General Care Discussion :: New owner

[Stanley's Mom]

I am a new owner of an "abandoned and stunted" RES. The girl who dumped him on me, I am finding out, knew nothing. I ended up spending hundreds of dollars on him and I know nothing but have been researching like mad. I've had him since at least May 22. I have his water at 80-82 and his basking area at 90. I have no idea on age so I have been feeding him twice a day. I noticed he has lighter parts on the sides of his shell which I'm guessing means he is growing. I figured I would sign up, post some pictures and see if I could get some guidance. Since I know very little, I am constantly worried about him.

http://imgur.com/a/u19E0

First 5 pictures are from May 22 and the last ones are from June 17.

Thanks for everything

[steve]

He's looking alright, maybe cut down on the pellets. Are you feeding him anything else? Remove those small rock and raise the water levels. Do you have a UVB lamp? Could you still return some of the stuff you bought?

[Stanley's Mom]

Yes I am feeding him the little shrimp too. I've been raising the water, though the weather here has been making the water disappear. I have a uvb which is on a cycle like the sun. No I can't since honestly I'm using all of it

[steve]

Shrimp should be a rare treat or just skip it entirely. Try to position both the basking lamp and UVB lamp over his dock. I'd also raise the water as high as you can, change to a different substrate and don't rely on those digital probe thermometers.