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i have 2 res a little bigger than an inch in a 10 gallon tank. I have the water depth just a little over their shells, (enough to swim) and I've seen other small res with the tank water filled halfways to the tank. wont they drown? I feel like I should make the water a lot deeper but since they are so tiny im scared. do tiny turtles prefer deep water? :( [/b]

RES are semi-aquatic turtles. They love to swim. A general guideline suggests that you have 10 gallons of water per inch of shell length. Fill that up as much as you can. They will thank you for it!

And make sure you have plants (real or plastic) or some other decoration in their tank so they can rest on it if they get tired.

they peck anything they have can bite off, should i put real plants in the water?

Certain real water plants, like anacharis or hornwort are okay to put in the tank. The turtles can eat these plants and it gives them the veggies they need in their diet.

That's a really good question, like I was thinking the same thing... so I added more water and moved everything around.. but I couldn't find anything for a new basking area, so I put the old on top of a pot.. it doesnt look that good but its good for now. But when I put the turtle in he sank to the bottom, and was having alot of trouble getting up because he is so tiny. So what I am doing today.. is cleaning the whole tank, and putting it back to the way it was before and just adding a bit more water. so its like 4 or 5 cm above his shell. and I will add more as he grows and learns how to swim better. Good idea ? or no?

My understanding is that one of the reasons you need pretty deep water for a RES is that, if they flip over on their backs, they need plenty of water so they are buoyant and can easily flip back over. If the water is too shallow so they are not buoyant, and they can't get a grip on something to leverage themselves back over, they will drown. This makes sense to me. Is it correct?

The absolute minimum depth for a turtle to be able to right himself is a bit more than the width of his shell (some people say the length of the shell, some say a shell-length plus a half). There needs to be enough water so the shell can be flipped over without hitting the bottom. Deeper water to make them buoyant isn't the issue---air in their lungs makes them buoyant.

stephanie1986 wrote:i have 2 res a little bigger than an inch in a 10 gallon tank. I have the water depth just a little over their shells, (enough to swim) and I've seen other small res with the tank water filled halfways to the tank. wont they drown? I feel like I should make the water a lot deeper but since they are so tiny im scared. do tiny turtles prefer deep water? [/b]

Turtles are natural swimmers. Don't worry about deep water. If they were in a lake, they would have way more water than what you can fit in that tiny tank! Just fill it up as much as you can (up to a safe basking area) and enjoy! They need the room to move about, and if you have 2 RES's, that will give them the room to be out of each others' way.