redearslider.com

Hello All,

I wanted to introduce Mike and Ike to the RES community. Before I get slammed about their home, I wanted to say that I have a 100g tank on its way. We acquired this tank after we saved the turtles from an abusive home. The turtles were kept in a one gallon tank with no basking area, no UV light, no water to swim in and it looked like the tank hadn't been cleaned ever. So I hope that I am on the right track in giving these guys the right home. Please let me know what you think of their current home and on one of the turtles, Mike, it looks like he is shedding. Could you please take a look and see if this looks like a ok amount of shedding? Please also look to see if they look healthy and are happy. I want as much feedback as I can get so that I can properly give these guys a great home. Here are the pics of Mike, Ike and their home.

Pic descriptions:
1. Ike
2. Their home (10g)
3. Mike
4. Mike w/ pic of shedding foot (please comment)
5. Mike
6. Mike's foot
7. Ike
8. Ike front; Mike back
9. Ike
10. Ike
11. Mike left; Ike right
12. Mike left; Ike right

how warm is the water? too warm of water can cause alot of skin shedding. i cant really tell how bad it is from the pic.

The water is generally around 75-78 degrees

Cute turtles!

Two things:
1) Do you have a UVB light or just a heat light? Can't really tell from the pics.
2) Those rocks are OK for now, but when they get bigger you will have to get rid of them because the could swallow them.

Yes I have a UV light along with the heat lamp. As for the rocks, when we get the new tank we are getting rid of the rocks due to the amount of filth that falls into the rock. When we cleaned the tank we could believe how much stuff gathers into them. I will post new pics of their setup when I get the new tank.

they are so cute~!

For now some excessive shedding is fine. It usually happens when turtles go from poor conditions to better ones. I doubt Mike and Ike's old tank left them many chances to shed, so they're getting it all out now.
They're very cute! I'm sure they'll love the 100g tank.
Since they're tiny, and aren't used to such a large tank, when you get the 100g be sure and put some floating plants in the tank, it will give them rest areas so they don't get too fatigued swimming.

cute!

They are darling little things. Please don't feel bad if we give you lots of instructions at once. We don't like people to feel like they are getting slammed.

The ten gallon maybe small for them but compared to what you took them from it's a paradise. Can't wait to see them in the 100 gallon set up.

I actually am going to do a 55g setup first but am making it look cool with plenty of room for the liitle guys to swim. I will post pics when i get done with the construction.

same name as mine !

esdc, yup they have the same names. What good names they are! I actually adopted them so I kept the same names they were given. Anywho, here are some pics of how the new home for Mike and Ike is coming. As you probably have noticed I have taken some ideas from another tank that I saw in these forums. Thanks for the idea, whose ever post it was. Hopefully it wasn't patented, I am not making money off it anyways ...lol!


This picture shows the basking area with the ramp that will descend into the water. The top part of the basking area will be covered with synthetic grass that is cut short like a golf fairway. The ramp will have rounded stone glued to it to provide some grip and make it look good. It will also have a clear egg crate material to cover it so that the turtles can't get out. The area where the heat lamp will go will be reinforced with temper proof rubber to protect it from melting.


This is another view


This is a rest area for the turtles to hang out on. It will be about one inch under water and be covered with rounded stone like the ramp of the basking area. It will also have the same egg crate cover.

The top edges of the tank will be covered with the wood corner molding you see behind the tank in the last picture. It will also look a lot cleaner after I clean the construction up. If you have any questions or ideas, please let me know!

that looks good to me!

Here is another update of the construction of Mike and Ike's home:


Here is the right side of the tank with the rim installed


Here are some of the rocks glued on the rest area


Here is another view of the right side of the tank

Let me know what you think