Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: New to the group... And to turtles...

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Post Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 7:26 pm   New to the group... And to turtles...

Hello! Nyx here. SAHM with 4 kids at home, though only one on two legs.
(1 7yo girl [Cheez or Little Miss depending on the day],
2 cats [Merlin and Willow],
and 1 RES [affectionately named (by my husband) DOOM TURTLE!])

We adopted this little dude into our family about 3 months ago, neither of us knowing ANYTHING about turtles, from my sister. (Who apparently knows less about turtles than we do...) She bought 3 baby RES from someone selling them at a roadside stand. Unfortunately, 2 of them died. The turtle formerly known as "Leo" officially became a member of our household after she and her family were evicted.

Realistically speaking, we still aren't all that certain about what we're doing, but we're actively learning, and he's (she's?) still alive and eating, so we're getting something right. Doom Turtle has since grown quite a bit, from less than an inch to just under 2 inches in the past month. He has also consumed 5 snails to date.... Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

We are looking into getting a new tank in the very near future, but as newbies, we're not sure what size we need to get. I've seen people talking about having a 75 gallon tank for a full grown turtle, and have also been told that we NEED a minimum of 125 gallons.... So, any advice is welcome. We're bound and determined to keep him, but know that we need guidance as well.

Only other thing I can really say is expect a lot of questions from my end, and please, be gentle. Reptiles are something new to both myself and my husband, and so while we may not have necessarily been looking at getting a turtle, you can bet that we're going to do our absolute best to keep him healthy for the long haul!
cnyxc
 
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Post Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 11:31 pm   Re: New to the group... And to turtles...

Welcome to the forum! Doom Turtle... sounds cute :) . Do keep an eye on the feeding, turtles are easy to overfeed (they an be expert beggars). As for final tank size, you may want to know the sex of the turtle first. Doom will have to be around 4" in length to be able to determine that.

Avoid buying turtle kits and most turtle "products" are just a waste of money. What kind of tank is he in now?
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steve
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Post Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2018 5:02 pm   Re: New to the group... And to turtles...

Right now he's in a 10 gallon glass tank. I know that it's too small for his size, which is why we're getting ready to buy a new tank. The ones we're looking at are between 55 and 125 gallons. We keep the temperature between 75 and 80 degrees.

Admittedly, we did buy a kit to start off with, but we were on a rather tight budget at the time and needed something to get him out of the tiny travel tank my sister had him in when we got him, especially since he'd reached the point of not eating. My husband replaced the stock filter with an external canister filter, and bought snails to put in the tank with him in an effort to keep is a bit cleaner. Unfortunately, Doom Turtle decided that they made good snacks. :/

As for feeding, right now he's getting about a half teaspoon twice a day. We've been taking out whatever he doesn't eat (usually a couple of pellets of food) after about an hour. It's a mixed blend with pellets, mealworms, and shrimp, but I'm worried that he doesn't seem to like the pellets.

We really are trying our best to take care of him, but it's definitely been a pretty large learning curve.
cnyxc
 
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Joined: Feb 18, 2018
Gender: Female

Post Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:42 am   Re: New to the group... And to turtles...

Sounds like he's getting a lot of treats, so it's understandable he's not as interested in pellets. With food, it's best to be a bit conservative and feed less if you're not sure. Glass tanks usually hold their value if you want to buy and resell it. 10-55 gallon tanks are usually a $1 per gallon on sale, 75-100 gallon tanks can be found for $100 used on Craigslist. Plastic storage totes can work as inbetween upgrades or some just get a huge stock tank if you're ok with the look of one.
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steve
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