General Care Discussion :: Turtle as a gift - help providing the best habitat

[sdp]

Hi,

My sisters son got a RES turtle for his birthday 2 days ago, he just turned 7 so obviously he has no idea how to do anything. His mom basically just followed the little they told him at the petshop.

Anyways since I really don't want it to die, I did research and basically found out how he is not in good living conditions.

Now, this is not my turtle and I'm not going to spend a lot of money on it so I'd need to find a cheap way to make him in the best living conditions I could offer him. Not to mention I'm not going to be the one cleaning it and watching over it most of the time etc.


He is living in a "death bowl" like this one:


Theres only a little gravel on one side of the bowl, its bigger than his mouth so I don't think he'd be able to eat it. I filled the bowl with water except were the palm tree is so he can have a small place without water. I realize its not a lot of space for him to swim but its better than nothing and all I can work with, also if I fill it any more I'd be afraid of him escaping.

Since he needs sunlight since yesterday I've been putting him outside once the sun comes out. Theres not a lot of sun that comes in the house and the house can be cold at times. I don't want him to cook though, I place him near some plants so half the bowl is covered in shade while the other half in sunlight. I thought that way he could choose were to be, I'm not sure if thats good or not for him. I did read he could cook in the sun not sure if my set up is a death trap or not...

He also has I think eye drops, vitamin A drops which the pet store told her to use, don't know about that. Theres also a "calcium" thing in the shape of a turtle that she hasn't used yet. He is eating the turtle food they sold them not sure how much we're supposed to feed him.

For water I was using bottled water but the petstore people told them just to use tap water and put 2 drops of this thing they bought to get rid of chlorine.

Like I mentioned he is not my pet but I also don't want him to die prematurely just because the people at the pet store gave them wrong advice on how to take care of turtles It should be illegal to sell something living and not fully tell the owners how to take care of the turtles. Reading online has only depressed me of all the RES pet turtles that probably die just because of people selling wrong conditions for them to live in.

[tammi]

Cheap set up hmm pet turtle and cheap don't go together. But here's waht you can do fairly cheap. Rubbermaid totes are great to use and inexspensive.
The bigger the better. General rule is 10 gallons per inch of shell. Or try craigslist you can get tanks cheap on there. A house hold light buld 75 watts works good for a heat source. You def need a uvb buld (not cheap). And a filter which isn't cheap either but you could get buy for a while with an aquaclear that is atleast filtering 5 times the amount you have in the tank. Then once the tank is cycled you can get buy with bi monthly water changes and a filter change 1 every 3 to 4 weeks.
You also need a basking dock which are cheap.
Good luck hope it helps.

[SabrinaF]

As Tammi said, a tote will work great. Although a filter is not needed. Scoop out the food he doesn't eat, or even feed him in another container like the one he came with just make sure there is water in there. He does need the lamps though and an area to get up out of water completely. If you do get a really big container make sure he has plenty of things to grab on being that he is so small. Invest in a heater and a thermometer. He needs to have a regular water temp. Also get rid of the gravel just to be on the safe side that he can't eat it.

Hope everything goes well. Remember that if the little boy decides he doesn't want it, it cannot be released outside.

[mike hill]

s-p tammie is correct: cheap and turtles don't go together. You need a larger tank, uva, uvb light, heater, filter, get rid of the gravel for starters. Having a turtle is almost like someone giving you a boat. It all the other things that go with it that runs into the money. Good Luck!

[sdp]

Well like I said, its not my pet, I'm not going to spend a lot of money on it. I mostly wanted to know what was the best I could do with little expense and the things he already has. A living thing shouldn't just die because the people at a pet shop tell the people that buy it un-ideal living conditions.

[tammi]

Sadly the pet shop people general have no clue about the animals they sale.

[BullDog]

I would say direct the mom to this site, so she can see what she's in for.
Like was mentioned, a large rubbermaid type storage container can be a good temporary home, but you still need all the basics like basking lights, dock, thermometer, water heater etc.

[gwennie]

You should also ask your sister what petshop you got the turtle from, and then report them to the SPCA. They're killing animals with their recommendations.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Definitely said the mom here to read up. There is an upside to the situation: once you get a turtle settled in with the correct equipment, you don't have to do much or buy much after that! However, to get to that state, your sister will need to spend around $500.

