General Care Discussion :: Rescued Red Eared Slider

Taking care of your turtle's overall health.

Post Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 6:36 am   Rescued Red Eared Slider

Hello everyone,

Almost like a month ago, I got this cute red-eared slider. To give a little bit of a back story, I learned that she (I don't know the sex of it so I'll refer to it as she/her) is 2 years old. She never had UVB light, but she had a basking spot and a proper heating lamb. I read every article I could, did my research but in my country, we don't have any veterinarians that are specialized in turtles. So here are my questions:

1. Can we sex it?

2. Her water is around 26-27 degrees Celcius and her basking spot is 30-35 degrees Celcius, and I bought Exo-Terra UVB 5.0 for her UVB light. Can I improve anything about heat and lighting?

3. Her diet is mixed, I portioned her diet into 7 days like; Monday - Sera Raffy P, Tuesday - Sera Raffy I, Wednesday - JBL Agil, Thursday - Sera Raffy Mineral, Friday - Sera Raffy P, Saturday - Sera Raffy I, Sunday - Sera Raffy P. Can I improve her diet?

4. Addition to her diet every two weeks I add Sera Reptilin Vitamin to her pellets, and I give her a calcium block for reptiles (I don't remember the brand). What else can I do for her?

5. Her lower shell has a crack it actually started to get better in a month, but can it fully recover?

6. Her shell looks very white. I confirmed they used tap water without dechlorination so it is because of hard water. I checked for shell rot but there is no shell rot. No smelly or squishy white spot. Will her shell recover and get better over time?

7. I tend to brush her shell every week or every other week. Whenever I brush it lots of stuff comes out and I think she has lots of stuck scutes. How can I help her to shed these?

8. She is 5.5 - 6 centimeters in length she grew a little bit with a healthy shell (you can see it in photos), but I'm scared she may be stunned. Is there a way to understand if she is stunned?

Right now she is very active. Her appetite is really good. She can swim and dive without any problems. I'll try to get her a bigger tank really soon right now his temporary tank is ~20 liters, because her tank is so small I feed her in a feeding tank. I really want to learn her sex, and give her a happy long life. Thanks :)

Photos:
https://imgur.com/a/ISFo42D
Gubu
 
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Post Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 12:06 pm   Re: Rescued Red Eared Slider

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you rescued her, she looks to be in rough shape but they are fighters! I'll try to answer your questions...

1 - Her growth looks a bit stunted, making it hard to tell. It's also possible you are feeding too much right now. From the pics, I can't tell but will lead towards to being female.

2 - Just make sure the UVB lamp is over a basking area that she can easily get to and dry off. You probably need to replace the bulb every 6 months.

3 - I don't know about the food you are using, but do not overfeed and do it consistently. Also look into incorporating some veggies.

4 - Make sure those calcium blocks are not medicated. You can probably skip it regardless, look into cuttlebone (w/backing removed).

5 - It won't fully recover but can heal. You need to keep an eye on any sharp edges, which might need filing or debriding. The scared area should be dark, make sure you don't see white or red.

6 - The white is fungus. It's a real pain to deal with, but its treatable with Silver sulfadiazine cream. You only get one or two good shots, so make sure you have your setups ready.

7 - There shouldn't be much coming out. Can you explain what it is? What are you using? After she gets better, you won't need to do this.

8 - Hard to tell, she does look like shes growing, but maybe too fast. Keep her diet slow and steady, its good to be conservative with her food.
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steve
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 3:12 am   Re: Rescued Red Eared Slider

Hi Steve, thanks for the answers. Sorry I've been busy with school so I couldn't write sooner.

First of all, I halved her food intake. For example, if I were feeding her 10-12 pellets right now it is 5-6 pellets.

She can reach to basking spot and get all the UVB she needs. And for her shell I got betadine I'll start treating her as soon as I can.

For brushing her shell I'm using a soft toothbrush and warm water and gently brush her. Things that are coming off I don't know how to describe correctly, but like shell scutes (in small pieces) and little scales. I'll try to take a photo.

Again thanks for the answers. I wish best!
Gubu
 
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 2:27 pm   Re: Rescued Red Eared Slider

Photos would be helpful, but it sounds all good so far :)
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Post Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2021 9:29 am   Re: Rescued Red Eared Slider

Hi! Sorry for no update in a long time. Right now I'm curing her shell rot problems. And I managed to capture some of the stuff that comes off from her back when I brush her. https://imgur.com/a/l82ZQSm here are photos. She is keep growing and her shell much healthier.
Gubu
 
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Post Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2021 7:33 pm   Re: Rescued Red Eared Slider

Thats typical, so keep it up!
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steve
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Post Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 7:20 am   Re: Rescued Red Eared Slider

Hey! So here's an update on her 6 days of the treatment process. https://imgur.com/a/9Uv55q6
Gubu
 
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Post Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 11:20 am   Re: Rescued Red Eared Slider

Starting to look much better. The lifting of old scutes is nice to see, though it could take several sheds to see significant improvement. Since there is fungus, it won't go away without sulfadiazine cream or an equivalent anti-fungal.
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Post Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:31 pm   Re: Rescued Red Eared Slider

I'm using Betadine to help against her fungus. But I'll also try to get sulfadiazine cream.
Gubu
 
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Post Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 4:16 pm   Re: Rescued Red Eared Slider

Betadine alone, probably doesn't do much against fungus. Fungus invades the new scutes pretty quickly so get as much shedding done as possible first.
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