General Care Discussion :: Help please?

[Tiff18]

I have a RES but im not sure what to do with her. I recently found out she was a girl, well i think she is lol Can she swim? Does she have to have a place to bask? Any other useful information would be great. Thanks

[steve]

Where did you get her? What is she kept in now? How big is she?

[RESAddict]

I have a RES but im not sure what to do with her. I recently found out she was a girl, well i think she is lol Can she swim? Does she have to have a place to bask? Any other useful information would be great. Thanks

This is NOT a picture gallery problem, but anyway...

Yes she can swim, and she will want/need a TON of water lol you will need:
~ a water heater,
~ a powerful filter(rated at LEAST twice the size of the tank),
~ a place to easily exit and reenter water and get completely dry (basking area) with a heatbulb and UVB heating the basking area to approximately 10 or so degrees warmer than the water.
~ Water should be around 76-80 or so. Closer to 80 if it's younger, but if you KNOW its a female, its more of an adult, so 76-77 is good. Use a rule of thumb of 10 gallons per inch of turtle at MINIMUM for tank size.
~ Turtle pellets (reptomin seem to be most popular) used IN CONJUNCTION with other fresh food.

these are starting points. Once you get these accomplished, we can go over stuff to add to the tank, and other stuff.

This site has links with info on all of these more in depth and they are at the top of the page.

Basic Info: http://www.redearslider.com/index_basic_info.html

Nutrition: http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html

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

Lighting: http://www.redearslider.com/index_lighting_basking.html

These should get you up and going. Try to get the minimums (AT LEAST) as quick as possible!

Good luck!

[Tiff18]

Sorry, Im new to this so I don't really know where to post things. My mom actually got her at a store, Not sure where. She isn't that big but has grown. I feed her pellets. She has a tank, basking area, lots of water. I am working on getting her a bigger and better tank. It is hard and takes time because money is tight. Thanks for the info, i'll definitely read up!

[steve]

That's fine, I'll move this into the general care area. Is there any specific questions you have?