Hello all,
My turtle's name is Opus. Opus is a little over 14 months old. I rescued him/her? from downtown Los Angeles June of 2006, when Opus was about the size of a 50 cent piece.
[img][img]http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f208/Bergan/Animals/opus-under-plant.jpg[/img][/img]
Opus is now much larger, and has seemed to grow rapidly. (about 5 inches long) To me, this seems excessive for a 14 mo old turtie baby. I kept the temperatures of the tank for the first year to around 82 degrees. The habitat is now currently a 40 gallon bow front (I want to upgrade to a 150 gallon soon), with a 405 fluval filter that works wonders as long as you do the little bit of the required maintanence. I try to keep the water temp at 78, and have a sunnning dock with light that stays in the low 90's that he uses at least once a day. I offer Opus fresh romaine lettuce and basil every day, and every 2-3 days feed some reptomin pellets. Every month I give Opus a treat ie: 8 small guppies or a dozen crickets. I haven't been able to find a correct feeding guide for an adolesent turtle, as it leaves the infant stage and grows to adult hood. Does this seem correct what I am doing? I know you aren't supposed to tell for about 4 years, but is Opus perhaps a female and that's what is causing the more rapid growth? Does his shell look ok? Opus will sleep every night under water.
Here are two pictures of Opus yesterday, one crawling around the apartment for a few hours (I try to let him crawl around at least once a week), then another of resting on the sun dock tuckered out.
[img][img]http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f208/Bergan/Animals/DSCN2560.jpg[/img][/img]
