Habitat - Indoor :: Brand New RES mom!

[oboe_kellee]

Hi. I'm new to the board. My fiance and I just adopted a RES who we named Isobel. We did research before we decided to adopt a RES and Isobel seems to be happy with the tank and environment. The only thing we didnt realize before we got her was the water temperature. What is the correct temperature and do we need a water heater?

[shady1616]

look on the "stickies" labeled "water and basking temperatures". That should tell you everything, if you have more questions, we are here.

[oboe_kellee]

Thanks. We attempted to watch a movie last night but instead one of us kept saying "oh she jumped off her rocks" or "she swam under the leaves". She is too cute, she hasnt eaten anything yet though, I'm hoping thats just because she is nervous to have us in the room while she eats.

[steve]

how big is she? if she's real young, try to get her to eat sooner. young ones in a new enviroment exert alot of energy exploring and trying to escape and don't think about food as much.

[oboe_kellee]

She is about 4 inches, maybe slightly bigger. How do I get her to eat? I've offered her pellets and crickets (they sold those to me at the store, yes I got bought in), and vegetables and I still dont think she has eaten anything. I'm going out today to get a heater and see if maybe when the temperature warms up if she will eat better.

[jenaero]

what are the water & basking temps now?

[oboe_kellee]

Her water is about 73 degrees right now. I'm not sure how to figure out what the basking temperature is. But it is a 75 Watt light in it.

[jenaero]

Sounds like she's warm enough. She probably just needs to get used to her new home before she'll start eating. A healthy turtle can go weeks without eating so don't worry too much. Don't stop offering food tho. To check the basking temp, just hold a thermometer there for a few minutes. The basking temp should be at least 10 degrees warmer than the water. I keep my water at 75 and the basking spot at 90. Do you have a uvb bulb? How big is her tank? Have you read all the Stickys here? I know it's a lot of info to take in at once but your turt will be happier for it.

[oboe_kellee]

Luckily, Isobel wasn't an impulse buy. We did alot of reading before we got her, but I hadn't found this website yet, so I wasn't completely 100% prepared. I've read most of the stickies. Still reading alot of the other posts. I didnt realize the size of the tank we needed before we got her, but luckily the one I did buy is plenty big enough (by the boards standard of 10 per inch). She seems to have stopped jumping off the basking deck whenever we walk in the room, but still jumps off whenever she sees our puppy Zoey come in the room. Do you think that even though her water is warm enough now at room temp that I should still get a heater? We don't have the air conditioning on now so I'm afraid once we turn it on, her water temp will drop, and I keep reading things about hibernation and other situations I would rather not happen to her. Sorry about the long post, I have a tendency to be longwinded.
Kellee

[oboe_kellee]

We have a UV light. Her tank is 50 gallons. She has a basking area and light. (I left that out of the previous post)

[jenaero]

Just make sure that light provides uvb. The uva only provides heat. The uvb (as I'm sure you've alread read) imitates the sun's rays and enables your turt to metabolize calcium..very important.

If you're going to be turning the air on you should get a water heater. If the room temp drops, the water temp will too and you don't want that.

Sometimes I still have to be careful when I come into the living room because one of my turts is still a little jumpy. Sometimes he's ok, but sometimes he'll see me moving too fast towards him and he just flies off his dock and sometimes bumps into the glass on the way down. It's just going to take a little longer for him to get used to me...although I've had them since September

[oboe_kellee]

I just got back from shopping for Isobel. I got her a heater.. it goes under the rocks on the bottom so she wont get burned. I also picked up some tuna fish, and some little plant things for her to play with. I gave her some tuna a little while ago and she ate it like she was starving to death. Does anyone know the proper portions for a turtle?

[oboe_kellee]

One more question. Do the heaters know how to self regulate or do I need to monitor the temperature and stop it when it hits 75 or so? She seems a lot happier now with a full belly.

[jenaero]

Well, it's good that she's eating but don't get her hooked on the tuna. It can be used as a rare treat once she's on a good feeding schedule. The proper portion for pellet food is an amount the size of her head once a day (once every other day for turts over 1 year old).

[oboe_kellee]

So tuna isnt a good everyday food. It just seems like she wont eat the pellets or the dried crickets they sold me at petsmart.