General Care Discussion :: A Few Questions ??

[JNZBCBnLIL]

I've got a few questions for anyone who is capable of answering-
(2' RES hatchling turtle)

1.. How do I know if my RES is growing at a healthy rate? how fast should they grow? and how fast should they be getting darker? I've had my RES for a little over 2 weeks now and s/he's already gotten so much darker and a little bigger! I feed him/her a head size amount of pellets a day, always have carrots and romaine lettuce available (which s/he loves to snack on) and i have a few rosie reds swimmin around for my RES to chase and sometimes catch and eat. Are all these okay?

2.. The other night we accidentally left the windows open in our room and the temperature dropped considerably in the lil ones tank- about 10 degrees to be exact- but we got it back up to 80 degrees (within the day) and it's stayed steady at that since... at first s/he wasn't eatting like normal but that changed pretty quickly and s/he's eatting normally again- should I be worried about that sudden temperature change back and forth? (p.s. don't worry...it won't happen again!!)

3.. Is there a limit to how often I give him/her veggies or how much of that veggie s/he eats?

4.. So far since I've gotten my RES some rosie reds I've just kind of poured the water from the bag in with them... they put conditioner in it at the petstore after they put them in the bag, should that be a problem? or do I need to do something different when I get him/her feeders?

5.. If at this size (about 2') my RES is showing no signs of having any kind of curve on it's underbelly can we assume it's a female? or will we have to wait until later to find that out?
^^Just a bit of a curiousity question

Thanks for all your help with our newest addition!! This site and discussion board has been awesome!!

[KellyP]

1. As long as your feeding her proper food, and caring for her correctly don't worry too much, she should be growing fine. All of your food choices sound perfect.

2. One time of having the water drop could potentially cause problems as she is a young turtle. But if she's acting fine now, I'd say that there was probably no harm done. But please be careful with that from now on.

3. I usually limit the amount of pellets that I give, and then let them have however much veggies they want.

4. Water conditioner that is safe for fish, should not harm your turtle.

5. At 2" you really cannot tell gender.

[CountryGirl68]

My answers will differ slightly from Kelly's. It's not because I know more than her (I've only been keeping turtles for a little over a month). This info I'm giving is from what I've read here, during other research on the internet, and discussions with my herp vet.

1. Hatchlings (baby turtles) will grow about 2 to 3 inches in the first year and the color change will vary individually - to be about 3 inches in length at about a year old. This can vary depending on several factors, including habitat and feeding. What you're feeding sounds right: pellets and veggies every day. Just make sure that you are not feeding more pellets than would fit in his/her head if it were hollow (not including the neck).

2. The drastic change in water temperature could have an effect on the turtle's health. Hatchlings can get respiratory infections quite easily, especially if the water is too cold for them. Keep an eye on him/her for the next few days. RI symptoms will not always appear right away. Some turtles won't show symptoms for up to a month. As a precaution, you might want to have a vet check the turtle out in about a week or two just to be sure he/she didn't get sick over that water change. If you don't already have one, get a heater to avoid that kind of water temp change happen again.

3. Read through the stickies at the top of the Feeding and Nutrition forum. It'll give you an idea as to what veggies you can feed for variety. Veggies every day is good no matter how big or old the turtle gets.

4. The water conditioner from the pet store won't affect your turtle since many here use those same conditioners on their turtle tanks. But I wouldn't add the water from the bag to the turtle tank in case there are tiny parasites. You don't want to add anything other than the fish to the turtle tank.

5. Not even vets can tell the gender of a hatchling just by looking at it. So you won't be able to tell if it's male or female until it is at least 4" (shell length).

Good luck with your new baby!

[scripta_elegans]

To add just one small thing, I use a little fish net to scoop the Rosies out of the bag and into the tank. I learned recently, as countrygirl said, the water from the bag can have parasites in it, so it's better not to put it in the tank.