Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: Hi, from florida :)

[XDRAGONOX]

hi everyone,

ive been in love with this site for about 9 years. came across it when i got my first RES from my partner; at the time. i knew nothing about turtles when she got them for me. She brought me two babies from china town in NYC. I was only 18 at the time. I didnt know tey were aggressive and one killed the other. so i was down to one. The one that survived, I had for 3 years. it was a female. her name was Tita. When I got her i printed out all your care information on the site and made a book with it. My one downfall was i never checked these forums to learn about the dangers of gravel. Needless to say i lost her after$2000 , and several emergency visits. When She passed i vowed to never get a turtle again until i had everything fully prepped ahead of time and knew what i was doing it hurt to lose her. i became attached to her pretty quick.

anyway, here i am 27 now and have been aching for another turtle. I have all the supplies i need for a RES but am now living in florida and come to find RES are illegal in FL. All they sell are yellow ear/belly slider.

I have been searching online and cant find any site on YES as detailed as this one.

What is the difference between a yellow belly and RES?
Are the Nurtitional guidelines the same?
Are the care instructions the same?

if not do you know the best site that comes close to being as good as this one?


thank you,
xdragonox

[steve]

Welcome to the site! Glad you finally found the forum Sorry to hear you lost your two babies.

It's generally illegal for individuals to buy RES, though I think adoption is still an available option. I think RES variants are still legal. As for any differences with YBS, they're pretty much the same (classified under the same Species), and all the info here is applicable. If anything, maybe keep a closer eye on the temps.

[unclejoe]

Hello Welcome to the Group..

We just moved up this way from Florida last summer.. Let me tell you,, please hold out for your RES.. Let me explain why..

For four years we had the pleasure of living in a spot that had three natural ponds and we became really close friends with many specials of turtles that were wild..

Here is link to our photos of that time.. viewtopic.php?f=14&t=37690

I would hands down hold out for a female RES.. Well if you get a baby you won't know but if you adopt an older I would recomment a female.. In the pond we had YB, RESs Soft Shells and Snappers.. Hands down the females were more interactive then the males.. for one.
Second Momma our lovely YB female was great, but she was huge. You would need a massive spot to keep a full grown female YB. Also, we found the RES females the most personable.. They tamed fast and they really seemed to enjoy having their backs scratched and their throats scratched..

Amber my favorite turtle ever.. Was a juvenile female RES when she showed up two years ago, and she used to love being near us.. She would literally sit on my shoe to sun bathe after morning feeding.. She really tamed up fast.. She may have been a pet released but needless to say she had a great personality.. You can find them in florida you just gotta look.. They won't sell them in pet stores.. but they will be on CL and also there are a couple good Reptile farms down there that sell them online.. Maybe you are within driving distance and can go pick one for yourself..

That's JMO.. But I do love the RESs I am also enjoying my midland Painted he is quite tame as well already..

[XDRAGONOX]

We do have a creek in the back of our property but we have seen baby gators back there so I haven't bothered to look for any turtles. I'm petrified of gators. So I stay away from the creek. Lol. When I had my RES she was the best I taught her little tricks and she loved stretching her legs outside her tank. I really do hope I can find a RES. if not I will still spoil a YBS. I've been searching the internet for weeks and just can't find as much info on them as I did here. So it makes me feel good knowing that everything I have and know about RES WILL work for the YBS. I have a 10gal set up for them since they will be babies. And I have a 20gal and 55gal on hand for when they get bigger. Right now I'm using a cascade 600 in the 10gal and have large river socks and some sand as the substrate. I'll be buying some aquatic plants next month before I get them. Im so excited to be getting turtles again.

[unclejoe]

Momma was probably a good 18 inches carapace and I would say 15 lbs.. we never picked her up.. but she was big.. she was YB female.. The RES girls don't get nearly that big..

All the time there I never saw a gator at all.. just once when we took a canoe trip just to see them.. we saw two babies on a branch over hanging the creek.. other then that I never saw one..lol

[XDRAGONOX]

Your pretty lucky. Wish I never saw them cuz now I don't like going back there. I used to go there when we first moved and try to keep it clean of weeds and keep it trimmed. Now I just let it all grow. I've been in florida 4yrs. But just 2yrs in oak hill. I used to live in Davenport and I never saw any gators there. We actually found the momma gators old best when we were trying to clean up the creek. Whether or not she still used it I don't want to know. Lol.

[unclejoe]

Haha we didn't live far from you.. We were in New Smyrna.. My husband lived in Edgewater for over 20 yrs.. I moved to florida summer of 2011. I can't say I miss it much.. WE really miss the turtles.. was heart breaking to leave them all behind.. And I miss going to Perine's for fresh fruit and vegies.. Other then that.. not really..lol

[XDRAGONOX]

I love it. I used to live in Jersey and we came down here to get away from the cold. I love how laid back it is and it's so peaceful. There's not much to do here but I'm fine with it because our property keeps us busy quite often. Lol.

So the YBS can get up to 15lbs?! I didn't know that ima need something bigger in the long run. Right now I have a 10gal , 20 gal and 55 gal tanks on hand. I don't know what size would be big enough for that size Turtle.

I just might have to check CL for a red eared.

[unclejoe]

Yeah if you get a male he won't get that big.. but Momma was a big girl.. other then a pond or stock tank.. I don't think she would have liked being in a rectangular tank.. not enough room to turn.. but you could easily have an outdoor pond where you are.. So you could consider that as they grow bigger.

I am from Ontario Canada.. and I really missed the seasons..lol where we are now we get snow couple times a winter and that's it.. just enough to have fun in it and then its gone.. I really really really miss fall in florida. Also the hiking there wasn't too exciting..lol now we are in the mountains.. Fantastic lots of hiking here.

I got tired of summer 10 months of the year.. But yeah I know I am wierd..lol And I don't miss the drivers down there.. Freaken crazy..lol