Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: Hi!

[harmony]

Hi...
I bought my turtle in the fall (I'm not sure when, exactly) from PetCo. We are doing great! She's an excellent girl.
She's been growing a lot lately, which I guess means I'm doing a good job
I've had a wild box turtle before, which I got from a friend who resqued it, and we kept it in the backyard... but it only lasted about a week before it ran away.

My dog loved that turtle, I think she thought it was her baby. My mom said it had to stay outside because it would be smelly and we didn't have the right stuff to take care of it well enough for it not to smell (this was a couple years ago). Well, everyone agreed... except the dog.
I was sitting at the computer, when I heard my mom yelling "who brought the turtle inside!?!" Well, after a chorus of no, we figured our dog did it.
She actually had the turtle sitting next to her on her blanket/bed! I later saw Gidget (my dog) picking her up... or trying too. I put a stop to that fast. lol.

Anyway, my new turtle is wonderful and Gidget loves her as well! I don't let her pick her up... she doesn't get a chance to. Although, in the start when we were cleaning the tank out, she would stick her nose and mouth in and try to pick up the turtle when it was under 1' of water. She learned not to do that fast! LOL

Now she just stares at it through the glass, or keeps her head above water.

Gidget and the turtle actually get along really well... Which is good, considering we actually bought the turtle for Gidget (a pet for our pet lol) since we knew she loved turtles... Okay, we bought it for me as well... I wanted something else to entertain me after my sister went to college.

Well, that worked well! Harmony is very entertaining.

Okay, that's all for now... I'll be posting again soon, I'm sure!

Bye!

[kneecole]

haha glad they get along! and welcome!

[sonyj]

Welcome to the forum. You'll find lots of great info here on raising a happy, healthy RES.

BTW, your comment on her growing fast, it really isn't a good thing. Fast growth can lead to serious health complications. For turtles you want slow steady growth. How big was she when you bought her, and how big is she now (shell length from tip to tip not including the curve)? How much do you feed her?

What is her setup like (tank size, amount of water, filter, heater, UVB light, Heat light, basking area etc)?

[harmony]

Thanks!

Sonyj, sorry for the confusion. I didn't mean she is growing that much. I just meant she's growing. She's really not that much bigger than when I got her.

I'm not sure how big she is, exactly. She doesn't like being picked up out of the cage so I can't measure her. The only times I take her out of her tank is when I have to manually clean out the tank.
She probably was around 5 inches when I bought her, and 6 now. But like I said, it is really hard to tell and that is a guesstimate. lol.


She's in a 10 gallon tank with about 3/4 of it filled with water. I have a UVA basking area for her. I'm working on getting a bigger tank but she doesn't seem to mind this one too much. (She is very active, just swims around in small ovals instead of all around a huge tank)
I have a tank heater and thermometer in it, and a filter.

On the nicer days, I will open the door and the screendoor and wheel her tank over for awhile so she gets some UVB. She gets sunlight where her tank normal is but I heard that windows block that... I'm not sure if mine do or not since they are older windows.

I normally feed her lunch meat ham, turkey, that kind of stuff at least twice a week. But I've also been trying to get her to eat veggies like carrots and I also tried apples and bananas before but she doesn't like any of them.

In fact, today I tried feeding her an apple. I can feed her by the hand, which I think is awesome because it means she isn't scared of me. She chomped into it and pulled it away from me, then spit it out. It was rather amusing. I think she did get a little of it down, but not much at all. I guess it doesn't matter to much though since you are only supposed to feed them fruits about once a month.

I don't feed her that much when I feed her. Normally about half a slice of ham/turkey, if that... and it is normally sliced really thin.

I also sometimes give her some of my dogs chicken strip treats when she is pesting. She loves them. But I only give her 1 small strip and not very often because I heard that they don't have any nutritional value (they are just fillers).

umm... ok, I think that's it!

Thanks!

[cam722]

Hi and Welcome to Turtle Talk

I have a few comments to make on your last post. Please just take it as it's offered

The rule of thumb for tank size for a turtle is 10 gallons per inch of SCL (straight carapace length, tip to tip of the shell minus the curve). So If your turtle is between 5-6", a 10 gallon tank is extremely inadequate.

Putting a turtle in a glass tank out in direct sunlight can potentially be harmful and deadly to your turtle. You could always put her in a plastic storage container with water in it (should be the same temp as the water in her tank) and then put that in the sunlight. The glass magnifies the heat of the sun. Make sure when you take her outside, that she has a place to go to get out of the sun so that she can regulate her body temperature.

Have you read the info either in the forum or the main website on what to feed and not feed your turtles? A turtle that size should be offered veggies every day with pellets in the amount that will fit in the size of the head (minus the neck) every other day. Feeding your turtle only meat is not a good thing. Too much protien can cause problems with their shell and organs. Do you feed your turtle any sort of commercial turtle food? There are a number of reputable and healthy choices, Reptomin, Mazuri are just 2.

Please read the information regarding feeding your turtle. It can be found here..

Feeding list

Hopefully, this information will help you give your new friend a healthy and long life..

[harmony]

Hi,
Thanks for the info Cam... yes, I've done my research on turtles so I know most of what you told me. I didn't know that placing the turtle in direct sunlight in the glass tank would make it that hot, so thanks for the info!

As for the meat, she wouldn't eat anything but when I got her. I don't know what they were feeding her at the pest store. I've been trying to feed her other stuff as well, but most likely she will not eat it... Thanks for the list of foods. I didn't do to much exploring on this website so far so I didn't see that. That is definitely one of the better lists I've seen compared to other turtle websites.

I think compared to what she ate when I got her, she is eating much better now. Well, I will post more about her eating habits in a different section... lol

Oh yeah, I know a 10 gallon tank isn't good for her. I didn't mean to say that it was. I'm trying to get her a bigger tank but, I can't afford to buy a new one and I haven't gotten my hands on any older ones either.

My dad owns a fleamarket stand and I think this is the longest he has ever gone without coming across at least a 20 gallon tank.

Thanks!

[harmony]

oh yeah and I didn't mean that I only want to get her a 20 gallon tank, I want to get her an even bigger one... but a 20 gallon would be better, at this point, then a 10 gallon one. That's all I meant by it. lol.

[sonyj]

Think about getting a Rubbermaid type storage container in the mean time while you are hunting for a larger tank. You can purchase a large one (saw one this week around 45 gallons for $15). That would be much better than what she has now, and will afford you some time searching for a tank.

Other permanent options are large stock tanks like you buy at tractor/feed supply stores. They are cheaper in price than a glass tank for the size and will last since they are made to hold water. Just some suggestions.