General Care Discussion :: What was your first setup?

[Sk8gal]

I know a bunch of us started out with pretty bad setups for our turtles, but with the help of this site and other resources we improved them to make them suitable for our RES

This was my first setup. It was a 10gallon with gravel, no UVB lights, a filter made for a 10gallon, and many more flaws



So what was your first setup? As you could see, mine was pretty pathetic
But all this changed with the help of Redearslider.com and its members

[Daniel3507]

cujo is still in the 55 gal tank he started in. haha. the only major changes that ive done is adding sand and getting the fx5. i researched this site for 3 months before i got my turtle. i wanted to be sure i was doing everything possible for him and this site helped ALOT.

[SpotsMama]

I started with a 10 gallon very inadequate setup. Then bought a full 20 gallon setup. Then a full 55 gallon setup. then got him his current 100 gallon setup that's (finally) up to standard.

I'd recommend getting the full size setup early on rather than gradually upgrading to larger and larger setups. It would save significant money.

[BullDog]

Ralph started out in a 5 gallon bucket with a rock for basking. No filtration, no heater, no lights.
I fixed that in about a week when he started to go into hibernation because the water was too cool, and got a 10 gallon tank for an early bday gift from my parents. At least it had a filter and a heater, but it also had gravel

[zoologist]

my set up was a 5 gallon tank with 3 inches of water and a basking dock the turtle couldnt get up on. i had a table lamp for a light, and no water heater. did i mention my turtle was 3 inches?

i have a pic somewhere, i'll have to upload

[zoologist]

yep, here it is:

[untsmurf]

We bought our two turtles (Donny and Mikey) from a kiosk and they gave us the standard line, "He'll only grow to the size of his tank" so we got him the 'big' death bowl, a whopping 2 gallons. The same day, I went to walmart and bought a 10 gallon setup with a crappy basking cave thing and an undergravel filter. And yes we had gravel. Then after finding this site, we bought him a complete 29 gallon setup still with gravel. But with a correct basking area this time. Then we got him a complete 55 gallon set up, this time with river rocks. Then we got him his current setup of 125 gallons, 2 XP3's and of course the basking stuff.

I definitely recommend buying as big as you can afford the first time around. In fact, I recommend waiting until you can afford the complete final set up before even getting a turt. That would be the cheapest way. Plus it would ensure that you can care for the turtle its entire life.

[Chrisbarnett]

I don't have any pictures of squirts first tank anymore, but he started out in a 10 gal, with most of the things he needed, I had a HOB filter, UVB, Heat lamp, basking area, proper water temp, water level as high as I could have it, screen top, but he had gravel. thankfully he didn't eat any of it in the week I had gravel in there with him. then the next month or so, i moved him into a 30 gal, and now he is in a 55 gal.

I heavily researched before buying my turtle, but still had a few things wrong, no one gets it right the first time!

[Callie]

I'd researched sites for months, trying to figure out the care needed for these guys. I wanted one for a year or so prior to having one handed to me, complete setup and all.
'Cept by then I knew that the 20G tank the two I original got, came with, was too small. I knew the filter was inadequate, but figured for starters I'd contend. I didn't realize about the gravel, although theirs weren't the fish gravel size, bit bigger, but still had lots of small ones between, so I just did away with it entirely.

The two original ones died, as they had been removed from their setup for who knows how long, prior to me having been contacted.

My new boy is now getting his 65G tank.

I think my major mess-ups were not knowing the quality/level of UVB light needed, and the gravel thing. And I wasn't fully comfortable with the food requirements.

[emma]

I never got pictures of my first setup- but it was really bad!
I didnt have a UVB and the water was really shallow and it was a 10 gallon tank for 3 baby turtles.

[LeslieMW]

my first setup: one of those awful plastic lagoons with the palmtree.

aka: no water heater, no filter, no lights, no diving space.

[TheComputerGremlin]

1.5 gallon critter carrier with an inch of water and a tank decoration that was a little slanted ramp and one of those lights that you attach at the top, so no UVB, no real heat, no water depth, no filter. At least I never had any gravel! I had to clean the tank every two or three days from smell. I figure some good came out of it, though, because I didn't spend a lot and he survived. So that meant that the hubby was all the more willing to buy a new setup when I found this website!

[Daniel3507]

how long did you have your first set up dr jax?

[mzkitty23]

well, the person that gave Krueger to me also gave me all that the previous owner was using for him....this is what they sent with him...
140g tank (DIRTY).
1 Filter made for a 20g fish tank (there was no actual filter in there) so basically it was just aerating the water.
a heater that didn't work.
a flourescent (no heat/no UVB) light.
THAT'S IT.....
so, I found this website and couldn't BELIEVE what all I needed to buy! But of course I went out and got it all. $100000000000000000 later..HAHA.

[untsmurf]

I really hope this is a typo, or else I'm jealous. mzkitty, did they really give you a 140 gallon tank!?!?!?!? Because that's amazing!