General Care Discussion :: "Tired of Caring For Him"

[sophie anne]

As long as they are big enough that Rain can't eat them and they are clean (boiling should be sufficient), the garnet crystals should be fine. Garnet is one of the harder minerals, harder than most 'river rocks' you could buy at the store. The glass of the aquarium would crack before the garnet crystal would fracture. It's hard to break garnet with a rock hammer, let alone turtle toes

Maybe you could keep rain in a plastic tub to save money on buying a new tank? You can get 55 gallon Rubbermaid tubs for less than $30 at hardware stores. Not necessarily as aesthetically pleasing as a glass/acrylic aquarium, but if you're in a pinch... (Not sure if anybody has suggested this yet)

[Mo Milazzo]

As long as they are big enough that Rain can't eat them and they are clean (boiling should be sufficient), the garnet crystals should be fine. Garnet is one of the harder minerals, harder than most 'river rocks' you could buy at the store. The glass of the aquarium would crack before the garnet crystal would fracture. It's hard to break garnet with a rock hammer, let alone turtle toes

Well that's the problem. The rocks could definitely do a number to her shell, so I voting no on these rocks. The only rocks I'd ever recommend, like I stated previously, are LARGE, SMOOTH, ROUNDED stones. I still recommend leaving the bottom bear. What's not important, decoration or safety?

I'm agreeing with Sophie and Steve on the whole not 100% res. She's a beauty though, that's for sure. However, I would scratch out Belize slider because Rain does indeed have the red stripe.

[sophie anne]

Yes, and bare bottom tanks also stay cleaner longer

[ljapa]

A bottom with rock or sand does offer more surfaces for beneficial bacteria to grow.

I'm one of the sand convertees. I had river rock, and cleaning was not fun. Sand is easier to clean and has a larger surface area than rock.

[Kansasslider]

First off I take my hat off to you. Great job your heart is in the right place. Everything will fall into order in time.Your doing the most important thing research and talking with other turtle owners. Good luck and enjoy your new friend.

[puppylovejewelry]

Thank you all.

You know, her shell looks like the pictures of the Belize slider more than the RES shells. but she def has the red stripes. I am confused. could she be a cross between these two? Do the belize get even bigger than the RES? (there is mixed info on this when you google).

I think she is going to want to eat soon. I offer something every day, no munching so far. But she is starting to sniff around when I am eating or preparing food....I think she's considering starting to eat.

I did put the gemstones on the bottom of the tank for now, which she seemed to love. They don't cover the whole bottom at all. They are scattered about as something for her to look at and move around, which she has been doing. I left out anything with sharp points/edges that could cause trauma. I realize I will have to scrub the rocks down with a toothbrush and boil them when I do monthly deep cleaning.

She looks bored....less bore than when the tank was bare on the bottom but still bored. I need to get her something larger ASAP. having little baby fish in there that she can eat seems like it would be entertaining for her. Do most of you do that, have the turtle live with little fishies swimming about?

I have an organic grass patch fenced in for my guinea pigs to graze in. I can plant an additional one for her and fence it in, so she can run on the grass outside a bit in nice weather. I can't let her go to the one for the pigs because of the salmonella concern. But being outside for awhile really matters to them, it probably will to her too.

[Mo Milazzo]

I love the fencing idea! Just be sure she is supervised or at least checked on. As far as the fish go, I say offer her a half dead one first, see if she likes it. If she does, you can put a few in with her. It may take time for her to become accustomed to eating the fish.

[Mo Milazzo]

Oh, a for the size of Belize sliders it's safe to say they get somewhere from 10-15 inches. It's also very possible that you may have a hybrid as they are becoming more popular.

[steve]

What have you been trying t feed her? Linus has a Belize slider, maybe he can shed some light. Can you post a pic of her entire shell?

[Kansasslider]

Try some fresh fish or freeze dried shrimp to get her to eat. Both my turtles love fish and shrimp. I have live fish and ghost shrimp in my tank.

[ataraxiamb]

I don't feed my guy guppies, but it seems to really help turtles with feeding problems to eat live fish. I'd say getting her some fresh food (as opposed to pellets) would get her to eat. If you are eating fish for dinner, you could slip a little chunk or two into her tank. Veggies and fruits are also good things to serve her occasionally. It may take some time for her to take to them though. Bill is not interested in anything but peas and apples so far. And it took him a while to warm up to those.

