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Flashes tank has just been redone. i added more water b/c going from info and pics on this site he needed more. he has been in the new set up for about 1 hour already. he is swimming ok, and exploring. water and basking temperatures are good but he hasn't gotten onto his ramp. is it normal for him to avoid his familiar basking ramp b/c it is in an unfamiliar and new environment?

Yes, actually it's not uncommon if he doesn't go up there for more than a week. Give him time. How much water is in the set-up/how big is it? (Out of curiosity)

Well, we have a 10 gallon tank and the water is about half way up. we are planning on getting a bigger tank soon hopefully about a 90 gallon tank so we can leave it for a while. Flash is only about 2-3 inches. he actually got up already one time.

I am having the same problem. I was going to start a new post, but saw this one. I just got my RES today and they have only been on the dock like one time in 9 hours. They tend to lay on the plants and they was at the very end of the dock for air. I guess that is normal. I just afraid of them drowning.

lisajonathan00 wrote:I am having the same problem. I was going to start a new post, but saw this one. I just got my RES today and they have only been on the dock like one time in 9 hours. They tend to lay on the plants and they was at the very end of the dock for air. I guess that is normal. I just afraid of them drowning.

Don't worry, they won't drown. Turtles are natural swimmers.

Think of it this way: when a baby RES turtle is born in the wild, they will have a 100,000 gallon pond (or more!) to live in, that goes 10 feet to the bottom (or something like that). They have NO trouble swimming in that situation, so a 90-gallon tank would be nothing for them.

Now, if you are talking about tortoises ("land/desert animals"), they can't swim because their arms & feet aren't webbed. Tortoises have arms & feet that look like an elephant's feet. That's so they can walk on land very easily. Tortoises would drown if you throw them into a pond.