General Care Discussion :: Misting fountain

[octpusgirl8]

Yeah, take-one's right about the gravel, it's very risky. They tend to eat it and it can clog the diegestive track. Since i've been on the forum i've seen a few cases where this has happened, it's very sad and easily avoidable. It's easier to keep a clean tank with a bare bottom or even sand, anyway. You should also fill up the tank more to maximize the swimming space.

[zoologist]

oh boy, where to start. My friend, it seems you are in need of a tank make over!

Your tank looks pretty large which is awesome, lemme say that. I'm glad you have a heater for it too.

However...

You need to take out the gravel. Turtles are silly animals and will sometimes eat the gravel. if the piece is too large it can become impacted in their intestines and will cause them to die. Best course of action is large river rocks (something the turtle can't shove down it's throat) or sand. I love sand, fyi.

Fill that baby up! turtles love the swimming room and it would be much appreciated if you could fill that tank up at least 3/4 of the way. Worried about the turtle climbing out? cut a piece of egg crate to fit the top of your tank. problem solved.

the water mister seems like it is flowing onto the basking dock, this will not do. The basking dock needs to be 110% dry so the turtle can dry itself off. if the turtle can't dry itself off then all sorts of problems like shell rot or fungal infections.

I'm hoping you also have a UVB lamp and a heat lamp. two seperate lamps that are much needed to keep your turtle happy.

can you send pics of your whole set up? like, from a couple of feet away?

[Mandyb]

i agree with take one .. those rocks are tiny enough for them to be eaten.....also you really need more water in that tank....it should be almost full to the top if your going to use an in tank basking area...

[untsmurf]

Take-One is correct. 99% of the gravel in your tank is small enough to be eaten by your turtle. She can eat and become impacted which can be fatal. Plus, removing the rocks will provide your turt with more swimming room and it will trap less waste which will keep your water cleaner. There is a gravel sticky in the indoor enclosure section, i believe, you should look through it.

[Dommo15]

thanks guys but to be honest last time i had a turtle without gravel Donatello he passed on so imma lil iffy about it also my mister only stays on for 30 min then off it goes and its at night also i havent seen my turtle eat any gravel
there has been a couple days where i sat and watch and nothing soooo........
but if it better i will get rid of it also one more thing out of care,habitat and opinion wats the best for bottom

[Daniel3507]

even if you dont see him eating it chances are he is. alot of people use sand as a substrate. it looks great. another popular option is to just have a bare bottom. it makes cleaning alot easier.

[untsmurf]

Not having gravel or a substrate cannot cause the death of a turtle. If your last turtle died in a tank without gravel, it was because of some other reason. There are several illnesses that are fatal to turtles that are very hard to detect with the human eye.