General Care Discussion :: Habitat General Observations, Input Welcomed

[TerrapinStation]

As I research this site I find some glaring things we are doing wrong for our RES turtles right off the bat. There's a lot to learn. In an effort to expedite the care of our turtles while I research further, I am going to tell ya'll about our turtles' habitat and about some general observations I've made. If you have anything to add for the betterment of the gang, please do so.

TERRAPIN STATION

Population: (3) 3 month old (or so) RES.

Aquarium Capacity: 75 Gallon, 33% "land", 67% water @ 5" deep.

Lamp: 7% UVB / UVA ultraviolet rays hooded combo light directed at "land" area (also 48" standard flourescent bulb). I turn these off at night, and leave on all day long.

Filter: Hanging Zoo Med suction type filter.

Food: ReptoMin floating food sticks.

Environment accomodations: Larger rocks and gravel (oh no! mistake #1 - gotta change that out ASAP).

In addition to the 2 or 3 month old RES', there are 4 goldfish in the same tank, and there also was a fire-bellied newt that only lasted 36 hours before joining the great big bog in the sky. It was last seen alive next to a piece of coral brought back from Domican Republic (maybe salt killed it?). I'm getting a replacement today.

General observations: The turtles love to congregate around the filter inlet, when one of them (Cuff) is not trying to (what I believe to be) hibernate. Most of the time, this is where you will find them. They don't go onto land to bask much, but do swim around. They might venture over there a bit here and there, but this is mainly where it ends. Except for Cuff, of course, who lately has been burrowing under a rock and trying to hide/sleep.

We'd like to add a frog to the community sometime in the near future, or maybe a crab or crawfish, but we are still researching the compatibility. We'd like to make the terrarium as active as possible without overcrowding things.

Thanks in advance for any input that will help these guys out.

BTW - I'll add pictures very soon.

[Kemul]

Usually, a RES tank is only filled with RES, because anything other than RES may
get eaten/damaged by the RES. For example, those goldfish may get their tail
shredded or eaten by the RES. If you want to experiment, don't get attached to
the creatures other than the RES.

That tank will get too crowded for the three RES soon, if you go by the 10-gallon-
per-inch rule. Also, the filter you're using might not be enough to handle the bio-
load of the tank.

I like to keep things simple in my turtle tank. I prefer my turtles have as much
swimming room as possible by using a dock for basking.

Do post some photos. Your setup and decorations sound interesting.

[TerrapinStation]

Edited photos out due to uploader issues.

[freshprince2146]

1) Def get the gravel out as fast as possible.

2) Your basking area looks pretty difficult for them to get onto.

3) may i suggest raising the water level a little bit and purchase a commercial turtle dock so that the water level does not affect their basking.

May i also say your turtles are very cute

[TerrapinStation]

1) Def get the gravel out as fast as possible.

I will, even though part of me is in no rush since I hardly see the lil' boogers eat anyway. It does need to be done, though.

2) Your basking area looks pretty difficult for them to get onto.

I guess, but don't you think the gradual slope out of the water would be easy for them to climb out onto?

3) may i suggest raising the water level a little bit and purchase a commercial turtle dock so that the water level does not affect their basking.

A nice suggestion. I've seen some setups along those lines around here in pictures that are giving me some good ideas.

May i also say your turtles are very cute

Of course you may! The little fellas even bring me, a "tough guy" to my knees with their cuteness!!

BTW - I added a small adhesive Zoo Med heating pad to the underside of the tank, since I wasn't aware water temperature is that important of a factor until this website. I also pointed the basking light towards the swimming area, since that is where they mostly hangout - I want them to get their appropriate rays. And I took Cuff out of his sleepy state by waking him up this morning and putting him in the water. He has been there all day now, as opposed to digging in on shore to nap down.

[bradmeisel]

Please remove the gravel ASAP. The more water the better. nice clear clean water. Your turtles are adorable

[Spike 7.62]

Where do you live? If it's cold in the tank, instinct will tell them to bed down for winter.

The best things you can do for your turtles health is to regulate the temperature. Pet stores have super cheap and easy to use digital thermometers with suction cups. Buy two, and use one for air temp and one for water temp.

Also, instead of a fluorescent bulb, buy a 48" UV bulb. That way UV light is being sent throughout the entire tank, but the heat/UV light will be focused on the basking area.

Raise the water level maybe another 5 inches at least. These are aquatic turtles who will swim for the great majority of their lives, coming on land to bask and lay eggs. If need be, get an adjustible water heater, they aren't expensive and will keep your turts healthy. You have a 75 gal tank, use it.

With more water, see what kind of filtration you need. If you aren't going to use a stronger filter, I strongly reccomend feeding your turts in a seperate container and leaving them in there for maybe 15 minutes. I've found that my turtles like to poop right after eating. This will eliminate some of the water fouling. Otherwise, at least net out debris and don't let it settle.

You may also want a bubbler for the fish.

The gravel looks to be too large to be swallowed today, but sometime soon it has to go, but you know that already.

