General Care Discussion :: In over my head! Please help

[toomuch9992001]

Hi everyone! We bought a RES from a petstore a couple of days ago, and of course we were not told what we needed to know. I have looked online and over this wonderful site to find out as much as possible. Today I saw another RES on craigslist that needed a new home and we went to get it. The lady was SOOOO wonderful and gave me lots more info. She wanted to make sure we could and would take care of our RES. She even told me about this site! I am still feeling a little like Im in over my head. We have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 55gal with fish and 29 gal with fish, and they are ALL part of our family. Now for what I need lol. We have a 55gal tank for our RESs one is about 4-5 in male named Flipper Turtle Fish, and the other is about 6 in female(the lady we got her from said she doesnt think she will get much bigger?) named Lucky Lou Lou Did I mention we also have 4 very creative kids lol. When we brought the first one home, we only had about 6 inches of water on one side and the other side was sloped up to a basking area with a log. We have the heater and 2 filters in the tank. When I seen the ladies set up today, I figured out fast ours was not good, so we went to the petstore and bought a floating dock and filled it up as far as we could and put tops on it. I am now working on getting the gravel out, but the lady at the petstore said sand was not good either because they would eat that also. Im not sure what to put down. I have to get a UVB light tomorrow, the one I bought tonight wont fit the top we have. I do have a basking light, but Im wondering how much time they really need to bask. The first little one we bought, I have only seen bask once. The one we got today seems to try to climb up the side of the dock instead of the sloped end, so I put a Roman looking thing next to it to help them climb up. Flipper seems SOOO much happier now that the tank has lots of water in it, he wasnt really eating before, we were trying to take him out of the tank and put him in a water filled rubber tank, now he is eating and swimming like you wouldnt believe, but Im worried about him not basking. Also, do I leave the basking light on all the time or turn it off when I turn off the UVB light?

Any answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated and any other advice for new RES owners! They already seem like part of the family and are so much fun to watch! I just want to take the best care of them possible.
Thanks!
_________________
Jenn

[jozzep]

Seems like your on your way
The UVB/Heat lights replace the sun, so keep them on for as long as the sun is up.To help this, buy a timer for them (fairly cheap at any store).
The turtles will bask when they want to.
Good luck

[tammi]

The female will get as large as 10 to 12 in and the male somewhere around 10 in. Unless you want to deal with babies I wouldn't house them together.
Either way you will want to read up on nesting boxes and all because the female will lay eggs. Fertilized or not.
I wouldn't worry to much about them basking. As long as its avaliable they will eventually bask. My largerer RES only basks when I'm not around.
I'll come in the room and I'll hear a splash. That's the only way I know he's basking. My little one will be on and off the basking site all day and sometimes after lights out.
Just really depends on the turtle. Make sure you vary the diets and they will do well.
Plenty of info on here will help.

[theartbook35]

Males get up to between 7 and 9 inches.

Females get up to between 10 and 12 inches.

Sometimes genetics, and poor diet/care can effect the outcome of a turtle's growth.

Anyways, sand is very much okay for turtles, if it is FINE GRAIN sand. Usually people use fine grain play sand. I personally am fond of aragonite, because of the make, but that's just me.

Anyways, it sounds to me like you've done a great job educating yourself, and good luck to you and your turtles. If you have any questions don't hesitate to send me, or any of the moderators (jenaero, spotsmama, steve) a private message.

Depending on the season, you should leave your basking light on between 9 and 12 hours, roughly. During the fall and winter, the daylight period should be nine or ten hours, and during the spring and summer, the daylight period should be up to twelve hours. I turn my UVB on at 7 am, and turn it off at 9 pm. For some reason, in New England, the days are super long.

[toomuch9992001]

Thank you all so much! I finally have all the gravel out(who knew how hard it is to get ALL those little rocks out! lol) I am very thankful too, when I fed this morning Lucky Lou Lou went to the bathroom and had some very small rocks in it. The lady I got her from said she rescued her from someone on craigslist that wasnt carrying for her right and thats why she thinks she wont get much bigger, but I hope with good care she can grow to her full potinal, whatever that may be for her. I havent decided yet if Im going to put sand in or not, I have been up all night, and too tired to think about washing and adding all that sand right now I know everyone says they dont need company but these two seem to just love each other, the little male Flipper follows Lucky everywhere she goes, and she seems to nuzzle him, I havent seen any agression at all, and he seems sooo much happier with her, more water, and now he is eating!
In a little while Im going to get the UVB light to replace the one that didnt fit last night, and some jello so I can make the jello shots for them, Flipper doesnt want to eat his veggies lol.
I have looked at all the really cool ATBA and the nesting boxes. We bought the sand last night because we knew she was a female, and I will buy peatmoss or such. I have talked with hubby about helping me build a ATBA and nesting area, so they can have access to it all times. I checked her this morning and no signs of eggs and no nesting signs that I can see yet, but I really dont know whats normal for her yet either. If I notice any signs of needing to nest I have a large plastic bin I can set up for her.

