General Care Discussion

As promised here is an update on the pond. It’s fully functional right now minus the waterfall. It does have a small leaK that I’ve tried fixing several times. Eventually I will get it right. It stays rather clear and full of life. The turtle has not used it yet but I’m sure in the future when he gets bigger it’ll be a summer pond. Update on my turtle, he’s doing great he’s at least doubled in size. He was the size of a half dollar coin but now he’s almost the size of my palm. He eats so much and definitely enjoys his live feedings. He still isn’t much into veggies or fruits but he’s had a bite or two every now and then.

Looks very nice! When you said he hasn't used it yet, do you mean you haven't put him in there yet?

Thanks. Yes that is what I meant. I might put him in it sometime after the ponds first winter. I’m thinking he might be a lot bigger by then.

That would be a good idea. You'd also need some sort of barrier to keep him in and predators out. A lot of animals will be drawn to the water.

Yes sir that is my intention.

So yesterday I decided to take my little guy out and inspect his shell and to see how big he’s gotten. I usually just leave him be and feed him. He seems to have grown so much. I’m going to send 3 pictures. The first picture will be of him when I first found him. The 2nd and 3rd pictures will be of him today. His scutes seem to be “pyramiding” or I’m just paranoid. It’s very minimal. I’m going to try the tough love approach so he can Start becoming more veggie loving. What do you think?

That is 5 months of growth

It could be a tad smoother and is minimal as you have said. In addition to feeding less protein, stick to a consistent amount/schedule while he's still small.

Absolutely. When he starts getting into the greens I’m going to definitely make a better regimen for him. Before it was rather consistent I guess I may have just been feeding him too much. Tough love for now. I’ve got cucumber, romaine, red leaf, carrots, turnip greens available for him now. Today he took a couple bites of everything but the turnips. Mostly seemed interested in cucumber for several bites but that’s it. I removed his feeder fish so he’s stuck with veggies until he understands.

Is it possible someone else is sneaking snacks/food for him?

My only guess would be my 5 year old

So this is random... and strange... literally 5 minutes ago I was cleaning my fluval canister filter and for one I found a baby guppy still alive. That’s not the strange thing. But I literally found a parasite type looking bug in the dirty water I was using to rinse the media. Kinda grossed out. Any idea? I couldn’t get a picture. Just freaked me out a bit.

Actually I just found this one. It isn’t the same as the other bug. The other bug had legs. Is this rather normal?

So there are 2 different kinds of bugs in the filter? These are usually Midge Fly Larvae https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-natu ... fly-larvae

Very interesting. How do bloodworms appear in the filter? I have fed the fish frozen bloodworms but is it possible there were eggs that managed to survive the freeze to thaw? He the other one would stop moving so I couldn’t get a picture. It looked like it had 4 legs. Maybe “water bug” like. Like a skimmer bug if you will.

General Care Discussion :: New to turtles, not sure if I’m doing this right

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