Habitat - Indoor :: General Help From Older Turtle Care Givers

[tarrish]

Ok guys. I need some major help on the intial care my turtle needs. The guys at the pet store I went to led me astray!

Here's some info. We bought two baby turtles today, and guess what? They must have been illegal. I should have known, since the place we bought them from didn't look very legit to begin with. This causes great worry for me because I don't want them to be ill. I heard if you get illegal turtles they may be ill.

I'll go on. The guy at the pet store told me to purchase a ten gallon tank. Looks like that was a mistake. I'm guessing I should upgrade to a 20 gallon as soon as possible huh?? If I were to upgrade to a 20 gallon next week would that be unhealthy for the turtle? I'm afraid changing their enviroment yet again would be bad for them.

I'll list what I have for them thus far:

10 Gallon Tank
Turtle Pebbles
Heat Lamp
Repitasafe for the Water

That's it so far. I know for sure we need a filter ASAP, and I want to get them a little floating dock.

I heard that you shouldn't have pebbles in there that are smaller then the turtle. The pebbles I have aren't huge, but they aren't fish size. Any advice on that?

I have made them a little hill with the pebbles for basking, and have set the lamp toward it.

Sorry for the huge post, but I was reading through the material and it was so much to take in.

I want to take care of these guys the right way, so I was wondering if you guys could help me out.

Thanks!

[cam722]

Hi and welcome... Is it possible for you to take the tank back and ask if they'll exchange it for a larger tank? I mean you bought it there I'd go with the largest tank you can afford to get be it 20 gallons or more. You said you have a heat lamp but do you have a UVB bulb? They need it to simulate sunlight for Vit D to be able to absorp the calcium for the bones/shell.

Depending on where you live, you'll need a heater also. The temperature needs to be constant and not fluctuating. For your little ones, I'm assuming they are hatchlings, it should be about 78. Yes, you'll need a basking area. The water should be as deep as you can get it without the possibility of them escaping. Yes they need a basking dock. They need to be able to dry off completely. The temp for the basking area should be 10 degrees warmer than the water.

Here is a link for the download Quick Guide for New RES Keepers. Hopefully, it will give you answers I may have missed..

http://www.redearslider.com/res-guide.pdf

There is also a printable list of foods for your turtle. What are you feeding them?

http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition_1.html

printable list:

http://www.redearslider.com/res-feeding%20list.pdf

You may want to scan over all the info in the main Redear slider site also, there's a lot of information to digest on there..

http://www.redearslider.com

[tarrish]

Thanks for the info.

Today we bought the little guys a filter and a turtle dock. My little Kate loves the filter. She dives off of it, and plays with it constintly.

We were to naive at first to realize they needed a lot of water. We added more water, and they seem to be having a lot more fun in their tank.

My roomie thought it would get to hot in the tank if we bought a heater, and had the basking lamp.

I keep reading about how heaters are important for the tank.

The pet store guy told her a heater wasn't needed. I think he was wrong.

So, tell me if I'm wrong here, but you can have a basking lamp and a heater at the same time right??

[cam722]

I believe most everyone who has a turtle does, except those that live in warmer climates.. ie, California and Florida. If it gets cold where you live, you'll have to get a heater. The basking lamp shouldn't be on 24/7 and a heater keeps the water warm at night while they sleep. You want to avoid a huge temperature fluctuation, it can make your turtles sick and cause death.

Check out the sticky under Habitat - Indoor regarding temperatures..

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15

[tarrish]

We live in Southern CA. I'm going to read more about the heaters though.