We run a small-scale turtle & tortoise rescue and we just received a little guy who had been presumed to be a juvenile box turtle with "a significant genetic mutation", according to a friend of mine who asked us to take him. My friend, in turn, had gotten the turtle several months ago from a young woman who said she had bought him from a breeder as a three-toed box turtle. Her story seemed a little sketchy as to why she wanted to rehome him after a year...but whatever, I guess, as long as he ends up in a proper home. My friend had him for a few months then got a hold of me with some concerns over its developmental progress, as he seemed pretty frail and extremely undersized for a 2-3 year old box turtle. He also had puffy eyes and rarely was able to open them. Long story short, we ended up taking him into our shelled family yesterday. After checking him out, I realized he was in fact a Reeves aquatic turtle, not a box turtle. (Hence the mistaken impression he had a genetic defect, I suppose!) Even though he's at least 2 years old, he's still barely the size of a silver dollar, which I imagine has added to the difficulty of properly identifying his species. Anyway, we immediately set him up with a proper terrarium environment with water, fogger, heat and UVB light etc, as he had been living the life of a box turtle all this time with only a shallow dish of drinking water for hydration. He's loving his new mini-pond now, and has spent most of today in the shallow end basking under the UVB lamp. My biggest concern right now is his eyes which continue to be puffy and closed; I suspect a vitamin A deficiency among other things, but I'm not confident that supplements in his food will be enough, since he eats so little. Is there any evidence to suggest that turtles can absorb vitamins through their skin and/or shells when added to their soaking water? I've seen answers both pro and con but nothing conclusive. Or perhaps there are other more efficient, creative ways to get vitamins into such a small creature? Thanks for any advice or thoughts!