Again, thank you all so much! I want our new family additions to be as happy and healthy as possible!

[TheComputerGremlin]

You may continue finding gravel for the next few months, so just keep an eye out and grab any that you see. Unfortunately they'll keep pooing it out and eating it again.

55 gallons is too small for a 5" and 6" turtle. Right now you are looking at needing over 100 gallons. You may want to hold off on the ATBA until you get a bigger tank, so you don't need to rebuild. They may eventually need as much as 200 gallons if they can remain together. I would recommend looking for the biggest tank possible, check Craigslist and yard sales if you need to save money.

I don't remember you mentioning a filter, but you'll probably want a good canister filter as it will keep the water crystal clear and make your life much easier.

You can hold off on the jello shots for now as you just got these two turtles and they don't tend to eat well in the first few weeks. Give him time to adjust, then worry about the jello shots. Most of the turtles take to veggies like lettuce fairly easily, the jello shots are for true picky eaters.

Having a male and female together will mean that the female will become gravid much more frequently and the eggs will likely be fertilized. You need to come to terms with needing to destroy the eggs humanely (by either freezing or boiling them and then cracking them into the trash), otherwise you will quickly have ten tons of babies floating around. Else you'll need to separate them, and then you may have her being gravid once or twice over her life, rather than monthly. Also, remember that reptiles are NOT MAMMALS. They do not nuzzle or act affectionately, in general. Actually often what we mammals interpret as friendliness is borderline aggression on their end. Keep an eye out because if your female becomes tired of your male, she may injure or kill him (and keep an eye on his, umm, boy parts, because females are known to bite and damage those parts, sometimes requiring surgery to effectively neuter the turtle from the injury).

You have gotten yourself in to quite a bit for a starter, so learn quickly!

[toomuch9992001]

I am watching for the gravel, as I said, I have been up all night. I want to do everything right for them.

I am looking for a bigger tank but really cant afford a new one, the pet store didnt give us any idea what we needed and the lady I got the other one from said it would be fine, she had 3 about the same size in a 55 gal tank, but after all my reading during the night, I know it is not acceptable, but hope it can work till I find another tank. Good point on the ATBA! Its great to have input, Im just in such a hurry to make everything right for them, Im not stopping to think about things like that!

I will keep a close eye on them and if there is any aggression I will seperate them.

I have 1 large filter and one small useless filter right now, but looking for a canister one.

As far as her being gravid, I will have to honestly think hard about it. I dont want to seperate them, but also now I would have trouble destroying eggs. (I think once something is concived its alive, and dont want to kill things)So you have given me a lot to think about. Thank you!!!

[untsmurf]

If you can't afford a tank that large, or you don't want an aquarium that size, look into stock tanks and ponds.

[toomuch9992001]

Another great idea! Thank you! Im going to try to get a couple of hours sleep now, but I will check any and all replys this afternoon. As Gremlin said, I have gotten myself into a mess (para phrasing) lol, but I will learn and give them all they need! You guys are all great! Thanks for the help!

[tammi]

Sounds lkike a lot but once you get set up is all easy from there and they make good pets.

[TurtleKeeper48]

Congratulations! You sound like you are going to do great.

I'm also in over my head! My son got one turt for his b-day, within a month my wife brought home two more "mystery" turtles that turned out to be RES in need of rescue.

I have found that you will get some different opinions on exactly how big you can expect your turtles to get, and how big their tank needs to be.

I really like this web site - but this seems to be where you will get the biggest growth estimates.

Also, as far as housing two RES together goes - there seems to be different schools of thought. I'm sure you've already read the rule of thumb that says 10 gallons of water for every inch of turtle.

Now most folks on this site will say that a 5" and 6" turtle together will require 110 gallons of water minimum. There are other people, even fairly respected turtle keeping web sites (Austin's Turtle Page) that would say to increase the size of the tank by 50% for an addditional turtle... and, if they get along just fine, two will be fine in a tank sized for one.

From Austin’s Turtle Page Care sheet –

Link: http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/c ... slider.htm

RECOMMENDED ENCLOSURE
For adding additional RES we recommend you increase the size of the tank accordingly by half for each (actually 2 can share a habitat suitable for one, but males are apt to sexually harass females & may require separate housing). Large stock tanks are cheap, sturdy alternatives to glass and acrylic aquariums.

[untsmurf]

It is true that multiple turtles can survive in tanks that are only meant for one. Just like a turtle can also survive in a ten gallon or a sink or a bathtub. But the reason we recommend larger tanks, especially with multiple turtles, is the more room you provide the less aggression you will have. Plus, if we advertise the ten gallon per inch rule then people will do better in trying to reach that instead of thinking 'my turtle looks happy in the smaller tank'. If they only get to 5 gallons per inch, it's better than nothing.

Ideally, with any turtle you should be able to give them their own space. With multiple turtles that rule is more true because you're taking the risk of dealing with aggression issues.