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Post Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:56 pm   Hullo! Just joined...

Hi, I just joined.
A bit about me... I have one RES. His name is Ralpheal (Ninja turtles were big when I got him!) And I believe he's about 11 years old. For close to 10 years, I've fed him a diet of mostly just turtle pellets, with the occasional lettuce or carrot scraps. I recently switched his food (his usual food was unavailable) and noticed his poop was the same colour as the food (orange). Definatly not good. I started doing some turtle research, and found out all kinds of things which made me thankful that Ralph has had no major health complications! :oops: I used to have two turtles, but a few years ago the younger one passed away. In hindsight, the tank was MUCH too small and having two males together may not have been the best idea. I should have realized this when Ralph bit off the end of his tank-mate's tail... :shock:

Any how... I've been remedying his mistreatment lately. I bought him 3 aquatic plants, which he really enjoyed. He chopped the stalk of the aluminum plant down twice the first night, then set to work chopping down the eel grass to little stubs the second day. The third one he didn't seem to like as much, but I took it out a week after I put it in. So now all 3 plants are recooperating. The eel grass is coming back nicely, and a piece of the aluminum plant has sprouted roots. I've decided to rotate the plants, so he can only gnaw on one at a time :P In the mean time, I've been putting leafy lettuce from the garden in his tank an anchoring it so he thinks it's a new plant he can destroy. He usually just leaves it alone if it's floating on the top. His favourite food is carrots, but from what I've seen I shouldn't feed him these too often. The same with fruits. But I keep experiementing with different veggies to see what he'll eat and what is best for him.

Also, once it warms up, I bought him a kiddie pool for outside. Any suggestions as to how to turtle/preditor proof it would be appreciated :D

Wow, that was longer than I intended xD Feel free to skip reading the essay and just smile and nod ;)
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BullDog
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Post Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 7:37 pm   

Welcome to the forum. It's nice to see that your trying to remedy what hasn't been good for your turtle and are experimenting with new foods. :) Try some dandelions as well.

If your RES is larger (sounds like he is from the age) you might want to get a stock tank rather than a kiddie pool. The latter is rather shallow. You could make a covering of 1/2 hardware for the top. If there are a lot of predators where you live, it might be good to bring your turtle in at night and put him out during the day.
"You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed." -Antoine de Saint Exupery-
marisa
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Post Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:15 pm   

Welcome to the forum. :)
~~~Sonja~~~
sonyj
 
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Post Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:43 pm   

Welcome! If you have pics, we'd love to see them. I have a kiddie pool, but mine only go out if I am going to be there to watch them. Easier than trying to make it preditor proof.
Missi

2 RES, 1 cat, and a spoiled rotten pug.
missibsu
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Post Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:25 am   

His kiddie pool isn't set up yet, as it still goes down to 6 overnight. I was thinking of bringing him in everynight, more for my peace of mind than anything else. I'll try and find some pics of him, but I just have a cheap little digital cam.

Thanks for the tips marisa :) He's currently 6-7 inches, though I haven't properly measured him.
­Ralpheal, "The 'L' is silent."
Frankie, "Young at heart."
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BullDog
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Post Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:47 am   

You mean 6 degrees Celsius? What are your daytime temps?
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steve
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Post Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:49 am   

Yes, 6 celcius. It's warmed up a bit since then. Probably 10-15 overnight... It gets to 30+ in the day x( Too hot!

I've put Ralph out in the kiddie pool a couple times, but he just hides under the basking area the whole time :roll:
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BullDog
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