Habitat - Indoor :: I found a young RES, please help!!

[imjeanie22]

last night i found this tiny turtle on the side walk.. i dont know what to do with it, the housing i found it in was badly damaged and useless because id did not hold any water. i put it in a bowl with a bit of water , for now i crushed some koi food for it to eat. it is 1.5 in. well i wonder if it would be ok to put him in my tank ... its 65 gal and has a fancy goldfish and some other fat goldfish, one 4 in. koi and a 5 in. koi. i guess the fish would be no problem but would it drown in so much water ? and im aware its needs some basking space but for now i can only provide it with a cold bowl or my heated aquarium please tell me what i should do for now? , i will be so sad if it dies.

[dumbork14]

hi. first of all, welcome to the forum. no, it would not drown in water. in fact, a turtle needs a lot of space in the water to swim (10 gallons for every inch of the turtle). yes on the basking space. turtles need to dry out to receive appropriate warmth and UVB rays -- to regulate their own temps. a good advice, read on the articles on the main page, there are lots of information there. as for the food, you have to but some turtle pellets and vegetables. good luck!

[apondfortimmy]

Oh my gosh, how sad! But how exciting for you - you've found a pal for life.

[steve]

Was it a hatchling? Any freshwater sources nearby? If so, it might have just hatched, and I would go back and look for others.

[Kansasslider]

How is it doing? I also found mine. The same day I found mine and decided to keep it I went in town and bought a small tank uvb and heat bulb basking platform and food

[cutepanda86]

How is the little guy/gal? I hope all is well. Dumbork is right the website is very helpful. I hope you can find what you need here. Good luck!

[VeipaCray]

...I would go back and look for others.

Of course you would. You're the site admin of a turtle site.

[steve]

I'm lucky they don't just show up on my doorstep.

[jason2713]

:) I'm lucky they don't just show up on my doorstep.

Now that's funny.

[Into_the_Mystic]

Hope the little guy survived.

[imjeanie22]

thank you all for your help. I am guessing either this turtle escaped from its owners or was abandoned. I want to buy a basking station but my local pet store has only large sizes, does that matter? i'm thinking his legs are to tiny :/ i put him an a 3.5 or something gal tank i have that i use for my fry and added a large shell that protrudes out of the water, I notice he just grabs onto it leaving his butt and legs in the water? is there such a thing as too big when choosing a basking station? also i may have been wrong about his measurements but he now is 1.5 in with and 1.1/4 long

[imjeanie22]

and hes doing fine, healthy

[steve]

A RES will require a lot of space... I would start with at least a 40 gallon tank.