Need help with Yellow bellied slider (at least thats my guess)

Thank you. She just escaped the name onion.

This is my Cooter "Spud" he's an Eastern River Cooter

Hes beautiful. I can see the resemblance.

Yes it looks like a cooter and it need more water

In the end ill go with 55x43x23 and will fill it up as much as my floor will let, shouldnt be less than 135gal, but will see. Gonna start to build frame soon . If everything will go smooth and ill have enough time this lady turtle will be in new waters in a month.

Heres an upside down frame, just few things left to add.

Great job saving this baby! your doing a wonderful thing!
My guess is female. her plastrome looks to be convex indicating that she has room to form eggs inside. males tend to have concave belly's so they can mount the females.

my tips below
1. DONT USE SOAP! I dont think that is safe unless it is a reptile specific soap but i have never seen anything like that. just clean water and only very gentile brushing.

2. Remeber that she has been threw some terrible neglect and despite you giving her wonderful care now and meeting all her needs the change of environment is still very stressful and stress can be very dangerous for reptiles. I had a very similar rescue story with an abused Russian tort and he ended up getting stressed developing a respiratory infection and passing away even thought i spent like $1200 getting him checked in to a reptile animal hospital trying to save him. it was just too much for him. watch your girl carefully over the next 6-12 months and observe her feeding behavior and activities levels and breathing. the most likely sickness that she may get is an RI from stress and they are life threatening for turtles.

Key signs to look for
-Decreased activity either suddenly or slowly over several weeks
-Decreased appetite
- Gasping or gulping breaths.
-Breathing threw and open mouth
-Bubbles from the nostrils either clear or discolored phlegm
-Discharge from the mouth or nose.

Just set aside 2-3 minutes every day perhaps when you feed her to sit and simply observe. you need to know what "normal" looks like so that you can spot any changes.

3. as much as im sure your kids are already in love with her i would encourage you to minimize handling for the first several moths if possible. you have to consider that handling is not natural for turtles. their instincts will always tell them that you are a predator trying to eat them. Many turtles can be desensitized to handling if they are gently worked with over time but if your baby came from an owner who didn't care about her and gave her away she is probably NOT used to being handled at all.
Making sure you give her time to adjust first to a different tank and then to handling with decrees her stress levels greatly. she really needs TLC and as calm and quiet an environment as you can provide.

Right now today is the time to research and find a reptile specialist Vet !!!!

Here you can search by state
http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Reptile-Vets/index.php/state/MA/

Here you can us your zip code to search within a certain number of miles

https://arav.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=3661

If you are able to afford it it would be a great idea to get her in to see a vet now to check her current health before any problems arise. the vet an screen for parasites , check her bone density and check her heart to see how the neglect effected her. if that is not an option just make sure you know ware you would take her should you start seeing any RI symptoms. RI are frequently fatal and dont tend to resolve on their own. Get and emergency plan ready now and if you can save up a little money do that to. reptile specialist visits typical cost me between $80-$200 depending on the tests and medication . If you can get her threw this transition time of the next 12 months then your great care, feeding, and environment will probably mean she wont need to got the vet every again unless you notice something odd. you are in the cridical period right now but it sounds like you are doing amazing work!
\
All the best of luck! looking forward to an update !

You are doing a wonderful think taking her in! keep up the great work.

Thank you for advice and good words. So far none of things you mentioned have appeared.I definitely watch her more than 2-3min per day . Now shes getting spooked pretty rare, letting me and my daughter watch her bask. Shes eating pellets good, also munching on greens i float, actively chewing on cuttlebone. I try to minimize handling both my turtle and tortoise as much as possible . My daughter rly loves them both, but she knows that she can only pet them slightly on back(shes 3 ) wile some procedure is going on. Also the turtle lady seems to get used to my daughter sneaking around her box.

I would love to find a good reptile vet, but i live in east Europe. So far most of the advice from local "experts" online is in the best case not harmful for tortoises/turtles (according to info here and some other websites). Before i made my tortoise enclosure i went to local zoo for some advise and it was also rather disappointing.

Does breathing with mouth only when i handle her and shes maximally turtled up should worry me?

adding some fresh pictures.

lol no ! if she opens her mouth when you hold her she is trying to be "scary" and show you she could bite you if she wants. it is a common even in my own turtle who have been handled since birth. dont worry about that at all. if you see her mouth breathing when she comes up for air and you are not interacting with her then that is the type of gulping/ mouth breathing we worry about.

side note turtles lungs are on the top of their shell so when they are upside down the rest of their organs are pressing on them and it makes it very difficult for them to breath. keep in mind not to leave her on her back for more then a few seconds

What a great website! Thanks, Yvonne! I just added their homepage to my Favorites!

You are doing such a FANTASTIC job with the turtle, fisers666!
Both your daughter and the turtle are very lucky to have you!!!
I am enjoying this thread and learning, too!

in regards to finding a vet i would suggest you search for local Herpetology Association i know in the US almost every state has their own. if anyone can help you find a vet it would be them!

Unfortunately only option is zoo, but i dont completely trust them. Of course if ill see some negative changes in her health, ill go there.

As long as your turtle is eating and active no need for a VET.

In 2 days there will be supertest for this small pond in the air . If the weld will hold and i wont flood the apartment this turtle lady will be in new home by the end of the next week.

Water test have been moved to late august. Didnt like quality of some welds, learned why are they like that and ordered some square acrylic rods to weld in corners. I believe it would hold the water, but i would be under constant stress . Received my rods couple days ago, BUT.... i mistakenly ordered 200 millimeters in length, not 200 centimeters .

I would laugh at you if I didnt have some 3M double sided that wasn’t wide enough to cover a mosquito butt