General Care Discussion :: Need advice on Southern Painted...

[jmp87124]

Hi All! I am new to this. I know this is an RES forum but thought all you expert turtle folks could still help me out.

We found an RES last week that we were going to keep but on advice here we released it back into the wild. But now I am hooked on turtles!!! Never knew how much fun (and work) they are and just have to have one!!

I have a 47 gallon bowfront tank and I think an RES will get to be too big for it. I don't want to necessarily have to buy a bigger tank so was thinking that a Southern painted is typically smaller so might be fine in that size tank full grown.... Is that correct? Is a Southern Painted probably the best smaller size beginner turtle?

On a side note... I have a Bio Wheel 350 filter for it but the water is SOOOOO loud when it is not filled to the top- Any advice on the best filter - under water I guess- would be great!!! Thanks in advance!!!

[Marcus.85]

Well, hi there. Your tank strictly speaking would be too small even for a southern painted, as adults vary from 4 to 7 inches. But I guess you could keep one in there indefinitely, except a large female maybe.
From my experience though, the best small turtles are eastern(mississippi) muds Kinosternon Subrubrum Hippocrepis. While being very cute and very small (4-4.5 inches tops) they also spare most of the live plants (while a res would destroy anything within the first minutes) and some people don't even use a Uv light with them, since they're mainly carnivorous and get their D3 and calcium raw from food.
Moreover, they don't need that much water depth, since they're not very good swimmers (but with lots of driftwood or other decorations you could keep the water level high nonetheless).
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-mismud.htm
Common musk turtles would also be a wise choice, imo.
As for the filter... personally i own Fluvals, Eheim and Ferplast bluextreme canisters and they're all good, with eheim being the best of the 3.

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

A southern painted turtle would overgrow a 47 gallon since they get a little close to 8 inches. A eastern painted turtle is the smallest of all the sub species in the painted turtle species. Ranging from 5.1-6.1 inches. The Mississippi map turtle gets around 3- inches if he is a male which your going to want to get in any turtle if you want a smaller turtle.

[Marcus.85]

A southern painted turtle would overgrow a 47 gallon since they get a little close to 8 inches. A eastern painted turtle is the smallest of all the sub species in the painted turtle species. Ranging from 5.1-6.1 inches. The Mississippi map turtle gets around 3- inches if he is a male which your going to want to get in any turtle if you want a smaller turtle.

Oh yeah I forgoy about Mississippi Map turtles. But a female could easily outgrow the tank nonetheless.
I was talking about Mississippi Mud Turtles, which are probably the smallest turtles in all of North America, if you read the care sheet they say a 20L is enough for one adult, therefore a 47g would be quite comfy.
Unfortunately turtles do require a lot of space, they're not exactly the easiest pets to keep..

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Whoa wrong info on Southern painted turtles. was just posted. Southern Painteds are the smallest of all sub species a 47gallon tank is fine for one southern all it life. Southern Painteds reach a max of 4-5inches males being smaller.

[Marcus.85]

Whoa wrong info on Southern painted turtles. was just posted. Southern Painteds are the smallest of all sub species a 47gallon tank is fine for one southern all it life. Southern Painteds reach a max of 4-5inches males being smaller.

Austin Turtles Page and other care-sheets report an adult size of:

Chrysemys picta dorsalis
ADULT SIZE
Male 3½” - 5" Female 5½” - 7"

Chrysemys picta picta
Size - Males can attain a length of 4 - 6" while females can reach anywhere from 6 - 8".


So I think both eastern and southern painted females could potentially outgrow a 47 gallon. Of course he could also end up with a male or a smallish female.

More importantly what are the tank's exact measurements?

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Austins turtle page measurements are really high on everything and i dont like it at all. I have never ever seen a male or female get to to their max sizes stated

I know two people who own painteds that are older then me(21) and they still havent reached close to the max size. Just like it says 10-12 for res female. I have yet to see anyone on this forum post one that size. i go to alot of reptile shows. I never seen one yet to be 12inch and they do bring some big res to the shows.

7 inches for southern painted. Thats actually the first time ive ever seen anything mention it getting even close to that.

So lets stick to the averages. Im posting the averages written by Kurt A. Buhlmann, who wrote an article on painteds in the one reptile magazine. You can look him up if you want he is not just some average joe like me telling you numbers. He also wrote that painteds can live to live up to 60years maybe by then they will hit that 7inch mark. Start saving money but no rush lol.

Eastern Painted- up to 6inches
Midland Painted- up to 7inches
Western painted- 7-8inches
Southern Painted- adult females rarely reaching more then 5inches
Weird, why would he say that when atp says females get bigger then 5inches. Something isnt adding up.

Sorry i hate when people post those numbers. To many people send that or make a comment to me on youtube channel and its gotten to me i guess. Lets talk averages what your turtle will most likey grow to be. So thats why the 50gallon tank is fine.

[jmp87124]

Thank you so very much for the information!!! I am so excited and reading as much as possible but sometimes it is hard with SO much info out there- sometimes experience is better... Also, which has better personality or is easier to keep- Eastern or Southern Painted?

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

After rereading Wikipedia Diamondback4life is correct. The chart they have there with the sizes is kinda bunched together and I was reading the western painted turtles thinking it was a southern painted. Sorry about that.

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Thank you so very much for the information!!! I am so excited and reading as much as possible but sometimes it is hard with SO much info out there- sometimes experience is better... Also, which has better personality or is easier to keep- Eastern or Southern Painted?

They both pretty much have the same personality but go with the southern as the eastern can outgrow your tank unlike the southern.

[steve]

Just like it says 10-12 for res female. I have yet to see anyone on this forum post one that size.

I do think there has been a few RES posted at close the max size but it's a rare occurrence. For females, it seems like 9-10".

[choob99]

Well Diamondbacks4life has already commented, but I will second the info, Southern Painted's don't reach size of 7 inches at all. Any that I have ever owned barely make it to 5 inches, I have seen some in others collections that MAY be 5.5 inches, but 4-5 is definitely the norm. They are pretty easy to keep and a great turtle for a beginner, great personalities as well. They will provide years of enjoyment. Just splurge on the filtration, get a Fluval 405 or an FX5 in my opinion, the biowheels are way too noisy for a turtle tank, so use it until you save up for a fluval.