Photo Gallery :: New to RES.com

[Shels]

http://community.webshots.com/user/thesource00

Those are my 2 RES. I havent named them, just kinda call both of them "turtle". Ive had Turtle 1 for about 11 years now, Turtle 2 for 13 years. They were both the size of quarters when i got them and have grown nicely over the years. Turtle 1 is a female and a pretty damn big one i'll say (i know its kinda hard to tell from the pics). Turtle 2 is male and has stayed about the same size for a while, so im thinking hes done growing. Any other question, feel free to ask!

[JessicaTS]

I'm sorry but there are so many things going wrong with your turtles habitat. First, it's too small. Is that all the water they get? No heater no filter.
And maybe it's just me... but your turtles look a little heavyset compared to their carapce. How much and what are you feeding them?

From the looks of it, you will need at least a 90 gallon tank. Water should be filled up close to the top but not close enough for them to escape. The basking dock should be larger if there are two turtles in the tank. It also should not be that submerged by the water. Turtles need to dry off their carapace AND their plastron. Is that a uvb or a uva bulb? UVB is what you should be offering.
And the tiny blue pebbles, I would get rid of them before they cause trouble.

[TexasJagsFan]

Looks like shell pyramiding too.

[marisa]

Nice turtles, but they do need a bigger habitat and much, much more water.

[Shels]

Hmm...thanks for the suggestions. How much water tho? Are they supposed to be fully submerged? I always thought u just fill to the about the top of the shell, so they can stick their head out to breathe.

Because of space and some financial restrictions, im not sure i can get bigger tanks for them. But at the same time, im not sure they really need them. Both seem pretty happy, have plenty of space to move around, and almost every night i let them walk around my room for a lil exercise.

Both tanks do have Ducal filters which i change and clean about every 2 days. I feed them in the bathtub every other day, giving them Wardley or Reptomin food sticks, along with some fresh fruit (like peaches, grapes, tomatoes, mango) with portions that match about the size of their head. They also have a the rocks to bask (sp?) on, and where they do get completely dry on them. And the light i have is UVB, which i let them bask in for about 4-5 hrs a day.

[jenaero]

Turtles need as much water as you can give them. In the wild, they're found in lakes and rivers and ponds, not shallow puddles. If we were talking about a snapping turtle you might be ok because they're bottom dwellers, but res love to swim. Fill that sucker up as high as you can without giving your turts a chance to escape.

They may look happy, but they can't speak for themselves so who really knows. They may have space to move around, but what they really need is space to swim!

Good luck, and welcome to Turtle Talk