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Okay ive always read that baby turts. should be kept in water thats only about as deep as the length of their shell, but ive been looking at pics and it looks like alot of pepole have them pretty filled up....at what size should i decide to fill up his tank?

if ur tank is big , u probably shld fill water 2/3 of the tank
and 1/3 for the basking area
jus make sure the turts cant climb out of the tank n escape , they are pro escape artist lol

my guideline is always
2/3 of tank is water and 1/3 is bask
but jus fill water as much as u can
dun worry , turtles are born natural swimmer , they survive in the wild wif even deeper water lik ponds

they will noe when to come out of the water or go in , and even if out of breath , they can come out of water to breath
jus make sure they dun get stuck in between stuffs

One other thing to add, be sure when you fill up the tank to add some plants (fake or real) for the little one to rest on or hide in and everything should be fine.

One HUGE myth about keeping RES is that they don't like deep water. Many keepers see their RES come alive once they fill their tank up as much as they can (without giving them room to escape), since before their turtle had very little room to swim and enjoy themselves.

Also, with little water in the tank, you can not maintain good water quality and it is harder to regulate temps correctly.

Yeah after seeing all your set up i have realized that i never kept my painted in good habitate because i listened to the shallow water theroy, but he had a pool outside with lots of water so he was happy! also with my painted i had a cut out tank so i couldnt put alot of water in it. i will not get another one of those!

So im going oto fill his tank up later and see how it works out

I seen plants at petco that i will go back and get when i get his UVB light!

Tris, I think that's a guideline for the minimum amount of water a turtle should have (some say a bit more than the width of the shell, which, for a small turtle is about the same) is so if a turtle tips over he can right himself easily.

More water is better, however, I think that if a turtle is really small (newly hatched up to a few months of age, for example), they seem to prefer shallower water (or at least it seemed so with my turtles) than really deep water (i.e., just filling up the tank to a level where they can't escape), at least in the beginning. They can quickly adjust to deeper levels, however, especially if they have objects such as fake plants or ledges to rest on (in addition to a basking area).

Im not sure how old my RES is- i just got him about a week ago - hes about the size of a half dollar but we all know that he could be older and just kept in poor condtions as he was.

what i think im going to do is just put a little more water in there then i have now so he has more swimming room and get plants and other things before i go ahead and fill it up, plus hell get used to having a little more water.

I work from home so im here durning the day to keep an eye on him and see how he does with more water.

at the moment there is nothing in there for him to get stuck on- i havent gotten a filter as of yet, so ive just been cleaning it daily until i get one which will knock me down to atleast every other day or so.

I def need plants which will make it pretty and more enjoyable for him and a bigger tank SOON. i only have a 10 gal right now

I put more water in my tank he tried to swim down but he cant, hes pretty much just staying to the top of the water, he tried so hard to swim down and he just bounced right back up. he almost seems scared?

you're saying he's trying to go down but he can't. right.

Not being able to submerge in the water can be sign of fluid in the lungs. It isn't a good sign. Keep an eye on him and see if it was just the one time, or if it is happening all the time.

Yeah he got down it seemed like a struggle but he couldnt stay down, and i was thinking air/Fluid in his lungs too but i wasnt sure. hes in his light now, so ill keep an eye on him, i think im going to have to call a vet and pay rent NEXT week hahaha!

If you haven't already bumped up the water temp, you might want to. Around 82F with a basking area 10 degrees warmer would be good.

Another question tho, what would a vet do for fluid in the lungs, does anyone know?

id take him to a vet soon. mine did that and i didnt think anything of it. by the time i asked it was to late.

his tank is set to 81 but ill bump it up to 82 now

This about the fact that this is a holiday weekend. Most vets aren't going to be open on Monday either. Do you know where your nearest 24/7 365 emergency vet is? Stacy is right. You don't want to wait until it's too late. Once things start progressing, they usually progress quick.