Newbie
Posted:
Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:49 pmby aztec
Hey Guy's well am new with turtles i have a small baby red ear slider and bigger one that i bought from petco i have a ok size tank for them but am really new and don't know exactly what i need to have in the tank. how much should i fill the thank? i have a floating dock but it seems like only the baby turtle can get up there and the big one just slides off. Also i have a small filter but i would like to get something nicer what do you guys recommend for me as starter? what should i get? Food wise how much do they eat? Am i over feeding them? Also lighting? please keep in mind i am on a budget thanks
Posted:
Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:55 pmby JessicaTS
How big are both of your turtles? for the tank size, one inch of the carapace equals 10 gallons. So if both of your turtles lenght in inches are 6 together, you will need at least a 60 gallon habitat. You should fill to about 3/4 of water in the tank, leaving enough air space for them to completely dry off on the basking dock but designed for impossible escape.
How big is your dock and do you have a UVB and UVA light? As a filter, possibly a fluval. Get a filter that is designed to the power of double your tank size. Food varies for most. Hatchlings should be fed pellets once a day, how many pellets that will fit in the head, also worms, gut-loaded crickets, tuna, offer veggies even if they don't eat it. As for your other older turtles, pellets about 2 or 3 times a week, offer veggies (Read the food sticky)
As for the budget, if you can't afford right now to get a tank big enough for them, rubbermaids and stock tanks go great as well. But the space requirements do not change
Posted:
Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:57 pmby sonyj
Welcome... what are the sizes of each turtle (SCL, straight carapace length)? Fill the tank as high as you can without them being able to escape. I recommend reading through the main site:
http://www.redearslider.com/ and the stickies on the forum. This will give you a wealth of info to help you and your turtles.
Just a word of caution, turtles are more solitary creatures and when keeping two or more together you have to be prepared to separate them into their own individual tanks/environments if they don't get along/show aggressive behavior to each other. And if the sizes of the turtles vary greatly it might not be a good thing to keep them together at all.
Again, welcome....
Posted:
Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:40 pmby cam722
Welcome aztec... my advice is.. READ READ READ.. start at the main site.. (the url that sonyj gave) check out all the info. There are some downloadables that you can print out on basic needs and foods.
You can get those here...
http://www.redearslider.com/index_download.html#foods
pictures
Posted:
Thu Sep 15, 2005 3:07 amby aztec
i have some pitures but have nowhere to host them at. i can email them just send me a private msg.
Posted:
Thu Sep 15, 2005 8:41 amby sonyj
Try yahoo pictures or photo bucket to host them. These sites are free...
