General Care Discussion :: Aquatic reptiles + other questions! :3

[Mr. Grimsly]

1. Well. some of you may have seen my prior thread about Mr. Grimsly, my 5 inch male RES. He actually started eating now, but he is eating too much and I need some place to store his little minnows. He chases them all over the place and sometimes they can hide behind the grasses and whatnot, but he always gets them eventually. I think he ate at least three yesterday, but then again he hadn't eaten for 5 days because he was new, he may have been hungry.
Question: Where or in what container should I keep his minnows?

2. It gets a bit messy in there when he eats all that food, and I want to feed him in a different area to reduce mess.
Question: Where or in what container should I feed him?

3. He has medium sized gravel for substrate in his tank: it's attractive and it helps him get to his basking area, but it does hide mess and I have heard that he can swallow it, leading to problems. I do want at least something at the bottom so it looks nice.
Question: What should I replace the gravel with?

4. I have heard a great deal about floating docks where a turtle can bask, but I have heard mixed reactions about them. Apparently turtles sometimes eat them, suction cups fail, etc. Right now the gravel slopes upward near the end of my tank leading to a basking rock where my heat lamp points, so I was a bit unsure about a floating log because it will not stay where my lamp is so he may not get direct rays. But, I do want him to have more room to swim, and the gravel and rock take up space.
Question: What in your opinion is the best thing for a turtle to bask on without taking up too much space?

5. Last but not least, I love aquatic reptiles [snakes, lizards, etc.] but I don't know if it is alright to share a space with Mr. Grimsly. He's a very energetic young fellow, and I think that he may be a bit too imposing for any other reptile. Not to mention he has a voracious appetite and I am afraid he may well.. eat them. x.x''
Question: Any known, ANY AT ALL, aquatic reptiles known to coexist peacefully with turtles? Fish, snakes, lizards, frogs, anything. If you have or known someone who has successfully shared reptile homes, please tell about it. :]

EDIT: You can answer one or two if you'd like, sorry for so many questions. XD

[jenaero]

I'm a bit swamped here but I'd like to comment on a couple of those.

2. A dishpan with water in it will be fine. Make sure the water is the same temp as what's in the tank.

3. Large river rocks. I use about 15 in my 125 gal

5. Do NOT put any frogs/snakes/lizards in with your turtles for several reasons.. Some of these being that they require a completely different kind of habitat, they can/will get eaten, some frogs/toads are toxic to turtles. Feeder fish are fine. Turtles don't need companions.

[Mr. Grimsly]

Hmmm, a dishpan. That sounds pretty good, I know I have one in my house. And the river rocks would probably be helpful too. :]
Yeah I didn't really think they needed companions, I just wanted other reptiles as well and I don't have the space in the house for more tanks anywhere. He does have little feeder fish buddies though, and they give him exercise, so that's good. Thanks!

[megcornell]

1. You can either buy just a few rosy reds at a time (that's what I do). Or you can set up a small 5 or 10 gallon tank for them. From what I understand people have had limited success keeping them so it may just be easier to buy 5 or 10 once a month.

3. River rocks do make a nice bottom decoration. If you're worried about it looking too plain, you can also add a tank background underneath the tank... that looks nice but creates no mess.

4. I think that the floating docks work wonderfully. When turtles start to bite them it can be corrected by giving them cuttlebone to nibble on instead. Cuttlebone should be given anyway as a source of calcium. The nice thing about floating docks is that they don't reduce swimming space. You can also look into building an above tank basking area if you're handy.

[Mr. Grimsly]

Okay, thanks so much Megcornell. ^-^ I have never heard of rosy reds before, I will have to go to my store and ask for them by name. And I was thinking about a background but I thought it might confuse him. x.x;

[SpotsMama]

1. I kept rosie red minnows (they cost around 10 cents apiece) in a small 5 gallon tank with some plants and a bubbler. There was gravel on the bottom. The plants used fish waste for fertilizer. The system was pretty balanced - I put a pinch of fish flakes in every day or so and that's all I ever had to do. I kept it like that for months with no problems at all. I recently moved my turtle outside to a pond for the summer and then moved the fish and the plants out of the little aquarium and into my turtle's big indoor aquarium. When I move my turtle back inside for the winter I'll set up the little aquarium again for the fish and plants. (It's been a little bizarre lately having a $1000 100 gallon aquarium with nothing but 3 rosie red minnows living in it.)

3. There are 4 or 5 river rocks on the bottom of Spot's 100 gallon aquarium and also several fake plants and a few fake corals and decorations. It's simple enough that it's easy to clean and Spot has some things to play around with, and it doesn't look bare.

4. The zoo med floating docks are good. Spot used them for years - starting with the small one, then the medium sized one and finally the big one. There was never a problem keeping them attached. He never tried to eat them. There's some thought that turtles that try to eat their zoo med docks are craving calcium. Spot always had a cuttlebone in his tank so I suppose he never was never short of calcium. I recently switched to one of the acrylic docks just because I kind of like to like the way they look. You definetely want something like a zoo med dock or an acrylic dock or an above tank basking area so your turtle can have more room to swim.

5. ANYTHING living in the tank can - and will with time - eventually become a snack for your turtle. Your turtle would like it, but if you really want another reptilian pet, don't put him in the turtle tank. You'd better think in terms of a second habitat!

[marisa]

You can buy a new dishpan that hasn't been previously used for about a $1. They work well for feeding containers.

You can get a small bag of smooth river rocks cheaply.

Personally, I don't keep anything in the tank with my turtles that can't be eaten quickly (exception: snails). It just adds to the amount of cleaning you have to do.