I don't think you mentioned the size of the turtle, but if it is associated with a death bowl, it is probably less than 4". You want 10 gallons of tank and water for each inch of shell. If you can get ahold of a 55 gallon tank now, you can probably last for a good 4 years with it. Check out Craigslist or the local classifieds for good deals. Ideally, you want to pay $1/gallon or less. You can also check PetCo or PetSmart, one of them have a sale every so often.

Once you hit that size tank, you need a good filter to make your life easier. This part will cost the most, but it's a lifesaver. You want one of the better canister filters, like a Fluval FX5 or a Rena XP3 or 4. These will run over $200, but they are excellent! You only need to clean out the filter from then on!

You also need a basking bulb and a UVB bulb, plus fixtures. Once you hit the 55+ gallon mark, you can use a combination bulb called a mercury vapor bulb or MVB. If the house is cold, you'll need a water heater too, you want 3-5W per gallon, depending on how much you need to raise the temp.

Unfortunately, if you don't meet these conditions, the turtle will not make it long. Suggest she read the main site (www.redearslider.com) because it has a ton of great information.

[Mercutia]

The best cheap setup for your turtle would probably to buy one of those gigantic tuperware storage containers. They're cheap, and pretty efficient, just make sure it's waterproof, and you give it some extra stability because the plastic will tend to warp over time (you also probably want to get one of those transparent ones so you can see the turtle better). Young RES tend to grow suprisingly fast so the setup you have now will probably not last you very long, probably not even a year. Once they get to about a year old, they're growth tends to slow down. About then, they will probably be about 4-5 inches long, in which they'll need about a 40-50 gallon setup. It's probably easier and cheaper to get the biggest container you can find for a good price so it limits how many times you'll need to upgrade it.

If you have one of those clip on lamps, you can stick a normal incadescant 60 watt lightbulb in it to provide heat and UVA rays. THIS WILL NOT PROVIDE UVB RAYS though so if you live somewhere with a fairly warm climate, you can take him outside a few hours each day to catch the UVB rays from the sun. Putting him in front of a window inside your house will not provide UVB rays since most glass filters out UVB rays. I set up a little outdoor pen for my turtle. It has a shade shelter incase the turtle feels the need to hide from the sun. Also don't leave your turtle outside unsupervised. Who knows what could find a turtle a delicious turtle as a treat to eat or terrorize. If you do not live in a warm climate, you will need to buy a seperate UVB bulb. It's expensive for a lightbulb, but altogether quite neccesary for your turtle since UVB is used to produce vitamin D in your turtle, essential for shell growth and development.

The clip on lamp will have to be above the basking dock, which is your little strip of land above water. Every turtle needs a basking dock. If you're using the tuperware container setup, you can either just buy a basking dock from the petstore, OR what I did was made my own. I took large rocks and at the top put a large flat rock on top, but making sure that this setup was easy for my turtle to get on. If you do plan on making your own basking dock, make sure it's stable and SAFE. Do not use materials that can contaminate the water, or become hazardous in the water.

Personally I would take the gravel out of the tank. Using no substrate at all is a lot safer, and don't forget, your RES will grow very fast, fast enough that gravel will be a problem very soon. No substrate also makes your setup a lot easier to clean. If you do want substrate though, large river stones are probably the better way to go.

If this all is very expensive at first, you can hold off getting a filter until you can afford it. This just means that you'll have a lot more cleaning and hand filtering to do until you get it. Try to get your filter as soon as possible though.


If possible, I'll go home later today and take a picture of my indoor setup to show you my tuperware container and basking dock.

[Moose]

I'm all for you to give the turtle a chance, but your sister DEFINETLY needs to hit up this site, $5oo is about the spend limit you run into for any type of turtle, 86 the gravel and I always prefer river rock becuz the turtles cant swallow it. go with the rubbermaid that was stated above, rock that is bigger than the turtles head, uvb bulb, thermometer and a heater are the MUST needs at this point.

[blulite]

if you want a cheap way to setup your turts, goto

www.freecycle.org

enter your city.town name in the search bar and join the local groups by signing up. then you can search the posts for people giving tanks accessories etc.. away. and guess what? its all free.

you can also post wanted ads so you can ask for a specific item. so you can post for example , WANTED- large fishtank and accessories. or WANTED - External fish tank filter. etc..etc..

i got a lot of my equipment on here including my tank and stand which is like 5ft long and 2ft square.

so give it a shot and grab some stuff.

[jameshermanto]

wow nice link freecycle.org thanks blue

[Moose]

nice link blue! thanks

[SabrinaF]

Yes blue. thanks I just got clothes for my oldest from there. and everyday i check for turt stuff