Florida Red-Bellied Cooter — Fact Sheet

Pseudemys nelsoni · Florida Red-Bellied Cooter

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Aquarium or pond-style setup with strong filtration and secure escape prevention
• Adult tank length and water volume must match species; bigger water volume is safer
• Provide a fully dry basking platform with easy access
• Avoid small unfiltered tanks, slippery exits, and dirty water

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Swimming space, resting ledges, basking dock, visual cover, and safe plants/wood
• Substrate optional; if used, keep it easy to clean and too large or too fine to swallow dangerously
• Filter intake protected from trapping animals

💡 Lighting

• UVB essential over the basking area
• Use a heat lamp to warm the dry basking platform
• Replace UVB lamps on schedule; glass blocks UVB
• Photoperiod: 10-12 h; no night light

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 22-27 °C

• Warm zone: 32-35 °C

• Cool zone: 20-22 °C

• Night: 20-24 °C

• Clear gradient required; the animal must be able to move between warm, cool, and hidden zones

• Measure basking surfaces with an infrared thermometer and ambient zones with digital probes

• Avoid heat rocks and unguarded heat sources

💧 Humidity & water

• Water quality matters more than air humidity
• Fresh filtered water with regular partial water changes
• Dry basking area must let the shell dry completely
• Avoid ammonia/nitrite, stagnant water, and dirty filters

🪳 Diet

Feed regularly:

• Aquatic turtle pellets, whole invertebrates, aquatic plants/greens as appropriate

In moderation:

• Fish, shrimp, fruit, and rich protein extras

Avoid:

• Goldfish-heavy diets, processed meat, bread, dirty leftovers

Supplements:

• Calcium source and UVB; avoid vitamin overdosing

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Soft shell → UVB/calcium/nutrition problem
• Shell pits or smell → shell infection or dirty water
• Swollen eyes → water quality, vitamin, or infection issue
• Floating unevenly or wheezing → respiratory disease
• Refusal to bask → wrong temperature or stress

Consult a reptile- or exotic-animal veterinarian for severe weakness, injury, breathing signs, swelling, or prolonged refusal to eat.