General Care Discussion :: Strange behavior in my Red Eared Slider

Taking care of your turtle's overall health.

Post Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2022 5:10 pm   Strange behavior in my Red Eared Slider

My RES's name is Turtle. Turtle has been acting weird for a good half of a year when basking.
The strange behavior is when he's on his basking platform, he would shrink his head into his shell and keep moving backwards with his legs and arms (until eventually dropping back into the water).
He keeps going up and down on the platform doing this and never really basks for a long time by himself.

Because of this, I've put him in a container to bask for a couple of hours everyday (he is fine in the container and sticks his legs and head out without moving, sometimes taking a nap).
Currently it is almost spring, and noticed this issue in the fall about 5-6 months ago (North Eastern US).

I've brought him to a vet and the vet found nothing wrong (blood test + xrays).
The vet could not explain this behavior.
He was put on a course of antibiotics about a month ago.
Turtle is ~20 years old, and is very lively still.
Before the antibiotics he seemed fatigue (while still eating and pooping regularly), now there are no remaining symptoms of anything wrong except he still dislikes my basking platform.

Turtle:
20 Years old
Male
~8 inches in length
Feeding him every other day, a little mix of the following:
romaine lettuce, bok choy, other green leaf veggies
pellets (reptomin, mazuri, and 1 other) ,
calcium supplement (once a week),
Treats:
dried baby shrimp,
dried crickets,
dried mealworms,

Setup:
100 gallon stock tank filled about 75-80 gallons
Fluval FX6
PVC pipe created dock + a water resistant tile from Home Depot
UVB 5.0 26 Watt (Exo-terra), and a Heat Lamp ~12 hours a day
Surface Temperature varies between 85-95 (~80 ish when it gets wet)
Water heater in the winter for a temperature ~78-80
Aerator constantly running
15-25% water change weekly (sometimes a 50-65% water change)
ilovemyturtle2
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Mar 15, 2022
Gender: Male

Post Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2022 8:55 pm   Re: Strange behavior in my Red Eared Slider

Hi ilovemyturtle2, what kind of basking lamp do you have? If it also puts out light, I would try it with out the UVB lamp for awhile. Other than that, it sounds like his skin might be irritating him. Do you know if he does this when no one is around (though video or camera)?
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steve
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Joined: Apr 11, 2005
Location: New York, NY
Gender: Male

Post Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2022 7:25 pm   Re: Strange behavior in my Red Eared Slider

Yes he does this when no one else is around, I can hear him clanking on the platform.
I have a Exo-Terra 26 Watt 5.0 Bulb for UVB, and a Heat Lamp (without light). I've also tried the ZooMed 13 Watt 5.0 UVB with the same issue.
I've tried turning off either one of the bulbs, or both, and he still seems to still have issues.
The only thing I could think of is maybe it's warmer in the container (temperature difference), although just these past day or two he's been doing the spins in the container as well sometimes.

Extra Info:
He has some plastron shell rot now, I suspect because because of his discontinued basking (but it's almost recovered after a week of making him bask in a container).
But he was experiencing the strange behavior way before the shell rot.
He has some plastron shell rot now. I am unsure how the shell rot ensued, or maybe he somehow injured himself because when I first noticed it, it was 2 days after I checked his plastron previously, and it seemed to be fine.

He has been on the road to recovery with the couple hours of basking daily and occasional povidone iodine.

I've always suspected his plastron was giving him issues, but was never able to see anything until recently.
Before this strange behavior, his skin would be itchy sometimes (I see him scratch his head sometimes while basking).

Also attached a picture of my tank setup.

Below is a quick 8 second video of what I'm talking about.
https://imgur.com/a/qRh9KzC
Attachments
TankSetup.jpg
ilovemyturtle2
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Mar 15, 2022
Gender: Male

Post Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2022 10:21 am   Re: Strange behavior in my Red Eared Slider

That does looks a bit unusual. Maybe you can add something in there for him to rub against, like a submerged resin platform, sort of like this - https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostor ... ge-1238221
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steve
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Joined: Apr 11, 2005
Location: New York, NY
Gender: Male


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