Habitat - Indoor :: What should I add to my tank?

[Red Eared Squirt]

I have a little turtle and I have a tank with a piece of that swimming pool noodles and I have small rocks lining the bottom but I am worried that the tank doesnt reflect anything like his home. What can I add?

[Daniel3507]

take the rocks and noodle out. how big is the tank?

[Raphulk]

how big of a tank are we talking?

you could look into some fake plants, or real.

[mat012]

Look in the habitat section of the main site. It will give you a lot of ideas. Aquarium gravel is generally no recommended because it is common for the turtles to eat it. It can block intestinal passages if it doesnt pass. Is the noodle for basking? Again it may be ok but my concern would be again that the turtle would eat it. They get "restless" in captivity and tend to eat things they should.

You can get a zoomed basking dock or a piece of cork bark. The cork bark makes a nice basking area and is pretty. You will also need basking lights and a UVB bulb. In tank some folk use large river rocks. You can find decorative ones at Walmart in the floral section.

Good luck and post pics of your set up for us to see.

[untsmurf]

I would take out the rocks to prevent ingestion and to provide more swimming space. I would also remove the noodle to prevent ingestion and possibly leaking of harmful chemicals.

I wouldn't add anymore rocks if the tank is small, 10-20 gallons. But you could add some plants, maybe some sort of hide.

[Red Eared Squirt]

My turtle is to small to eat the rocks, im sure but ill look into some plants and basking lights ill post some pics soon. Thanks.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Never underestimate your turtle's ability to eat things. They can unlatch their jaw practically and swallow things whole, so a little rock is nothing. And once the rocks get stuck in there, they can become impacted and DIE. Get rid of the rocks, if you care about your turtle at all.

Go to Walmart or the dollar store or somewhere and buy large river rocks, like larger than a full-grown turtle's head. These are very similar to what they would have in the wild. Give them a good washing and line your tank bottom with that. You can also do sand or a bare bottom.

They have these backgrounds available at the fish store that resemble rivers, so you can put that on your tank.

There are lots of plants available at the fish stores too. Even though they are sometimes wacky (like pink and blue), you want to put these types of plants in the tank rather than things from craft stores because no dyes or anything will leech from them. They have more natural looking ones too. You can put real plants in too, but you'll need to replace them frequently.

[Raphulk]

i agree with doc.

also, i think MANY people neglect the main site.

redearslider.com has the BEST information about RES turtles i have ever seen.

i like to think of turtletalk as the live FAQ with better response to questions that you personally have that the main site cant answer for you.

[Red Eared Squirt]

Ummmm how exactly do u post pics[/url]

[Chrisbarnett]

in the photo gallery there is a sticky that tells you how.

[imderanged]

oh my, I would definately replace that noodle with something else right away. Over at my gym someone took the noodles for the pool into the hottub and they disolved into foamy slime!!!!!!!

[Kool]

i'd use sand and you should take out the noodles and if the rocks are smaller then the head you should take that out too ,you could use some bubblers, some fake or real plants, aquarium backgrounds, and a lot of other stuff.