General Care Discussion :: Water temp question...

[MoreBloodWine]

Given Niko's age and size (see signature) should I still be keeping the water at 79°F or should I lower it ?

It's been a good while since I saw the post it was mentioned in but if I recall, I think for his age and size now since he's no longer a hatchling but is now a juvenile (right ?) that the water should be around 75° - 77°F.

[slider_keeper]

I keep mine at about 77 degrees and my rio is almost two. I think Rios like warmer temps do to their natural environment. I plan on keeping the water at about 77 degrees thru out his life. When you get a chance post some pics of Niko please. I'm curious what his patterns are looking like:D

[MoreBloodWine]

I got some old (within the last year) pics up here somewhere, I'll see if I can find em.

I would take more but I don't like to bother Niko to much.

As far as water temps go, he's been at 79 ever since I had him... I did bump to 82 for a while since I was testing something but he's back on 79.

[slider_keeper]

yeah I have noticed mine reacts better and more natural to warmer waters and basking temps. I have seen his water at about 80 degrees and it didn't seem to disrupt him at all! It gets hot dwon in the rio grande region that sun will beat down in the desert

[MoreBloodWine]

yeah I have noticed mine reacts better and more natural to warmer waters and basking temps. I have seen his water at about 80 degrees and it didn't seem to disrupt him at all! It gets hot dwon in the rio grande region that sun will beat down in the desert

Well, my "test" was over and didn't provide any results so I just like I said put it back to 79°F since that's where it's more or less bince since I've owned Niko. So, I may just keep it there forever... you do have a good point about the natural warmer temps in the Rio Grande so that's def a thinker.

In any event, as far as basking temps go... I keep a digital temp on Nikos dock, haven't check it for some time but I did just now and it reads 93.1°F. That's just one reading as I didn't go all over the place but Niko seems to like it there, he basks what I would expect to be a ralatively normal amount so he can dry out. Never had any mold / fungus issues which can come from not basking at all / a lot so I must be doin something right thus far considering I've had Niko for damn near three years now. Before I forget, and you probably get this to sometimes but if Nikos basking and I come in to my room kind of heavy or get close to the tank he rattles himself down the ramp straight to the bottom of the tank. While find it funny I'm kind of worried that if he does it to much he might hurt his plastron. I got one of those turtle topper things with the plastic ramp, I was thinking I might be able to put something on the ramp but have no amn clue what I would use let alone how to secure it. I would add that he doesn't dart off / get spooked to often but it probably sounds alot worse than it is (the noise he makes darting down the ramp) and maybe I'm jut being overly cautious about it.

Any way, here's the most recent / best pics I could find.

I just noticed thair actually dated 6/10/2011 so they're not really old.







His plastron use to look better but it seems his circles have smudged lol.


Here's a pic of his plastron from around the time I got him.


His color's also use to be a lot more vibrant but he seems to have dulled a bit.

This one was taken around 12/11/2008, it shows just how "bright" his shell was compared to the most recent pics above.


Any way, these are all of the most recent pics (top most ones) that I have. I gues I can be proud in one thing that Niko doesnt seem to have any unusually wide seams which can be common place with captive turtles. I just looked at the pics again and I gues the exception to this would be his plastron if you look ad the thirs and third pics up from the bottom. I asked about this once before and someone said not to worry about it or whatever. His shell seams, last I checked, seem all ok. He doesnt over eat, has no fat buldges / pyramiding as you can see from the pics so I guess the sort of wide plastron seam is just weird genetics or something.

[steve]

I prefer it at 78F, but am comfortable if it goes between 75-81. When it's close to those numbers, I'll monitor things more closely. Some people keep older RES with temps in the upper 60's.

[slider_keeper]

First off your turtles patterns are so cool, I like! He looks really good too. Yeah as far as the seam goes, it looks like it could be genetics. Sometimes I see this with ornate sliders, and I'm sure Rio's are no different, being they are also refferred to as ornate sliders sometimes. I wouldn't worry about it but do watch it from time to time to see if anything changes or fungus gets in there or so on. Yeah I definitely keep my basking temps higher than that. I run mine around 95 degrees sometimes it will hit 100 and he will sit there and soak it in I'm like wow! That was when I really started to look at the Rio Grande region and see exactly what it is like in their natural environment. I'm always looking at the weather down there to see what temps and humidity is like. Being in the desert it would be fairly dry but the river does put off humidity. Keep up the good work. I think we are the only two with Rios on here. Or atleast your the only other one that talks about them lol.

[MoreBloodWine]

I prefer it at 78F, but am comfortable if it goes between 75-81. When it's close to those numbers, I'll monitor things more closely. Some people keep older RES with temps in the upper 60's.

Ok, so then the 79°F that I've been keeping his tank at (except for my experiment) is about the right spot then. Niko basks well so I know the waters not overly warm. In either event, I might just keep it here since I can't fathom a need to even want to lower it to 77°F.

First off your turtles patterns are so cool, I like! He looks really good too.

Thx, I just wish he was as vibrant as he was when he was younger.

Yeah as far as the seam goes, it looks like it could be genetics. Sometimes I see this with ornate sliders, and I'm sure Rio's are no different, being they are also refferred to as ornate sliders sometimes. I wouldn't worry about it but do watch it from time to time to see if anything changes or fungus gets in there or so on.

I figured as much which is why I'm not to worried and when I brought it up ome time ago a lot of people said not to really worry about it because it doesnt look bad or anything. As for changes / fungs... it doesnt seem to be getting bigger or anything and Niko basks good so fungus shouldnt be an issue anywhere on him so I'd like to think I've been doin a great job these past three years with him.

Yeah I definitely keep my basking temps higher than that. I run mine around 95 degrees sometimes it will hit 100 and he will sit there and soak it in I'm like wow! That was when I really started to look at the Rio Grande region and see exactly what it is like in their natural environment. I'm always looking at the weather down there to see what temps and humidity is like. Being in the desert it would be fairly dry but the river does put off humidity. Keep up the good work. I think we are the only two with Rios on here. Or atleast your the only other one that talks about them lol.

Well, like I said... that was just the temp of the one spot I hit in his basking area, I didn't go fishing around for hotter ones. I use to have it just over 100°F when I started because I couldn't control the light height to well with my setup. Now I have it on a slider / dimmer so I can get the sweet spot, I'm sure if I hit a few spots I could probably find one around 97°F or so. I might fish around his basking spot tomorrow to get a few readings but I do remember I have it set where it's at now due to some recomendations from Steve and ohers some time back.

[slider_keeper]

I agree your doing a great job with him. I wouldn't worry too much about the color patterns they seem to stay with the rio's better than common sliders. I have seen pics of 10 yr old Rio's and the patterns are still there.

[MoreBloodWine]

I agree your doing a great job with him. I wouldn't worry too much about the color patterns they seem to stay with the rio's better than common sliders. I have seen pics of 10 yr old Rio's and the patterns are still there.

Well, while were at it.. how about some pics of your guy(s) ?

[slider_keeper]

oh yeah Toku's pics are all over the place, lol. Just check out the photo section of turtle talk. I have uploaded a bunch. I'm currently overseas, but my wife takes pics of him for me every month so I just post them here for everyone to see;)

[slider_keeper]

Here is a couple pics taken by my wife within the past couple months.

[steve]

Very nice patterns

What kind of sand are you using? It looks very good.

[slider_keeper]

Thank you steve. That's just regular play sand from walmart for like $5 per 10 lbs bag.

[steve]

It looks good, I thought it might have been a mix you were using.