General Care Discussion :: Everybody please help me out here

[littleking8888]

Hey guys.

Summer is fast approaching, and I have already laid out many plans and goals that I want to accomplish.

One of the more important ones is to make a 150 gallon tank by myself (with some help from my father, of course). I proposed this idea to my father last night and he stubbornly opposed it.

He does not believe that turtles actually need such a big tank. He said that I would need to prove it with some paper evidence. So I thought that if I supplicated on this forum, I would be able to get this "paper evidence"(I may also use a book or two).

I have three turtles with SCL's of 3.5 inches.

Would you guys please help me out by replying to this post outlining what amount of space turtles need in their habitat and why? Thank you very very very very very very very very much .

P.S. I wonder if I posted this in the right section....

[Take-One]

Turtles need at LEAST 10 gallons per inch of shell. A 12 inch turtle will need a 120 gallon tank. If you get a 150 gallon it will probaly last his/hers life.

Wow. Wait. 3 turtles with a 3 inch shell length? If they grow to be 10 inches you will need a 300 gallon tank.

[marisa]

A general guide is 10 gallons of tank per inch of shell length. Why don't you try to get your father to do a little reading on this site?

[meltedspork]

Show your father this page:

http://www.redearslider.com/index_habitat.html

[mzkitty23]

also, tell him that u would like the quality time with him buidling that tank (that will get him for sure!)

[megcornell]

While I agree that a 150 gallon tank would be perfect, I think building one can easily be disastrous if you don't know what you're doing. Have you looked into a 150 gallon stock tank instead?

[zoologist]

go to petco. they have a pretty accurate phamplet on owning RES. if you dont have a petco near you PM me your adress. i'll be happy to mail you one.

[steve]

go to petco. they have a pretty accurate phamplet on owning RES. if you dont have a petco near you PM me your adress. i'll be happy to mail you one.

I have PDF of it... it's from 2006, so I'm not sure if it has been updated.

As for building a tank... I think it needs to be left to someone with a good deal of experience. Large pieces of glass is not easy to work with and they need to be custom cut so you won't be saving that much money. My suggestion would be to buy the tank but build the stand.