Habitat - Indoor :: Questions

[YoMike]

This is LEITH





I have no idea how old he is.
His shell measures 6 1/2 x 4 inches
As I said in my introduction, I have some ideas and I've gotten conflicting info from his previous owner, my peers and the geniuses at Petco and Petsmart...

He came to me with a 20gal tank and several accessories, such as a filthy filter and horriblly undersized basking platform.

Thus far, I have:

Gotten lots of large rocks and placed them at one side for a basking area.At first, he had a hard time getting up, but I've rearranged them several times

Purchased a larger filter, heater and nice basking light

Gave him some goldfish, per the kid at Petsmart (which he didn’t know how to catch at first). He seemed to enjoy them


Than, I started investing time; I’ve cleaned the tank once a week. I’ve monitored his eating habits, because at first, he wouldn’t eat the pellets, but I think he was just adjusting. I've taken him out of the tank to explore my room and now that it’s warming up, I’ve taken him outside to bask in the grass…

I also experimented with water levels, because he was kept in no more than 3 or 4 inch deep water his whole life. When I filled the tank to 5 or 6 inches, it looked like he didn’t know how to swim. Now, he rests his face on the glass and kicks.

Now, he let’s me pet him and he doesn’t immediately hide when I let him out in my room.

Question #1
Is there anything wrong with how I am currently keeping him and treating him?

I’ve read in the forums that live goldfish may not be good for him and I’ve seen a lot about water levels and basking areas

Question #2
For a RES his size, what will be the best tank size to upgrade to?

I’ve looked at 29 longs and I’ve looked into a 40gal, 36Lx18Hx15D

I’m not worried about spending the cash to give him a good home, I just want the opinions of dedicated owners, rather than the family who was mishandling him or the store kid who’s trying to sell stuff and is likely stoned…

ANY help will be greatly appreciated

I will also be taking and posting some pics ths weekend as soon as I have a bit more free time…

Michael

[VelvetAlley]

First of all it's a step in the right direction that you're being a responsible and informed care taker.

Second of all people who work at petsmart and petco should be gagged when it comes to turtle care.

A clean environment is an excellent start! The behavior since you added the water sounds like he's just swimming up against the class. My turtle does that all the time, and the folks here will call that begging.

My personal goal is to find a 90 gallon tank that I can maintain in doors. For myself, I'm bargain hunting for the perfect match, cause at the momment my turt is doing very well in his current space so I have a good amount of time to find him one before he gets too big.

I think everyone here if they had the means would buy each turt they have a swimming pool, but since that's not reasonible I think a 90 gallon is about perfect.

You have a 20 gallon now. I'm looking at the 20 gallon I have on my floor which is 24long16high12wide. I think that's suitable for now. You could add more space to it by building an out of tank basking area to allow for more swimming space. Don't do any hasty buying. Make sure you get messurements of where you want the tank. How you're going to support the tank. Then search for the best match, that's my advice.

The perfect size tank is greygooses in my opinion. Take a look at his, though his is very custom, you can do similar things with store bought equipment.

Blessings,

[missibsu]

A good rule of thumb for tank size is 10 gallons per inch...and extra growing room if possible. Since you would be looking at around 70 gallons, I would go ahead and get something that he would be set for life in. If you are for sure that he is a male, then 90 gallons ought to do. Going as big as you can now, will save you a costly upgrade.

It was mentioned that you could build an above tank basking area, but if you are like me and you aren't handy, the zoomed basking docks work well. They float on the water and are suspended on two poles that allows the dock to fluxuate based on water level.

Speaking of water level. You are doing the right thing by gradually adding more water, and keeping an eye on him. Once you are sure he's going to be ok with the higher water level, go ahead and put at much in as you can. Keep in mind that turts are great escape artists...especially with that pile of rocks that you have, lol.

The info that you have picked up on goldfish being not healthy is true. They are extremely fatty and have very little nutritional benefit. If you want to feed live prey, try feeder guppies or rosie red minnows. Also, start introducing veggies as soon as you can. Becuase you have an older RES, it may take him awhile to take to the veggies. Don't give up. There is a recommended feeding list in the nutrition section stickies.