You might consider putting some aquatic plants in the tank for her to nibble on as well. I plan to do this soon.

Could you post a pic of her tank with the stones in it?

[apondfortimmy]

Definitely watch her while she's running around on the grass - and make sure the fence is about twice as tall as her shell length. I've seen one of my largest turtles get her foot over the top of a fence and pull her entire body and shell over with just her front legs. They're better at climbing than I had ever imagined.

What a pretty name! I love it. Good job on rescuing her.

I second (third?) the Rubbermaid tanks. If I had to do it over, I'd have invested in one of those to start with instead of getting more aquariums. While they're not as pretty, they hold a lot more water and you can make them a lot more pond-like in the end. (Not the rubbermaid storage bins with the flimsy sides but the water trough type from a feed store.) Or if you felt so inclined, you could build a box (strong, though) and get a piece of pond liner and just make whatever size "tank" you needed or wanted. That might be hard to cart home on a bike but I know places online deliver (I could give you the info for a couple I've used that are great) and they often have free delivery offers (I had my rubbermaid tank shipped free).

Also if you're into the DIY projects, there's a great thread somewhere around here on how to build your own (expandable?) filter system.

I wouldn't suggest fish in a smaller tank. When the turtles actually do catch them, the fish ... they ... they kind of explode. Scales EVERYWHERE. It made my filter the grossest it's ever been.

One trick I used to get one of mine to eat veggies was to sink a small head of red lettuce to the bottom so it looks like a pond plant. I'm pretty sure I got that idea from this forum (because, really, I have gotten probably 99.9% of all the knowledge I have about RES here), along with the turtle jello shots (which work beautifully but I'm still working out the recipe to where it doesn't cloud my tank). Definitely look at the "turtle jello shots" thread. (I'll link it when my browser isn't giving me grief.)

Oh, one more thing - I wouldn't bother scrubbing everything when you do a cleaning. The tank needs some bacteria in it to help balance out the system. When I clean I don't actually clean the decorations, I just wipe down the tank sides and I change the filter. I mean, unless they're intolerably gross.

OH YEAH, also, turtles will eat their own poop if it's not scooped out fast enough. It may be a while until you have to worry about that with her not eating a lot, but I figured I'd warn you just in case. I had to find out the hard way and .... ew.

With how much care you've taken with your dog and the initial setup, I don't think you have anything to worry about. They're hardy creatures and she looks like she's got it a whole lot better than teenagers or a park pond.

... and that store guy was wrong. While they don't "love" love you the way warm-blooded creatures tend to, I swear they at least show some appreciation of familiarity.

[Mom2RES]

Yea, don't spend $1,000 on a tank. I got a 125 gallon with a wood stand on Craigslist for $300. In hindsight I should have offered less, but $300 was the best I was seeing within driving distance of me.

I got taken by a pet store too in the beginning. Lesson learned.

My RES def knows and reacts to me. Part of that is probably because I feed her, but it is obvious she knows me.

I commend you for taking on the poor turtle. People (even if they are kids) are stupid.

[Mom2RES]

Oh I should add I say skip the rocks completely. I had the large river rocks, and they got disgusting pretty quick. They are hard to clean too, because stuff settles between them. When I went to move to my big tank, the rocks were NASTY! I have sand in the 125 gallon, and I've been very happy with that.

Expect any fish you might get to be eaten. My then six year old wanted goldfish as pets to be with the RES. She started chomping down on them within minutes. Mortified my daughter. The next time I bought fish for food, they were completely eaten within minutes. There was no mess either.

As others have said if you take her outside, you have to keep a close eye on her. Not just because they are good at escaping, but because birds and other animals prey on them.

If you have one thing you can invest in immediately, it should be a good filter. Turtles are much dirtier than fish. You should have a filter for a tank that is 2 to 3 times the size of what you have. For example I have a 125 gallon tank. I bought an FX5, which I believe is for a 400 gallon fish tank. My tank stays completely clear, even if I don't get it cleaned monthly.

[n00bEmpty]

Well if you live near a Petsmart then you can pick up a tank like this: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=3804452. Cheaper overall in my experience and the Petsmart brand (Top Fin) is very reliable. Rocks are very hard to clean, I've had both rocks and sand, and sand was much easier to clean. And my RES/Map turtles loved to dig through those rocks at 3 AM making a ruckus.