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hi everyone!
so my brother got me a turtle for my 19th birthday. actually, he was gona get me a fish but for some reason i said "no wait! i want a turtle" without even thinking how much responsibility a turtle would be lol.
anyhow, it is my FIRST pet, actually, it's the first pet we've ever had in this household! my parents think it's too much responsibility to have a pet. so how did they react wen we came home with a turtle? well, let's jus say they got over it, and they love my new SQUIRTLE


this is his new home. the filter is on the left (u can hardly see it), the UVA & UVB lamps at the top, and his basking area in the corner.
I KNOW I KNOW, gravel is NOT a good idea. but the first time we went, the guy at the pet store told us it was okay, so we bought it. and after reading all the information on this website (which i find VERY useful, without this website, sQuirtle wouldn't be in such a nice home today, you have no idea how many times i went to the pet store this past week to get him all the right stuff lol) i was really scared about the gravel, so i went back to the pet store, and another sales guy who actually owns a turtle (unlike the other guy) informed me that it's of course not a good idea, but reassured me he's never heard any stories of it choking & squirtle should be okay. however, if squirtle did happen to eat it, then he'd die. but that's okay, on my next paycheck i shall buy him bigger rocks since they're only 12$ for a bag! good thing i talked to that sales guy because he helped me buy all the right stuff & squirtle's home should be complete now. he even taught me a trick to modify my filter to put a bag of ammonia cleaner inside because that's what he did to his filter and it works amazingly well!


i actually caught a picture of sQuirtle basking! (which was really hard since i kno he doesn't like to be watched while basking, but he's just so cute wen he basks, i had to sneak up on him lol)

he loves to look out the window, and the green plant used to b in the corner, but he loves to move it around everyday lol

here he is smiling for the camera while playing with his plant

so anyway, right now his food consists of pellets for baby turtles and i'm really trying to feed him romaine lettuce, at first he didn't want any, but he's starting to take bites out of it! i've read other people's posts here saying that they just put the leaf in the tank, so that's what i've been doing oh yea, he also has little shrimps but that's just a treat that i'll feed to him every week, he likes it though!

so yea i just wanted to write here to introduce my sQuirtle! i'm in loooooove with him. my boyfriend thinks i spoil sQuirtle too much cuz i buy him absolutely everything he needs (and doesn't need, like his background haha), but seriously it's my first pet and i dont want him to die. that's why once i got him, i read everything on this website lol.

i'm so surprised at how expensive all stuff was for him, i guess i hate to admit that my parents were right, a pet is a lot of responsibility, even a turtle! theyre not like fishes where u can jus put them in a bowl lol. ahhh i hate it wen parents are right!

i would appreciate any feedback from anyone who was patient enough to read this whole post! lol seriously any advice would be helpful, i wana make sure im doing everything right!

looks awesome! love the background. do u have ultra violet a and ultra violet b?

and ur boyfriends a keeper

hehe thanks!
indeed i do have UVA & UVB, if you look at the pic of his tank up there, theyre right on top of the tank.
at first the pet store guy gave me the UVA heat lamp and said it did both. and wen i got home and read more of this website (i read it everyday cuz im so paranoid i've done somethin wrong and ill lose squirtle), i realized that the lamp didn't provide UVB cuz UVA/UVB combined is like over a hundred dollars which i didn't pay. so i went back to the pet store & the smart guy (thank goodness) sold me the UVB lamp im less paranoid now haha

wow, id have to say, for a first-timer, NOT BAD!

my only other suggestions would be fill up the water as much as u can. Res LOVE to swim. you should fill up the water much higher, and if u do.. you will probly need a different basking area. i use a floating dock, which is great and my turtle loves.

thanks! i know i should fill up the water higher, and like you said i'd have to get a floating dock, but then im scared he'd find a way to escape if the floating dock was at the top since i don't have a top grill to my tank and that's another 35$ to spend. right now my paychecks have been comin & goin cuz of sQuirtle lol and i have a lot of birthday presents to buy in the month of august, so ill fill up the water & buy a floating dock at the end of the month hehe
thanks a lot for ur suggestion!!

Welcome to the forum. It's good to know you've been doing your research sQuirtle should have a great life when you are through fixing everything up.

When you buy the larger rocks, you don't have to buy too many. Just enough for him to push around (it's actually better not to completely cover the bottom of the tank since that just traps the waste and adds to poorer water quality.) Wal-mart and other stores sell river rock in a bag for $3 a bag in the craft section or pet section.

Wal-mart eh? I'll be checking that out then! thanks a lot

i feel bad for wasting money on the gravel though.. i don't have any other pets or anything so i dunno what i should do with the gravel that would be useful. any ideas anyone?

Welcome! I thought I would mention that if you get something to put over the top of your tank ( when you get a dock ) make sure that it has holes greater than 1/2 inch, otherwise it will filter your UVB.

Also, I got my rocks in the craft section at walmart for 97 cents.

sQuirtle,
even though most people use the screens made for aquariums, i didnt.
i found a cheaper and more effective way to go.

i used this chickenwire-ish stuff that i found at home depot (i think)
i just bent the sides over the aquarium nice and tight so it can be pushed up by the turtle...
plus, it was much cheaper and the holes are bigger than a 1/2 inch, so i know im not filtering any UVB rays ...

thanks everyone! i really appreciate u guys sharing ur neat & cheap purchases looks like ill be taking a trip to Wal-Mart and Home Depot this weekend, it's just my luck that they're practically next to each other at the mall! hehe

Welcome.....Wonderful set up ....squirtle is going to be a vary happy turtle

What are you using to keep the water around 78-80F? If you don't have one, you should get a fully submersible water heater (fairly inexpensive) and some thermometers. Don't rely on a basking light to heatup your turtle tank.

For the wire mesh, you can look for hardware cloth or chicken wire. I think chicken wire is very tough and might be harder to find.

Right now it's summer here so sQuirtle's in the basement since its way hotter upstairs. I bought a water heater but noticed that his water was always at 78-80F anyway and still is. Once I see it start to go lower, I will start using the water heater right away (especially with the extremely cold winters of Montreal!! hehe). For now I have a thermometer submerged in the water in the corner opposite from the basking area and I occasionally transfer it to the basking area just to see the temp there. The basking temp, so far, has always been at 90F. I'm planning to buy a digital thermometer for the basking area soon

I'm planning to go to Home Depot this week and hopefully I'll find something nice and cheap.
Thanks for the advice!