Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 12:00 pm
Read over this forum, extensively. That's the best advice anyone could give.
It's good that you've come here before getting your turtle, it will save you a lot of trouble, money, and anguish in the end.
What size turtle will you be getting?
There is no perfect formula for succeeding, but if you follow these guidelines, you should be pretty good off.
Buy the biggest tank you can. If you end up with a female, she could reach 12 inches, a male slightly less. The rule is 10 gallons of tank per 1 inch of shell. A 90 gallon tank is pretty good. If you get a hatchling, I'd start off with at least a 30-50 gallon tank until you know if you've got a male or female. And DON'T buy those "turtle" tanks, buy a regular fish aquarium, as RES are aquatic like fish.
You want the best filter you can afford, namely a canister filter. Rena, Fluval, and a few other brands make them, they are nice, but pricey. However, the better your filter, the less you have to clean the tank.
You need two types of lighting, a heat bulb which can be a regular incandescent bulb and a UVB bulb. They sell a good compact fluorescent bulb at most pet stores. There is the Exo Terra ReptiGlo and the Zoo Med ReptiSun, you want a 26 watt 5.0 bulb. Don't bother with the hoods that most aquariums come with, they end up being a pain in the end. Get whatever fixtures will work with your tank.
You'll need a water heater and thermometers. You want ones that your turtle won't break, so if you can find non-glass, that's best. I think the rule is 3-5 watts per gallon of tank water.
You also need a basking area. Browse the site, people make their own or buy those floating docks. You can also buy cork bark as a basking area.
DO NOT put any gravel in your tank. Turtles die from gravel. Buy rocks only that are bigger than a turtle's head will every be. River rocks are good. You don't, however, need anything on the bottom of your tank. The less down there, the cleaner your tank will be.
Most people on here use ReptiSafe water conditioner (you'll need it to remove the chlorine from your tap water), and Terra Fauna ReptoMin floating food sticks or HBH Turtle Bites as food.
Once you have all that down, you can worry about treats, plants, tank cleaning, and other things.
Any questions?
JAX
- - -
Baby Boy - January 9th, 2011! (3 months old)
1 RES - 7" long - Umi (3.5 years old)
1 black lab/hound mix - Josie (1.5 year old)
2 cats - Mysti and Molly (6.5 years old)
I did buy almost everything online (ebay) for the new tank, and saved alot of $, but the shipping costs made buying the actual tank online more expensive. Also Petsmart stores will match their online price! The website is selling the 250w Invisatherm Stealth heater for $20.99. They were $37 in the store, but I printed out the web page and brought it with me, so they had to give it to me for $20.99! 
