redearslider.com

my turtle!! shes a good 16 yrs old now, but she was put into a 5 gallon tank that whole time, w/o a basking area, and with a water depth of only 1/2 an inch, eating goldfish pellets since she was a hatchling, under my parents care.
seeing how my gf cared for her res, inspired me to treat my RES with the respect and home it deserves.
now that im older than i was when i got her ( i was 3), ive saved enough money to get her a bigger tank, filter, basking spot, heater.. and more importantly, proper turtle food! also made her the supporting frame from PVC pipes.

here she is! only 3.8" in length,

another view while basking..

this is her tank, only 25 gallons for now - but a lot better than before

its been around 3-4 weeks since the change, and shes seemed happier since. moving and swimming around much more and eating regularly. it also appears that her shell is forming properly. before the water lvl only went up half her shell, indent lines developed across her shell. they now seem to be slowly going away. well, hope this change is for the good, and that she has many healthy yrs ahead of her!

Very nice lookin RES and tank!

She's 16 years old and only 3.8"? I'm amazed (and it shows how resilient they are sometimes). She looks healthy, and from what you described about her earlier life, her shell looks good. Maybe it's the picture, but do I detect some growth in the seam of her shell?

Glad you're improving her life. I'm hoping she's with you for many years to come.

ooo thanks!

umm growth in the seam of her shell? is that good? the seam is where the scutes meet right?
is he shell too brown tho? ive looked at many of ppls res in these forums and they're so vibrant w/ colour.

Yes, the seam is the area in between the scutes, and it's where growth occurs. In your first pic, the seam looks like a faint white line, and unless that's from the lighting, that's what it would look like when a turtle is growing.

At your turtle's age, really try to get her to eat more plant matter--offer it daily. Starting with an aquatic plant like anachris would be good, most turtles like it. Look in the Nutrition/Feeding forum for posts on what's good--leafy greens like dandelions, red leaf lettuce, collards, chicory, kale are all good.

Foods with a high beta carotene content like carrots, pumpkin, squash, red peppers, etc. can help enhance coloring, but RES loose the vibrant green they had has hatchlings as they age. At 16 years of age, though, your RES's coloring doesn't look that bad (males get darker looking than females).

ooo plant matter eh? hmm i guess ill go out to get some then.. ive only fed her lettuce, carrots, and things like that like once in a while..

yea read they tend towards veggies as they grow older, i guess i doo that.
thnx marisa!

Hey--is it me or was the second picture changed?

much better set up there,and the change will be good.dont be suprized that she begins to grow and a bigger set up will be needed, that too is a good thing. Im glad you found the forum it is full of gr8 info. keep reading and learning.what is your turtles name?BTW turtles love to swim can you raise the legs on ur basking dock and add more water in there? the rule of thumb is 10 gall. for each inch of turtle shell.with pvc it wont be to hard to raise the legs just a few connectors and more pipe. 3.8 hmmmm nearing 40 gall. already right?

oo yah, the 2nd pic changed
yeaa im planning to get a much bigger tank in the near future.. need to save nuf money first tho. yaa ill probably raise the water a bit soon, just not now cuz i dun have a top to cover the tank incase she gets out =P

her name is trooper, cuz we thot she put up w/ quite a bit growing up

yes it sounds like she did,Trooper fits her well. hey just incase ur interested I have read here on this forum people using the big rubbermaid containers.I'm not sure how everything attaches to em like filters lighting and heater but if you like the sounds of this many people will answer ur questions. I have also seen kiddie pools used too. I have a big conner in my den that would hold a big container of some sort maybe even a pre formed pond that I am working on to fix a gr8 looking place for my turtle,I'm actually designing a rack type bar to hang filter and heater from safely. its kinda hard to explain just picture a wall done in some of the japaneese/chineese restuarants and maybe you can see what I am thinking of in the near future???????????

yea i kinda got the idea of wut ur talking about. are there ne pics on the site of something similar?

Hi, TrooperRES, I think his name is very fitting. I have an 8 year old who was kept in similar conditions to yours for the first five years. He grew to only an inch that whole time. Now he is almost 4 inches. Have you had a problems (health or other) since he was kept in that invironment?

wow really? wut strong and resilient turtles we have eh? no problems, but shes shed her shell and skin a lot the first few weeks, but has stop. i guses shes finally starting to grow? shes seems a lot happier now too. 8years and only an inch for you? wow.. but then now its 4 inches so i guess they could still grow even after some time. i was wondering if her rough upbringing stunted her growth so much that she wouldn't grow nemore =(.

i am shure she will grow now that she is in a bigger tank. i love your setup. hmmm... my turtle has grown a 1/4in. in only 1 and 1/2 months. is this becuase i have him in a tank 3 times bigger than he needs? he is 1 3/4in. i have him in a 30 gallon tank, atleast i think it is a 30 gallon tank. could be bigger.

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 5:22 am Post subject: Calculating Aquarium Volume
How Can I Figure Out How Much Water My Fish Tank Holds?
http://honors.montana.edu/~weif/firstta ... ator.phtml
_________________
Adam
1 2 yr old Female RES named Willy

There is a sticky in redearslider.com Forum Index -> Online Links and Deals where you can calulate you tank size.