Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: Been lurkin', time to say hey

[herpin'hippie]

Been reading the good turtle gospel here since April when I started my turtle family while on our honeymoon to Florida. Damn you tourist shops with your too cute turts!! (side note on those shops: it was really a sad state that most of the shops kept their turtles with no UVB lighting and usually a few dead ones in the water )

So I figured now is as good a time as any to introduce everyone.

First off we have Leonardo (or maybe Michelangelo hard to tell from this angle ) a yellow belly slider. If anyone can give me some insight as to if those are shutes s/he's shedding or what the deal is that'd be groovy!


Next up is Raphael, who I suspect is of the common or southern map turtle.


Then we have Michelangelo ( or Leonardo but I'm pretty sure I have it correct, it's easier to tell when you can check which is missing a tail) who is also a yellow belly slider.


And finally Donatello our red eared slider.


Oh and we can't forget Master Splinter!


Here is everyone enjoying the new setup after the big heads worked to get them upgraded from a 55 gal to this 125.


You probably noticed the egg-crate in the background and the lack of ATBA. Well have no fear because one is in the works!
Those buckets were just tossed on that bottom shelf after finally getting the new stand and tank and everyone back in position, it has some discarded hosing from when I adjusted my lengths.

Of course I'm completely open to all criticism and feedback from you guys (why else would I be posting on your forum ). So feel free to fire off any questions or critiques!

-hippie

[steve]

Welcome to the site! Very nice pics, the tank looks great too! You're seeing a bit excessive growth. Do you have their measurements?

[herpin'hippie]

Thanks Steve! I'll be happy to scoop them up and do some quick checks of their SCL on my lunch, but if I had to tell you right now I'd say between 3"-4".

Measurement Edit:
Raph, Leo, and Mikey are all right at the 3" mark. Lil' Donnie is only at 2.5"

[steve]

In your opinion, have they experienced a lot of growth?

[herpin'hippie]

Well I'm not sure what would be considered 'a lot'. I'd say they were all pretty close to 2" back mid April. Three have grown about an inch and the RES has only grown maybe half an inch. The YBS do seem to be getting a little more bulky then the other two though. They have quite the feeding response!

[Kansasslider]

Welcome! Sharp looking turts and tank.

[steve]

What's their diet like?

[herpin'hippie]

Hey, Hey - Thanks Kansasslider!

I've been feeding them Mazuri pellets in the morning and I try and drop some romaine in the afternoon for them to munch on. I occasionally will cut up some carrots for them and maybe once a month I break off some frozen blood worms for them to feast on.

[steve]

How many pellets? Are you going by the "head-size"?

[herpin'hippie]

I've been trying to stay as close to the "head-size", as if it were hollow and full of pellets, rule as I can. Usually maybe 12-15ish pellets? The feisty little YBS seem to out compete the map turtle when I drop them most of the time. They can almost fit 2 in their mouth at the same time, where the map has trouble getting it's mouth around one. I guess it's time to look into a separate feeding area?

[steve]

Separate might be a good idea. You can also take the ybs out and placed into a dry container while the others ate. If you're doing pellets everyday, I would probably do about 1/3 of that amount.

[herpin'hippie]

Good tip on removing the ybs while the others eat! Would you recommend doing pellets every other day or just less of them in general?

[steve]

I still do it everyday, my turtles would not forgive me if I didn't do it everyday. If you do a dry container, or any container for that matter, make sure it's on the floor. They can and will tip it over.

[herpin'hippie]

I may have to do a container within a container on the ground, so if they tip the first one over, they aren't free roaming the floor while dodging cats and dogs! Thanks for the pro-tips!

I want to conquer the ATBA this weekend. What do you think if I tried to make the platform and the walls of the platform with egg-crate, using silicone to hold it together? Would it be too breezey for the turts, even if I was able to get a proper surface temperature? The actual turtle surface area would have 4 12x18 cork tile pieces, cut down to about 44" in total length. I was trying to save some cost and not using any/much acrylic.

[steve]

Silicone doesn't hold plastic together very well. Plastic ties will do the trick and are pretty cheap. I'm not sure of the costs of egg-crate, is it worth if this is temporary? If it's indoors, I would not worry about it being too breezy.