Carapace growth?

Question
I'm Hanika and I have a red-eared slider named Alfie. He doesn't have great equipment yet, which I am worried about and trying to get, but he seems fine for now. He is young and about 2 inches long right now. (I live in Costa Rica so it's not illegal to buy them this small. I didn't know that it was in the US 'til I bought him.) I feed him dried shrimp, torn into little pieces like the container says; little green nutrition pellets; and about every third day he gets lettuce and/or carrot. He usually just eats the shrimp, but sometimes he takes a bite of carrot or lettuce. He lives in a kind of small, plastic tank with a shallow basking area. I don't have any way to keep him warm besides changing his water to warm water every night. So he never basks, and now he has a ring of 'scum' around his carapace, between the edge parts and the big center part. It seems similar to the hoof growth of my pony, so I was thinking maybe it's shell growth. But do you think it's growth, or is it some disease or something? I'm 15 and my parents won't easily, or quickly, say yes to buying the things he needs.. Am I treating him right? Is his shell ok? Thanks for any advice. Bye!

Answer
A young pond turtle need room to exercise and swim. They usually recommend at least 5 gallons of water (not a 5 gallon tank half filled) for the youngster to swim in.

Heating the tank should not be a problem unless night temperatures are getting below about 60, and a simple cheap light system is to just hand a plain light bulb over the basking area of the tank. Changing the water every day is good for cleanliness, but not for heat.

Your food choices are OK, but shimp (even dried) contains some bacteria that can cause a shell infection in the turtle. Fish, small worms, etc. are better options. Young turtles will not eat a lot of plants or veggies, but this will change as they get older.

The 'scum' on the shell is possibly just algae, which grows in stagnant, shallow water situations, like yours.


If you want to find some good information on the Internet about red-ears, try www.tortoise.org. They have good care pages and great links to other sites.

I'm glad you are concerned about the turtle. I doubt the 'scum' is anything too dangerous, but I do think you'll need to make some changes to its cage and care to keep it happy and healthy!

Good cages do not have to be expensive- people make perfectly good cages out of big plastic tubs, small wading pools, and so on all the time.