General Care Discussion :: I just "adopted" two RES and need help

[harmygeddon]

Hi all!!! I am new to this forum and this is my first post. Thanks for taking the time to read it. I was recently given two baby RES's by a friend who is moving over seas. They wanted me to have them because I love animals and had turtles when I was a kid so they assumed I would know best how to take care of them. This is like saying that because my grandmother owns a car she knows how to maintain it...... I have several questions and would also like some reassurance that my turts appear healthy.

I put together what I thought would be a decent turtle habitat with the help of some sales people at petco. After reading on the web I realize I am missing UVB light. What do you guys think of the 100watt zoo-med powersun uv lamp? Here is a pic of the tank:

edit from steve - I posted the pics below

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh29 ... n/tank.jpg

I have been feeding the turtles only repto-min pellets daily for about a month. Today I also started giving them mustard greens, which they ate. These little guys seem to eat anything I put in the tank. I was wondering when I could start them on feeder fish?

I think the turtles are generally healthy. They eat when ever I feed them. They are pretty active. I don't notice them listing. They are basking. I have a water heater and keep it at 78 -80 at all times. I have a filter and replace the water with distilled bottle water every week.

My only concern is their shells. They both have a gray outline between scutes (not sure if that is the correct term). Please look at these pix and let me know if the shells, and turtles in general, look healthy. Also suggest some names!

Turtle 1 (the shy one):

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh29 ... 1_pic1.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh29 ... 1_pic2.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh29 ... 1_pic3.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh29 ... 1_pic4.jpg

Turtle 2 (the outgoing one):

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh29 ... 2_pic1.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh29 ... 2_pic2.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh29 ... 2_pic3.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh29 ... 2_pic4.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh29 ... 2_pic5.jpg

Sorry for the long post.

[megcornell]

They are very cute!
The lines between the scutes are from shell growth and are normal. How many pellets are you feeding? It does look like they are growing a little fast, but that can be easily corrected. And keep feeding veggies, the more variety, the better. Look in the nutrition section to see what are some good ones to try and which ones should be avoided.
As for the tank, I'd take out most of those pebbles in the bottom, they trap a lot of debris and those waterfall filters aren't too strong that I know of, so the less they have to fight to clean the tank the better. You can also add more water, RES are naturally aquatic and love to swim.
Other than that your little ones look very good, it's great that they are basking and feeding so well

[biomanz]

Don't give in to begging or else they'll fatten up and grow too quickly!

[RunninWideOpen]

I'm so glad you came to this forum! Welcome.

First of all, never go to Petco, Petsmart, or any other pet store for advice. They really don't know much about turtle care, but will claim to in order to sell their products.

Have you searched around the main site? They've got just about all you need to know in detail.

Reptomin is a great staple food. You can start offering feeder fish whenever you want, just don't over do it. Rosie red minnows and guppies make good feeders. Stay away from goldfish.

Your water temperature is good. What is your basking temperature at?

That zoomed bulb you asked about won't produce any usable UVB. The companies try to trick you saying "full spectrum" or "powersun. That serves as a heat bulb only (which you do need, but you can use a regular household $2 bulb for that). You need to get a bulb with a specific UVB rating on it (5.0, 8.0 or 10.0). So, 2 bulbs total.

I looked at all your pics and don't see anything wrong with them. They're very good looking turtles! The white lines you're noticing are probably the beginnings of them getting ready to shed, but it could be a few months before they actually do shed.

Your tank looks extremely small, and half of the room is taken up by rocks. Sounds like petco advice? Turtles do great with a bare bottom tank. It also makes the tank much easier to clean. The general rule is 10 gallons per inch of turtle (so two, 2" turtles would require a 40 gallon tank). When you get a bigger tank, you'll want to get one they can grow into. For two baby turtles, a 60ish gallon tank is a good start and will last a couple years. Keep in mind that RES males can be up to 10" and females 12", requiring up to a 240 gallon tank if they're both female. But, they take years to get that big. They should be about 3-4" at 1 yr old and then their growth slows down a lot.

Glad you came here. This is a great forum!

[steve]

Hope you don't mind, here are the pics:



Turtle 1 (the shy one):









Turtle 2 (the outgoing one):

[SpotsMama]

What adorable turtles! I can't believe my Spot was ever so tiny.

You asked about the zoo med 100 watt powersun bulb. Actually, that's a good bulb for UVB if your setup is large enough. It's true that there are a lot of bulbs out there that claim to be "full spectrum" or "basking" bulbs or "mimic natural sunlight" that don't provide the UVB a turtle must have. A lot of people have mistakenly assumed the "full spectrum" type bulbs are good and wasted their money.

However, the Powersun, along with another bulb called T Rex, is a different type of bulb. It's a Mercury Vapor Bulb (MVB) with a special coating that emits the UVB. It's a very powerful two-in-one type bulb that provides both heat and UVB. If you're using one of these UVBs you only need only the one light bulb instead of the two bulbs that most people use (one for heat, one for UVB).

I can't tell from the photo what size your tank is. An MVB bulb is usually recommended only for tanks 50 gallons and larger because it generates so much heat that it can overheat a smaller tank. Some people have used them successfully with smaller tanks, however, if they are careful. If your tank is smaller than 50 gallons you could try the powersun but be very careful to monitor the temperature. In the photo it looks like the bulb over your tank is positioned well above the walls of the tank which is good because it would allow heat to dissipate, which is important if you're using an MVB.

If you get a powersun, follow the directions that came with the bulb, monitor the temperature and don't in any case position the bulb closer than 12" above the turtles when they are basking.

If your tank is much smaller than 50 gallons, you'd probably be better off with a traditional two bulb setup until you upgrade down the road to a bigger tank.

[RunninWideOpen]

oooo, wow. thanks spotsmama. i didn't realize that was an MVB bulb. i've seen it in the store, but didn't see it say MVB, and I asked the sales people if they had any MVB bulbs and they said no, lol.

learn something new everyday! sorry for the misinfo, HG.