Last thing I would add, you can look for great deals on ebay, www.craigslist.com, www.freecycle.org, classified ads in the newspaper, etc. Rubbermaid containers also make cheap, but great temporary homes if you want to upgrade, but don't have the tank or money yet.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Just make sure the basking light is both UVA AND UVB. About 90% of the basking lights I see at the petstores are only UVA lights (create "heat"). UVB lights are more expensive but well worth the trouble because they help a turtle absorb calcium (important for shell/bone growth). You can get long-tube UVB lights which go across the top of a tank, but you don't have to light up the entire tank with it, so many people on this board get the "reptisun" 5.0 or 10.0 compact UVB lights which fit in the clamp-lamp fixtures and just clamp right on top of the tank (easy for those of us who don't like to pull out the tape measure to measure the length of the tank). Supplement your UVB light with a 2nd light which is a standard lightbulb & creates heat which will encourage your turtle to bask. Since turtles are cold-blooded, they need to be able to regulate their temperature with a warm light source as well as their water (water temp should be around 76-80 F, basking area with lamps should be around 10 degrees more than that).

Good luck and let us know how all this turns out!

[kinetic]

Keep in mind that turts are great escape artists...especially with that pile of rocks that you have, lol.

thats completely true, my turtle tries to get out whenever I have the top mesh off, I caught him once doing a pull up on the edge and was almost completely out before I saw him pointed a finger and told him to stay in the tank... he wasn't too happy with me, lol

if you get a zoo med turtle dock, get the largest one they make, I have the medium size one and my 4 inch slider sinks the dock a good bit.. but the docks do make a good ramp on to a fixed platform basking area since it will raise and lower with the water level.

[SpotsMama]

Lovely turtle! And.....judging from the picture of the front toenails, you've got a girl! It's possible that the long male toenails are hidden in the photo, but I don't think so. Here's a thread with photos of a really masculine turtle named Peanut - see the front toenails and the long, thick tail?

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... ght=freddy

Now here's a photo of a really beautiful girl named Cortez:

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... light=girl

Which one most resembles Leith in terms of front toenails and tail?

If indeed you've got a girl, you need to learn about egg laying. Females will lay eggs even without a male being present - like a chicken. Your girl is big enough that she could start laying at any time. Here's a link to some info on the subject:

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... light=girl

By the way, if Leith turns out to be a female, you should know that the females get bigger then the males and eventually will need a somewhat bigger tank. Where a male will top out at around 9" or less, so should have a 90 gallon tank, a female can top out at 12", so should have a 120 gallon tank.

My male Spot is about 3 1/2 years old and 6 1/2" long. He's in a 100 gallon tank which I keep about 2/3 full of water. I have an XP3 filter which works very well. With the size of the tank and good filter, I'm finding that keeping it clean is really not much trouble at all. You can take it as a rule of thumb that the larger the tank and filter, the easier it will be to maintain.

For lighting, I use a 100 watt T-Rex mercury vapor bulb. It's pretty expensive but it provides heat, UVA and UVB all in one and it lasts about a year

[YoMike]

I was told he is a male, because there is a divid in the under side of the shell for his penis to come out...

Also, his claws are short...

Is there any way to tell thier age??


Tomorrow evening after work, I'll be dedicating some time to rearanging the rocks and hopefully taking and posting a few nice pics...

[marisa]

You can't tell the age unless you knew when the turtle hatched.

[SpotsMama]

Short claws + 6 1/2" length = Female!

[YoMike]

I see...

I may need to prep the new tank for egg laying than...

[YoMike]

This is Leith

The name will be changing if it is in fact a female...
I'll be taking even more pictuers when I really have to time to sit and play.













So, what do you think?? Male or female??

[missibsu]

Can we get some good shots of the tail? By all indications of nails, it's female.

[SpotsMama]

By the way, if it turns out "he" is "she", it's not required that you change his/her name. Lots of people have had this experience and keep the name anyway just because they are used to it. The turtle won't mind! Of course, if you want to change the name that's fine too!

[YoMike]

Turtle Rear:









Any thoughts??

[missibsu]

I'm sticking with my female theory...and I also believe that you don't have to change the name.