Back in June, a friend of mine was moving (read: becoming homeless), and couldn't take his turtles with him. After talking to my girlfriend, we decided to adopt them from him. Now, I thought that he had 2 turtles, but when we went to pick them up, lo and behold he had 4. He kept them in a 50 gal tank with only ~15 gallons of water due to the extremely inadequate filter he had (the decorative Terra Fauna one that only supports 4-5 inches of water). He didn't have a UVB light, and his UVA bulb had burnt out for god knows how long. He also would feed them strictly a diet of pellets. This friend of mine is a greasy bike punk who only showers himself once a week, so I wasn't surprised by his poor care of these turtles, but I only found out how bad it was after about a week or two of owning them.
There are 4 turtles:
Geddis (7-8") - female RES
Slams (5") - male RES
Scampers (5") - male RES
Squee (3") - male Painted turtle (i think, he doesn't have red ears and his shell is yellow on bottom)
I do not know how old they are, but I imagine they are all 5+, with Squee possibly being younger.
With my graduating from college, I kept the 4 turtles in my parent's garage over the summer, as it maintained fairly warm outside, using mostly the same care guidelines that he had. I did manage to introduce broccoli stalks and carrots into their diet, as well as a UVA lamp. I used a dechlorinator when changing their water, and gave them cuttlebone, but I made no major habitat improvements. I noticed that the water would get extremely cloudy after about 2-3 days, mostly as a result of the massive amount of poop these guys would produce. Whenever I changed the water, I would find 5+ scales lodged behind the filter. I trudged through, giving water changes about every 2 weeks, waiting until I moved to Rochester in mid-august for graduate school to upgrade their habitat.
The 6 hour drive to Western NY wasn't fun, as I put each one in a small cardboard box with damp paper towels. They pooped almost the whole way there, making my car smell terrible, but they all survived nonetheless. A day or two after moving, our new filter (Fluval U4) and large basking rock arrived. This allowed me to triple the amount of water in the tank (~35-40 gallons in a 50 gal tank). We also got alot better about feeding them veggies 2-3 times a week with pellets once a week. I also bought them a heater that keeps their tank at ~77F all the time. Just recently I got them an aquarium stand so that I can move them off my entertainment center. I was a bit uneasy about whether the entertainment center could support the weight. After changing stands, I now fill about 45 gallons. Now I'll be able to put a TV in the apartment; Although, who would want a TV when I have Turtle Television- Its the best channel on
They seem to be much happier now that they actually have room to swim around. They also rarely shed scales anymore (i think I've seen 3 or 4 total in the past 3 months). Their tank still gets cloudy very quickly, sometimes as a result of the veggies, but also cause its probably working too hard for them. I still need to do water changes every 2-3 weeks, but the Fluval U4 is still doing a better job than the POS tetra-fauna one was.
Geddis, being much fatter than the others, eats much more than the others, essentially pushing them out of the way tog get the food. Squee is also very shy, most likely a result of being "beat on" by his siblings. He will not eat unless we walk far away from the tank.
Now, having read these forums, I know that I should be keeping these guys in ~200gal of water, but we live in a 1br apartment and that's just not feasible. Changing their water is already difficult enough, I can't even imagine doing it with 4x as much water. My thought process is that I'm giving them a much better life than they ever had, so at least that's a step in the positive direction. I don't have a UVB lamp, because I'm worried about my girlfriend and I getting too much UVB exposure as the turtle tank is in our living room. I haven't done the research on UVB exposure in humans, but I do know that its whats responsible for causing sunburn.
Now, as much as I would like to upgrade their habitat, I simply cannot afford to do so. I'm a Grad student on a meager academic stipend, while my girlfriend works 3 jobs to make rent/food. Since august, I imagine that I've spent ~$350 on these guys (Filter+Media, Heater, Basking rock, Aquarium stand, Pellets, Water conditioner) I'd love to buy a Fluval FX5 for them (I hear that's the best one available), but I just can't justify it right now.
Anyway, that's enough background story, onto where I need some advice. We've been noticing some very strange behavior on behalf of them. Squee will often bite Geddis on the neck and latch on with his teeth. When we see him do this, we'll intervene with a fish net and break it up, but I imagine it goes on while we're out of the apartment as well. I image this is retribution for Geddis pushing him around all the time, although it could be some sort of weird sexual attraction
. Also, speaking of sexual attraction, we notice that the males (as indicated by their long claws) will often extend their arms and wave them in Geddis' (the only female) face. I've read that this is a mating dance of sorts. Once or twice, we also saw Geddis latch onto Slams' Anus and get dragged all around the tank. It was really gross, seeing poop fly all over, but Slams wasn't harmed severely in the end. Honestly, they appear to all be in rather good physical health. Needless to say, these guys are overcrowded in their habitat. I've come to the conclusion that it might be best to let one up for adoption. I found a local shelter that will take one (http://www.lollypop.org/) , but I just can't really bring myself to do it,
I feel like they're my children. What advice can you guys give me, if any?Heres a few pictures that my Girlfriend took a month back:
Slams:
Geddis up front, Slams/Scampers (can't tell from the pic) in the back
Slams (top) Geddis (Bottom):
Squee was camera shy, he would go and hide under the rock whenever she got close with the camera.
