Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: new in pensacola, fl

[scoobiedooboi]

Hey guys, I'm new to owning RES's, well, i had one when i was a kid, but i barely remember that. haha... Now i'm 22 and just recently bought 2 cute lil ones:) 10 gallon tank for the two of them, it's the kind that has the lil stairway thingy for them to go up and bask on... it's pretty cool, cost a pretty penny for a 22 yo... haha... but well worth it I think... One of them seems to be pretty friendly, will come out and climb around on my hands and stuff like that, I named him rocky, the other is a lil more people shy and all, and tends to stay submerged most of the time and stays off in one of the corners like a re re .... anyway, glad to be a part of the community here... *lick* if ya guys like to chat online, i'm usually on yahoo messenger(regular and by mobile phone) my sn on there is scoobiedooboi and email is scoobiedooboi@yahoo.com)

Thanks

Shawn

[sonyj]

Welcome to the forum... I hate to tell you, but a ten gallon tank is already too small for two RES. The minimum tank size is 10 gallons per inch of turtle. The smallest tank that you should keep two RES in is a 20 gallon.

I might be mistaken but it doesn't sound like a tank tank, but more like a death bowl. If it it, scrap it immediately and get them into a regular tank where you can set up a regular basking area that will allow you to have a higher water level, the proper lighting (heat bulb and a UVB bulb over the basking area), a heater, a filter rated 3x's the tank size, the correct basking and water temps, etc. Their environment is extremely important to their well being.

I suggest reading through the forum and main site for lots of great info on raising happy, healthy RES.