General Care Discussion :: Things I was doing wrong and trying to correct.

[nomimalone1978]

Okay, so I am a little confused about nutrition (and a couple of other things, but let me start here.)

Turtle started shedding and the pump was constantly clogged - so I got a thermometer and read up and realized that the water was too warm and that I was probably overfeeding the turtle.

So I have and adult male. I was giving brine shrimp, turtle 'treats', or pellets whenever he seemed to beg. After reading about overfeeding I stopped. But now I am not 100% sure how much to feed him. So I am doing red tipped lettuce daily (he doesn't seem to like this), a couple of brine shrimp every afternoon, one turtle treat in the evening and 4 pellets (broken in half) every other day. Any thoughts on this?

Next is water temp. The tank I inherited is too small and I am working on that (29 gallon - definitely not big enough). I kept the basking lamp on 24/7 even though he only basks at night and found that the water temp was in the mid 80s. Now I am turning the basking lamp on at night when I go to bed so he can bask and it doesn't overheat the water.

Clearly I need a bigger tank, but does anyone else have any advice on diet or water temp or lighting situation? Please, please, please let me know if you do. I want turtle to be happy and transitioning is stressful on the poor little guy.

[Tenodera]

I think you're still feeding him too much, you can just feed him once a day, food the amount that would fit in his head as if it was hollow.

You should turn off the basking light at night or he can't get any sleep!

Do you have a water heater? Do you have gravel in your tank?

[scripta_elegans]

If your turtle hasn't had any veggies in his life, it may take him a little while to eat it. If he doesn't get other food on a daily basis he will be more likely to eat lettuce.

[nomimalone1978]

No, we don't have gravel in the bottom of the tank. We read that he may try to eat it and in many habitats we saw online, they didn't use any. So we opted out of the gravel. We are staying away from plants in the tank simply because the tank isn't big enough now and we want to give him plenty of room.

Still too much food? I can do once a day. He has perked up to some of the small lettuce bits, but I think it's out of desperation from caling back from the overfeeding.

The idea for the light at night is because he basks more at night because there is no one moving about the house. He is still very skiddish (new environment, new smells, new stresses, etc.) and only seems to want to bask when no one is around. (We catch him basking, if that makes sense.) Would you all suggest that I have the light on during the day when I go to work?

We don't have a tank heater and without the light running all of the time, the temp rests at 77.1 degrees.

But thanks for the advice and help and please keep it coming.

[untsmurf]

All new turtles only want to bask when they are alone. They just need to time to get used to you and your comings and goings. After a few weeks they'll stop diving off the dock every single time you walk in the room. The temp for the water is fine. You'll need a water heater for when winter comes, unless you are planning to keep the house at a constant 75-78 degrees. What temp is your basking area? What kind of light are using for your basking area? Do you have a UVB bulb? You shouldn't feed him the treats on a daily basis, because they are just that, treats. They should not be a staple in his diet. Maybe a few (1-3) every couple (2-3) weeks will be fine. How old, and what size is your turt?

[SpotsMama]

You can put him on a normal day-night cycle where the lights are concerned. Try to mimic nature - around 12 hours with the lights on (both basking and UVB) during the day time, then all lights off at night. He needs some dark time for good sleeping.

If the water temperature stays around 75 degrees then it's good. Water temperature in the 80s is too high.

On feeding, try reading through here. It's got very good guidelines on how much and what to feed. You can't go wrong if you're within these guidelines:

http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html

[nomimalone1978]

Thank you new turtle family!!

We are now running on a cycle where we are mimicing nature and having the heating lamp run when we are at work.

He seems to be warming up to the lettuce - in and of I am putting it on his dock and as of this morning it was a little bit shredded and floating. Many of the bite sized pieces are still uneaten, but at least I know that he knows that they are there.

My heating lamp is ... well, I am still looking into that. It is all black and seems to be the one that comes with every kit at the pet store. I didn't look into it too much yet - that is my next project as well as getting a bigger tank and creating a more fun habitat with things for the guy to do.

The basking temp seems to be at about 89 degrees. I got the only digital thermometer that the pet store had and it takes a while for it to accurately rread the temperature, so I think that that is correct.

Again, thanks to all of you and I will keep everyone posted and hopefully get some pics up for everyone to see him and formally introduce him to you all.

[steve]

What kind of filter do you have and how much water is in the tank?

[nomimalone1978]

Duetto 50 and we fill it about 3/5 full. He can't be a jumper and he has as much swim room as possible.

I did find a 39 gallon tank that was really long and only $78. Seems like a good option and one of the more affordable ones. Finding the table space is not so easy.

[marisa]

I don't know what size tank the Duetto 50 is rated for, but Duettos are pretty much considered to be inadquate filters for turtles. To push water in a tiny hatchling's tank, perhaps, but not if you've got a turtle larger than that.

[megcornell]

I'd save the $78 and put it towards a more permanent tank investment. Don't forget that in the meantime you can always use a cheaper alternative like a rubbermaid storage bin or a stocktank. You may also want to keep your eye out for garage sales and craigslist, there are usually good deals on used tanks there. As for a stand, don't forget that larger tanks weigh a considerable amount so you're going to need something very sturdy. You can always keep the tank on the floor, buy a stand, or make one... whatever works for you.
In the longrun it just saves so much time and money to buy a larger tank because then you aren't upgrading so often.