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So I just brought home my first RES yesterday! His name is Tuck and he is probably about 1.5"... so, super tiny!
Ya well his cage setup right now is a little tank with about 3/4 of an inch of water with gravel at the bottom and then a little plastic island for him to rest on... I am wondering if this is enough??
Also, I gave him a pinch of food last night and it was still there this morning! Is it normal that he hasn't eaten??
Also, should I get a light to heat his island??
ANY SUGGESTIONS ARE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!

First of all remove the gravel, your RES can eat this and possibly suffocate and die from this.. You do not have to have anything at the bottom of the tank which makes it easier to clean anyhow.

His basking island needs to have sufficient lighting providing both heat and UVB.

Look around the main page of this site for basic care tips and essentials. Also browse through the 'indoor' section of this forum...

Take great care of you new RES.. would love to see some pictures

Thank you so much for the information!
I took some pictures and I am about to upload them (:
His tank was leaking so I moved him into a plastic bucket and I placed a big rock for him to climb onto to rest. I found a heat lamp and now have that resting over him. Would small rocks be a good substitute to put on the bottom if I wanted to make it more decorative? I would find some big enough so he couldn't swallow.
Posting pictures now... thanks again!

Yes, as long as they are large enough so he can't eat. Also make sure they are cleaned thoroughly and chemical free.

His cage setup at the moment...
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Resting on his new log (:
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Cute, but s/he needs a proper tank. If you eventually notice an odor, the likely cause will be those little rocks, which trap debris and poop. A UVB light, a submersible water heater, filtration, etc. are also necessary...

soo very cute. If you want rocks, go with 5-10 rocks that are bigger than your turtle is. believe me, you want as little on the bottom as possible.

You're going to get a filter, right?

Best way to learn is browsing through all this info

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

If after that you still have questions....Post away

Yes I am planning on getting a bigger and tank, and a filter along with all the other things mentioned above. I greatly appreciate the advice!

You probably bought a death bowl, a small round plastic tank with colourful gravel, a island and a palm tree. It's going to die in there mate. So yes get a PROPER set up fast.

barn-44 When you get your tank make sure you get one large enough. They grow fast so think of the future and having to by up. The should have 10 gallons per inch of shell , length, and a filter that pumps at least 5 times the volume of water that is in the tank. Don't fall for the pet store telling that up sizing for a fish is enough. Stick to the gph sizing. Good Luck!

mikee wrote:barn-44 When you get your tank make sure you get one large enough. They grow fast so think of the future and having to by up. The should have 10 gallons per inch of shell , length, and a filter that pumps at least 5 times the volume of water that is in the tank. Don't fall for the pet store telling that up sizing for a fish is enough. Stick to the gph sizing. Good Luck!

Mikee is right on. GPH is the only way to rate a filter.

For a turtle that big... Anywhere from a 30 to 55 gallon tank with suffice. If you get a 55 gallon, keep it either a third or halfway full, and definitely provide some big plants, or a hammock, or even your palm tree rock, for the little one to hang onto and rest. Turtles this size lack coordination and are clumsy.

Gravel has to go. Busted internal organs are no picnic.

For a substrate, the best I've found is actually river rocks, and those transparent glass ones that are usually bigger than an adult turtle's head. I take them out each time I clean my tank, which only takes five minutes. I rinse them in hot water, and sucking up the dirt really only takes me I'd say 15 minutes... give or take. It actually took me over an hour to clean the tank when I left the rocks in there, and I still didn't get the dirt out! (I use a gravel vac to suck up the dirt).

For filter... The cheap ones are the Fluval and the Cascade. They come in different varieties. You base the GPH (gallons per hour) of a filter on how many gallons in your tank. If you have a 50 gallon, you want something which has a GPH of double or three times that, in other words, 100 to 150 GPH.

The 10 gallons per inch of turtle will make you nuts if you go by it exactly as your turtle grows. My friend, who's turtle was put in a new 40 gallon, grew an inch several months later, so she bought a 50 gallon. Then the turtle grew another inch, so she bought a 60 gallon. She basically had bought three tanks in one year, which is just ridiculous. I told her to stop it. The point is, a 5 inch turtle by itself is fine in a 40 gallon, a 9 inch turtle is fine in an 80 gallon. If a turtle can turn around completely, swim back and forth a fair distance, and isn't taller than the water level, then it's fine.

theartbook35 wrote:For filter... The cheap ones are the Fluval and the Cascade. They come in different varieties. You base the GPH (gallons per hour) of a filter on how many gallons in your tank. If you have a 50 gallon, you want something which has a GPH of double or three times that, in other words, 100 to 150 GPH.

I think you are a little mixed up - the 2 to 3 times thing is for fish. For turtles you want even more. I usually see people on this site say 5x for turtles. So, of you have a 40 gallon tank, you want a filter that does 200 gallons per hour. You might get a way with just 2x to 3x - but you'll clean the filter and do water changes more often.

I just set up a new tank. It's a 75 gal tank, but it's not full. It has 11" of water so the water line is 9" from the top rim - that's 41 gallons. With about 40 gallons, I'm running a Fluval 405 - which does 340 gallons per hour. That's about 8.5 times the amount of water - and it doesn't seem like too much!

BTW - There was nothing "cheap" about the Fluval where I live - it was the most expensive filter in the store. Rena XP3 was cheaper.

it's not all about turnover rate either, filters with more growth area and a little less volume are better than high turnover filters with little growth area.