Urgent Care :: Can you all help a newbie with red eared slider turtle

[karbay]

my son named the turtle John deeree (we country folks) but i am thinking if he makes it until thurs he will be Miracle child instead John deere lol

[xsavingsaturdayx]

you need


-atleast a 10 gallon tank

-a water heater for atleast a 20 gallon tank

-a filter rated for twice the size of your tank(30 gallon filter)

-basking dock(zoo med turtle dock)

-a clamp light

for lighting im not exactly sure i use a bulb that has both uva and uvb..so beats me!

someone should know though.

[megcornell]

Here's a good brief list to start you with: http://www.redearslider.com/res-guide.pdf

You'll want a separate UVA bulb ( a regular light bulb) and a UVB bulb ( buy at petstore) until your tank is much larger...over 50 gallons i think because the multi bulbs are too warm for a smaller amount of water and you'd have turtle soup

You want a filter that is rated to clean a fish tank 3x the size of the tank you buy.

Don't buy the special "turtle tanks" they have a filter hole in the side and you can't fill them all the way up so your turtle outgrows it faster.

And don't buy gravel, you'll soon see that turtle's eat or at least try to eat everything and you don't want him getting impacted on gravel.

Good Luck.

[karbay]

oh wow thanks so i am looking at 100 or more i just gave him piece of lettuce and again he ate it like he is starving so what about the pellet issue he WONT eat them at ALL so any suggstions on this and then i am off to bed my preschool kids wore me out today but i cant wait till hubby hears about all this .........hope he doesnt want to go t market and tell them a few words lol Just kiding THANKS THANKS THANKS for all the help WOW

[karbay]

thanks meg i am copy and pasting all this so i will have this with me at store

[steve]

You beat me to it Meg

karbay, you can also you a plastic storage container (I've seen Rubbermaids as large as 60 gallon) and in the future you can get a stock tank instead of a glass aquarium. There are many choices and options but they all serve the same basic purposes.

[karbay]

oh k thanks steve i am so glued to this site i am just ARGG knowing someon sold me this and now i am having to find out the hard way and now worried to death if he will make it or no but i think have rubber container think i will clean it out and go from there until petstore trip WOW thanks

[steve]

Most of us didn't know what we got ourselves into. If you use a plastic tub, do not fill it more than half-way since it's not made to hold water. FYI, a 10 gallon glass tank costs about $10. A fully submersible water heater should be around $12-15, a basic filter can be under $20. A lamp dome can be bought at a hardware store and you can use a regular light bulb for basking. You will need to get a UVB bulb, about $22 online - way more at a pet store and pick up some baby reptomin (pellets).

[karbay]

oh wow thanks writing this down i will chat tomorrow good night and you all stay warm .........its acutally going to be in 30s in houston texas thats a big WOW for us

god bless
juliet (mommy who is worried about her green friend)

[Hoooneylynn]

karbay, whats important is that you care. You care enough to get the correct information. Some people find out how expensive and how much care is involved after they buy a turtle, and then dont do anything about it and the animal suffers. Youre taking this news of how much is costs great, and we are ALWAYS here to help no matter what, as long as you'll listen and care.

[Muirner]

karbay if you can find a petsmart near you, you can pricematch everything there, and get your entire setup for much cheaper... Just check out petsmart.com and then bigals.com (big als has the Reptisun 10.0 for 22 or 29$, not bad at all)

[karbay]

Thanks for all that has helped see you all tonight good morning by the way and have a great day Juliet