5 y/o Western Painted Male

Question
I live in Florida, and it's starting to get chilly. I have a Male, 5-6 years old. It seems like his shell is turning brown, and I don't know if that's due to the weather change, or if something is wrong with him. He is eating normally, and just as active. He has recovered from pneumonia one time. I don't know if it's due to that, or what. I've almost lost him once, and i don't want to tempt fate again. Also, I have a hatching Western painted. When I got her she had 2 infections, which are now gone thanks to the help of Pet Bazaar; she still has soft shell, and pneumonia. I'm putting her outside everyday for natural sunlight, and we have a UVB light, along with a water heater, a heating lamp, and a heat lamp that doesn't give off light, for the night. I was wondering if there was anything else I can do for her? If you need any pictures, just let me know. Thank you so much!

Answer
Julia,   Yes sometimes temperature change does cause color change. As long as he is eating normally I wouldn't worry unless you start seeing the signs of the pneumonia again then of course to the vet for systemic antibiotic. Now your baby. First stop moving her around right now as any baby she can feel the temperature change and it does affect her and the best basking light to have on her with a wattage high enough to keep the air in there around 80 degrees would be red. They don't recognize the color if you want one you can use day and night . Not any red bulb has to be a reptile bulb of course now this doesn't give the ultra violet you need your UVB light for the ultra violet so that she can create the D-3 to make calcium. Especially when they are young they are very prone to MBD (metabolic bone disease). This is a lack of calcium. I have seen tons of lizards with old broken fingers and you can cause her shell not to form correctly. Her shell is not an exoskeleton it is bone it is part of them it is their rib cage and part of its invertabral spine. So we wanna keep her healthy. Get a filter for the tanks. Clean is what its all about with these guys. Her shell should be hardening pretty good by now hopefully you don't have soft shell disease this is from MBD. I want to tell you , you need a basking area with the heat of at least 80 degrees and large enough for them to dry COMPLETELY!!!!! The water temp has got to stay around 80 for her 76 for him ......if they are together 76 fine. The basking area is the problem I think you may be having. They are water turtles but, they are still reptiles and need the basking area to bring up blood temp, digest food fully, and dry off completely so you don't end up with fungal infections or bacterial. Do not let your baby get food picky. What I would do right now is keep her on baby pellets and slowly introduce her to blanched greens (mustard,tuna,collards,even bok choy)take some albacore tuna ad layer it make like a lasagna.Make sure to add calcium powder especially for her now. I freeze it til almost froze then cut it into pieces and keep it in baggies. Much easier. So basically make sure you have a large enough basking area , feed in separate container to keep her tank cleaner and lots of UVB. Get outside sticky thermometers and put one at top and on the bottom to keep track of air temp and water temp. You can always send me pics and names always appreciated. Good Luck, Tina