We have a baby red eared slider, she's about the size of a half dollar. We bought her about a month ago. We're trying to take good care of her but we seem to be getting conflicting information.

We recently took her to a local vet that works with exotics but she doesn't know that much about the hatchling turtles.

My questions are: Our bella seems to be shedding a lot, the vet said this is due to her growing, but the books say this could be a symptom of a skin disease. How do you tell the difference? It's just pieces of skin, not any patches of shell as far as we can tell.

Also Bella doesn't seem to like to bask on her little basking log (pic below). We tried getting her a different one (this one was shaped like a lily pad) but she couldn't get on. Does anyone have any suggestions on a better basking log? As it is now, we have to take her out of her tank everyday for around 2-3 hours to dry her out because she had the beginning of shell rot.

We had a lighting problem that we are fixing. We just had the basking light instead of a UVA light and a basking light. We have fixed the lighting problem and the heat in the basking area is around 88 degrees and the Water temp is 72.

Another problem we have is with her eating habits, the vet said that she didn't eat because she was shedding. But it seems she hardly eats at all. We try to feed her in a separate area from her tank to keep the mess down but she doesn't like to eat in it. Also we have REPTOMIN turtle sticks and turtle treats, she only seems to want to eat the treats, we try to feed her the stick but she won't eat them. Anyone have better food idea, or an idea of getting her to eat the regular food? Or do you think we should just wait until she's hungry and just feed her the turtle stick?

Last question is about multiple turtles, we were thinking of getting a yellow bellied turtle to keep her company. We have a question about quarantining the other turtle and whether they would get along well together. Also would we need to get a bigger tank, we have a 10 gallon turtle tank right now.

Thank You for your patience , I would really appreciate any help or advice anyone would be willing to share.

Just a couple of southern gals with good intentions.

Bella-baby red eared slider-she ran away

Bubba-Bella's cousin, a real miracle boy

 

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My Pets:
0.0.1 Blood Red Corn Snake (Larry)
0.1.0 Red Eared Slider (Shelly)
If you are not going to respect that we love reptiles, don't go passing crazy bills and don't kill every herp you see, O.K. people!!! 
Ha, what can i say, some people have drugs, i have herps
COMING ON OCTOBER THE 10TH OR 11TH: One Jungle Carpet Python 
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i think the dock looks fine, thats a tiny turtle, is it able to get up onto the dock or does it just not like it, i would stick with solid docks like that and not the lilly pad stuff, things they can grab onto easily or swim onto and then just walk on. 10gallons is ok for a baby of this size but soon it will deffinatly need a new tank they get to be good sized and need to be able to swim and have clean water.

i wouldnt go with another turtle, 1st because your baby is very small and very fragile right now, dont stress her, 2nd no two animals should be kept confined together unless they are absolutly best friends, its really is a stress thing and so much more but unless you have an 8foot tank/ land for them to share or something smaller and more reasonable but still big big big i wouldnt put 2 of the same type of turtle together let alone one of another species... but my stand is dont mix and let animals have their own homes unless they are super social species in which case other of their own kind and size that they grew up with or have been proven to tolerate and accept. so either hold off on another until your turt is big and healthy and in a cage that can hold 2 or dont go with 2... but in the end turtles are pretty nice animals so if you get the space and your pet is lookin good for a turtle maybe another just be sure they are the same size in the end or close to it so they dont have a food hog or anything.

sounds like your keeping tabs on the critter and looking into medical care and feeding and all that . good luck those tiny turtles are tough sometimes.

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R.M.

R.M.