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Hello, I recently purchased Jimmy from a local store, but they didn't have the species written there. Is he a yellow belly slider? (2 weeks ago he had an orangeish belly, its turning more yellow as time goes by.

Apart from this, a few other questions:

Is there a way to know if its male or female at this stage?

Is it ok for the tank to be much bigger than him? I know he will grow so I didn't want to do small upgrades.

And a final question, I can see some brown spots on the top of his shell, does that look normal?

Thank you!

Too early to tell the gender, but looks female at this point. You're smart to not do incremental upgrades, I would probably just go for the largest you can get regardless of gender. And the bigger tank is fine, but make sure there filtration is not strong enough to trap him or get stuck in between. You might want to add a few additional spots for him to rest... soap dish holders with suction cups might work. Maybe even aquarium magnets.

As for an ID, I think you have a river cooter. Do you have pics of the belly?

Thanks for the reply, Steve.

I will apply the tips! I added some extra pictures of it to the original post. It was really difficult to get him to pose as hes absolutelly terrified of me.

Let me abuse of your good will and throw in another couple of questions:

Is it too early to practice handling? he hates it... gives me a mad look and wont eat when I have him on my palm, at all. I'm afraid hes too young for the stress.

Is it normal to have those spots in the water? it looks like oil but the water is relatively new, its only been there for like 3-4 days. I usually don't let leftovers hanging either.

Thanks!

steve wrote:Too early to tell the gender, but looks female at this point. You're smart to not do incremental upgrades, I would probably just go for the largest you can get regardless of gender. And the bigger tank is fine, but make sure there filtration is not strong enough to trap him or get stuck in between. You might want to add a few additional spots for him to rest... soap dish holders with suction cups might work. Maybe even aquarium magnets.

As for an ID, I think you have a river cooter. Do you have pics of the belly?

Before you want to handle him, has he adjusted to his new home? For instance, eating and basking regularly? If so, you can gently handle him, though there really isn't reason to do so except to move between enclosures. I've found that RES can have a wide range of personalities and some are more inquisitive than others but, they are generally a hands-off type of pet.

You can try hand-feeding some treats and let him swim up to your hand. It gets trickier when he gets bigger since he will bite at anything you put into the tank and will be able to cut through skin.

As for the oil, it could be from leftover food or even his poop. It could be that the filter outlet is not agitating the water surface enough.

Are there faint markings on the plaston (bottom shell)? If so, then I think your guess of a yellow-belly slider is correct.