Photo Gallery :: Pics of Tortuga and :help me heal his shell!:

[sawajo]

Wow it looks like I am having some serious problems with the pics.. I am setting up a webshots account just for little Tuga as we speak.

I found out that it is illegal to sell RESs under 4in as pets. However, they are sold all over the place in Florida. I think there is some kind of loophole where they are allowed to be sold if they are used for breeding (??) I don't know. I hope Turtle Protection Services doesn't come to confiscate him!!

OK so if you search the username TortugaTheTurtle on webshots you should be able to find all the pics I have. I'll put up a link in a min as well... for simplicity's sake.

[sawajo]

ok here ya go!:

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

[xsavingsaturdayx]

May I ask how big is that tank? It looks kind of small..

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Or wait..I just saw that it said "feeding tank" is this right? Whats your setup like? Do you have a UVB light along with all the other neccesary needs?

[sawajo]

Saving Saturday - I have him/her in a 10gal for now. I have a 20gal back home that I was planning on getting when s/he reaches 2in. Right now s/he is 1.5in so it's not the biggest (judging by the 10gal per 1in rule, alas 15gal are hard to get a hold of ) but I think it will do until Tuga gets a little bigger.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Oh ok good. 10 gallon tanks are good size tanks for small turtles. I thought you were keeping her in one of those little critter containers, which i found out that it was just used for feeding time

[sawajo]

Well I touched on that on the original post. I wanted to check with everyone to see how much daily outdoor/sun light would equal a day's worth of a UV light. I know the UV bulb emits only a fraction of what the sun can give but I'm not sure what the ratio is.
I was planning on trying to use the sun while the weather is nice and then purchase a new bulb for the winter months. Do you think this will work? I bought some things today to get a nice little outdoor ring/playground/arena set up. So far I just take him on walks (more of just watching him as he explores thing).

[sawajo]

Yeah that little thing is what s/he was sold to me in! Isn't that horrible? I kept it around though because I found good use for it. I can use it for feeding, transporting, cleaning the tank etc.
Do you have any pics of your set-up on the posts? .. from what I can make out from your avatar, it looks amazing!

[xsavingsaturdayx]

I have heard people say that if you take your turtle outside every other day for a couple of hours (3 - 4) You may not need to use a UVB bulb (in the winter you would have to use one though), but..you would still need a UVA lamp (heat lamp). If he's going to be out there for that long, i would setup a kiddie pool with a rock in the middle. Be sure to watch him extra careful..

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Yeah that little thing is what s/he was sold to me in! Isn't that horrible? I kept it around though because I found good use for it. I can use it for feeding, transporting, cleaning the tank etc.
Do you have any pics of your set-up on the posts? .. from what I can make out from your avatar, it looks amazing!

Yeah it is horrible, but it looks like he/she (you should name her, if you already havent ) is getting better care now.

I think i posted some a long time ago - but the picture in my avatar is their old 20 gallon rubbermaid setup. Right now their in a 60 gallon rubbermaid which I found at big lots for 13$. My setup is nothing fancy, its actually very plain looking - there are no plants or substrate, just a filter, heater, basking dock and two clamp lamps. But hey, it makes for easier cleaning..

[sawajo]

Oh definitely! I have to STARE at him the whole time not to lose him. He matches the grass so well, and is so small...
I want to get some water set up outside but mostly just so that he can get wet and/or cool down. I might not have shade for a whole baby pool. I'm also worried about it heating up too much (if it is going to be in direct sunlight). Is the 10gal per 1in rule the same even outside?? If he really wants to get in the water I can just take him back in. I don't think he would be getting any UV rays under the water anyway, would he?
Maybe just a small cool off pool in the shade would be nice. I had a little dish out for him today and he just got in, got wet and went out exploring again.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

I read that UVB can penetrate up to a few feet of water - so, yeah he would get UVB, even under water - but giving him a dry area (a rock, brick, even a dock that you use for his setup) would be great.

You have to carefully watch the temps outside, when first setting up the pool let the temp adjust for a bit, then once it gets stable (around the mid 70's is ok) then you can put him in.

You dont have to have shade for the whole baby pool, just a part of it - plus if he wants to cool off, he will be smart enough to dive in the water.

I heard if you use small pools, the water will heat up alot easier. You might want to get a big size kiddie pool. Again, when outside..watch the temps closely.

[sawajo]

K, got it. Thanks so much. I am going to see if I can set something up tomorrow and might get some new pics up. It's getting late though, so good-night!

[marisa]

Cute turtle. I especially like those middle two pics of him on his basking area. If you get him outside for 1-2 hours several times a week, his UVB needs should be met.

[grey goose]

I had to right click and "save as" on steves links.
Hey, Pic #2 looks familiar! Your little guy looks like he's looking at a wanted poster!
He's way too young to worry about pyramiding....as long as he gets a balanced diet with greens, he'll be fine.....
He's awfully cute, very nice pics.