instinct to swim in fairly deep water, and the actual reality of not being able to do so--since turtles usually climb out heavily relying on their front legs to "grab" the new surface. I don't think you need gravel (it often leads to impaction), but rather a shallower tank (maybe a foot or so of water) with a built-in incline that allows her to "slide" onto dry land.

The closest product I can think of to fill that purpose would be a Waterland tub. Just out of curiosity, how's her shell? If she has basking troubles, I'd also be concerned about bacterial/fungal build-up.