Is that a natural plant, or is it plastic? Shy away from faux plant life, the turtles may try to eat it. Real vegetation is important for health, there are a lot of options to feed them greens.

Also, depending on your financial situation, you may want to re-home one or two of your sliders. These turtles get big and will show aggression towards each other. In the first year they'll grow to about 4". You'll eventually need seperate tanks for each, unless you got a large pond, both paths cost a lot of money, time and effort. I had two RES hatchlings, unfortunatley one died of illness but now I don't have to worry about the other one being mauled by a tank-mate.

Crabs and crawfish will be demolished. Maybe they are too small now, mine barely chases fish, but turtles are violent predators. It will leave a cloudy mess in your tank, believe me By all means, feed them crabs and crawfish, but understand they will be food. That goes for all fish and whatever else you put in the tank with them. It does make for a good show though.

Some advice, browse older topics throughout the forum and look at pictures of other people's set ups. This will give you ideas for what to do with your tank. Every set up is a custom job, and we all learn and bounce ideas off of each other.

Good luck and keep us posted on what goes on!

-Spike

[TurtleKeeper48]

Hi. Welcome and congrats on your RES turtles.

A couple of things I want to mention... you do NOT want to point your basking light at the water. Point the basking light(s) only at the basking area. UVA/UVB and heat lamp both, but especially the heat lamp. The UV light pointed at water won't warm the water, but it's a waste as it doesn't penetrate the water.

IME - When the basking light hits the water, it makes a warm spot in the water and the turtles will just sit / swim in the warm spot to warm up instead of basking. It discourages basking, which isn't good - they need to bask. So try to aim the lights just at the basking dock or area.

I've found water temp and basking area temp to be the most important factors in normal turtle behavior. Correcting your water temp will probably help with the sleepy turtle - that sleepy thing is not healthy, it's dangerous. Make sure the water is in at least in the 72 - 75 degress range(maybe a bit warmer for yours 'cause they're babies) - 70 is getting into the "kill zone" and make sure that your basking area is about 10 degrees warmer than the water - basking should be in the 85 to 88 degree range. Ours are a bit bigger, but we run water at 73 to 74 dgrees and basking areas at 85 to 88 degrees and everybody is happy - they love to bask and love to swim.

[vear]

Hello! Beautiful turtles. I think others have pretty much covered it. No gravel, make sure your water temp is around 75F (very important!) I don't know if an under the tank heating pad will heat all that water. So you need a thermometer (very very important). Raise the water level, they looove to swim. And yes, the basking area needs to be warmer than the water temp. or they won't bask.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[TerrapinStation]

Many thanks for the help! I'll keep you guys posted on changes to the habitat.

Responses to some of your observations:

Spike 7.62:
Yes, the plant is plastic, so I will get rid of it along with the pebbles.
I have a seperate 10 or so gallon tank, I will try and feed the turtles alone there, one by one. It seems they are competing with the pig-like goldfish for food as it is. I won't mind when the goldfish disappear, they are kind of there as an interactive part of the food chain. Not even named. Same with crawfish. We have a super tiny peck of a crawfish in there, if it hasn't already been eaten. I'd like to see it pop back up some day as a kind of surprise. My son doesn't even know about it. If not, oh well. It's hard to believe these guys will someday be hostile to one another and need their own aquariums, but I will take heed and won't be surprised when this eventually happens. I'm always keeping an eye out for people selling aquariums now as it is! Next purchase will be thermometers, and I will ascertain the water temp thing then and what to do about it. UVA bulb will be a nice future purchase too.

turtlekeepr48:
Hood light with UVB is already redirected from your suggestion! I'm doing my homework on the temperature.

This is fun! Thanks for the help! This place is great!

[imderanged]

This is my 75 gallon, just to give you some different ideas for a set up.

My 2 cents:
Get the heat pad off the bottom of the tank. Those aren't meant to be used on tanks filled with water, they are for terrariums. It won't handle the job, and it just might crack your glass. Get a plastic aquarium heater such as the Visi-therm Stealth 250 watt.

Get the rocks out. Get a floating style dock, it will give them much more room.
And raise the water level.

Is that filter a zoomed 501 ? I had one of those and it was underpowered for a 20 gallon. You're going to want to upgrade that filter

I feed my turtle fish. But I use small fish, the reason is, if the fish are too large to be eaten in one or two bites, it can get quite gory. I am not squeamish at all, but I wasn't enthusiastic about cleaning fish guts and what not out of the tank all the time. (and my husband thought it was funny to toss a mangled fish head he found floating in the tank at me, that was a little gross) It might not be a pleasant way of teaching a kid about the circle of life!

[str1p]

if you have a heating pad on the tank still, you should remove that ASAP, thats a big hazard because it can and probably will eventually shatter your tank.

[mikee]

Terra-sta - I would suggest more water as they are aquatic turtles and need the room. You will need a larger filter to get to the 5x rule. For turtles that small I would suggest the water temp be between 78 and 80 degrees.