Habitat - Indoor :: Sebastian's New Home

[SebastianMillhouse]

I finally got my 2 month old RES out of the lagoon and into a 10 gallon tank. The setup he has now includes and AquaClear Mini filter, a Stealth heater, a big river rock, a trurtle dock, blue and green pebbles, and a clamp on UV light. Instead of the filter pouring directly out into the water which was very noisy, we used 1/2 inch PVC pipe to make a chute that redirects water around the heater. I have the water high enough to keep the top of the turtle dock dry, but not enough so that he can breathe underneath it to keep him from living his whole life under there. He likes to sleep on the river rock so he doesn't have to move much to take a breath.

He's taking to it nicely and seems to be very happy. He has not basked in it yet but it's only been 2 days. I've been feeding him Reptomin pellets and carrots every few day s along with Romaine lettuce once in a while.

He still seems to have whitish, whispy growth on him and I'm considering bathing him in a sulfa-dip solution. Is this reccomended?

[missibsu]

I'm confused...is there a reason that you aren't filling up that tank as much as it will go? RES are aquatic and need room to swim. Having more water will also reduce the noise from the filter.

[kneecole]

Besides adding more water I would say re-think the whole "basking rock" thing. It takes up so much room in there. The floating docks are great and I think the smallest one is only like 10 bucks if I remember correctly. If nothing else I would say move it so it's not right in the middle taking up so much valuable swim room.

[sonyj]

Along with the above comments, also the small gravel should be removed before he can eat it and become impacted. Using large river rocks or nothing at all is a better choice of substrate for a turtles tank.

[marisa]

How long has he had the white wispy growth (really a growth?)? They do shed their skin, and normal shedding looks wispy and translucent in the water, but really isn't visible out of the water. Does this sound like what your turtle's skin is like?

If he's just starting with the wisps, I'd wait a bit and see if it doesn't clear up--he could be shedding being in that lagoon, if the water wasn't frequently changed and the ammonia level was high. If you feel something needs to be done about the condition, I'd first try aquarium salts baths rather than the sulfa dip.

BTW, I use an AquaClear 50 in a 10 gallon tank. You may find the mini to be insufficient very soon.

[SebastianMillhouse]

The water in the above picture was 3.5" Now, I have moved the basking platform against that back wall of the tank so he can have the whole front half free for swimming. I also piled up pebbles underneath the dock and raised it up about an inch and added more water into the tank. Now it's about 4.5" deep. My turtle is about 1.5" long The reason I kept it pretty shallow was so that the basking platform would be dry. I still need a basking lamp besides the UV.

Also, is Sulfa-dip okay to use on my turtle?

The whisps are not from his skin shedding. They are mostly on his shell especially underneath the overhanging parts. I had a turtle conditioner, (the little white turtle shaped block that dissolves) in there for a while and it started clearing up but once it was gone, the stuff came back.

I also noticed some white faded spots on his shell. I believe this is the result of not of basking, correct? He has not basked so far in the 3 days he's been in the tank. He just likes to hide under the dock and only come out for air. How do I get him to bask properly?

The dark wide gaps between the scutes are still there as well.

[SebastianMillhouse]

Here are more pictures of Sebastian:

[samandnelly]

I've been through your same situation. I had the same problems. I used to use that thing you call a basking area...but it's not worth it. I moved my little guys to a storage bin and got a floating turtle dock. I still use that in a corner, though...they still like to climb it. I'd suggest you move up to a large household storage bin and get a medium sized turtle dock. And get a Fluval 2 plus - the 1s are crap...even for a 10 gal. Been there, done that. Get a heater too, Thermomil for a 10 gal and if you move up to a storage, get a Fluval 2 plus. Storage bins are about 20 gallons or so..the large ones. Oh and pebbles...I have also, been there done that, and they WILL eat the pebbles. When I saw my guys put one in their mouth, they were out. Those pebbles are commonly mistaken as food. How much are you feeding Sebastian? His scutes are very wide. Might want to cut down a bit, not just because of the wide scutes, but he could begin pyramiding. -shudder- and believe me that's not something you want to get into. Also-basking, mine only do it when no one is around. You need a ZooMed spotlight bulb over the basking area, and if I am correct it also has UVA. Your turtle won't be encouraged to bask without correct temps, so make sure its about 90 degrees. You'll need UVA and UVB. Also, you ofcourse will need thermometers. The water for mine is 80 degrees since they're hatchlings, and the basking area 90 degress. I'm not sure about plain old UV in general, I'd skip it. And stay away from those infrared things and blacklight bulbs that give off odd-colored light. Those can hurt his eyes. What else...ah. Sometimes they don't bask because they'll see you coming. You won't have that problem in a household tub, since they only view you from the top. But then again you always have to look down on them to check on how they're doing, but that doesn't bug me much. And do you have mesh? If it's squares are less than a 1/2 inch, it will filter light, which will cause shell problems. That might be why your little guy has a whitish shell. I've never seen that before, however. They're usually bright green when that small, and even if it was changing color, it should be dulling, not whitening. Maybe yours is ornate...since it doesn't seem to have much coloring. Have you taken him to a vet? That's the first thing I did. It helps a lot. I bet she could tell you what that is. And she will also tell you what you need to properly care for it. I bet you wished you read about the care of a turtle before you went out shopping for it, huh? It stinks that most pet stores have people who don't know what they're doing. I made the same mistakes as you did so I'm not trying to bring you down or anything by saying all that stuff you need lol. I have learned so much from this site, and I hope you learn from that!

[SebastianMillhouse]

Well, I saw Sebastian carrying around a smaller pebble in his mouth the other day so I decided to completely redo his setup. The pebbles are out along with the platform. He now has two large river rocks stacked up under a UV light and a desk light for heat. He loves basking there now! I had a great chance to snap a picture but when I got up to get the camera he jumped in! There are too more large river rocks in the tank that he usually goes to sleep on since they are a little closer to the surface for breathing. Without pebbles it looked a little boring in there but I got some small river rocks to replace them. (He won't be able to bite these for a long time) As you can see, they're kind of sparse since the pet store only had one small bag, but I'll get more.

The water is kept at 78 degrees and about 4" deep.

We put Sebastian in Sulfa Dip one time and all the white stuff is gone. He also has a turtle shaped sulfa block in the tank to kill bacteria but it's beneath a rock so he can't eat it.

His shell is almost 2" long now. It is getting a steep ridge along the top which I hope is normal. No signs of pyramyding though, his food intake has been cut down greatly.

On sunny days I place put him a rubbermaid bin with his basking platform and he sits out all day. I have to regulate the temperature in the sun though so it doesn't overheat.