I am a complete noob when it comes to Turtle keeping but heres my setup. Small Painted turtle in a 20 gallon High tank with a turtle dock and a UV 5 bulb. I have recently noticed that the turtles shell is looking like it is peeling around the edge. Almost like a full layer is coming off. I do weekly water changes and run a filstar XP1 filter on the tank. I keep the tank water around 70 degrees. I was wondering if this peeling is kind of like molting or is it something to worry about. I feed repto-min and occasionally some jumbo krill if i thaw too much for the fish. I just pulled one of the pieces off it feels like a layer of thick dead hard skin. seems quite brittle. If this is a problem please let me know what I am doing wrong. I strive to provide the best possible care to all my pets.
Turtle question
- Thread starter SupeDM
- Start date
It's nothing to worry about. Turtles shed thier scutes, mostly when they are growing. I'm guessing your turtle is a baby?
Ya it is maybe 3 inches. eats the repto food right out of my hand one piece at a time. I have a 40 gallon breeder tank in storage for when he gets bigger but for now the 20 is more than enough. Glad to hear its not a problem. I read alot about turtles before I decided to get one but this never came up. Thank You for the help.
This turtle is native to minnesota and the northern U.S. I purchased it at a privately owned reputable store that specailizes in Fish and reptiles and had a lengthy conversation with the owner. She said that it shouldn't be kept at too warm a temp because it would only see water temps like that for 1-2 months a year. If this info is wrong I would need to know so I can correct it. As I stated I am new at turtles and want to do it right.
room temp water should be fine and it souds like your turtle is just shedding its scutes. Start looking into a bigger tank soon though because they grow really fast from this point until they are fully grown
make sure your turtle can get out of the water to dry off
you should have a basking spot of atleast 86 degrees and your better off keeping the water at 78 to 82
you should have a basking spot of atleast 86 degrees and your better off keeping the water at 78 to 82
pedro69;3767456; said:
he said he had a turtle dock and for this species, room temp would be fine although warmer could not hurt. if it were a more tropical species I would totally agree with you but I think that SuperDM is doing fine.
SupeDM;3767390; said:
There is no right and wrong in the true sense.
A friend of mine has a big pond in his yard which goes from 6 inches deep to 3 feet. He has few types of turtles that breed and he gave me a few.
I kept a male map and male Florida cooter with orange shell marking.
I posted water temp question couple months ago and got diff replies . I keep them outside in 75 gallon water trough.
I was worried about night temps falling to 60s . Either way every answer I got was correct just diff ways of keeping them.
My friends pond even in coldest Miami nights stays coldest 60s in the 3 ft depth but my water trough will equal air temp.
I met a guy he sold turtles to yrs ago who keeps them in water troughs. Some with water heaters some without,etc and all do fine.
True your turtles only see warm temps couple months a yr but those months they are the most active .Thus IMO why not duplicate those temps.
My turtles seemed the "happiest" most active with water temps mid 70s and basking temp of 90 -100.
I bought them in the house few weeks ago though they could have stayed outside but no way I was going to do that with such chilly nights .
I use basking area of 90 -100 if to warm they move bit off the main basking area and water temp at roughly 74/75 .
Everyone else is correct in their info but we have different preferences.
snakeguy101;3767481; said:
I tried your method of soil in plastic bin as haul out ,bury brumate in cold weeks and it worked great about 2 weeks ago both buried in and went to sleep but I couldnt leave them out lol.
I was getting an alscar worrying. I bought them till probably end of Feb if that long and they woke up fairly fast but seem ticked as they loved it outside but for now indoors with uv turtle halogen light bulb.
Were having record breaking cold.