Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: My first RES.

[Sarah89]

Hi my name is Sarah and I recently just bought my boyfriend and I a young RES. We have named him Little Turtle. I had bought him off the street in Chinatown while recently visiting new york. The man who sold him to me has no knowledge of the little guy, so my boyfriend and I immidietly took him to Pet Co. to get a little bit of info on him. They confirmed my RES is a boy, just a few days to a few weeks old. he is about the size of a half dollar. We have him in a 10 gallon tank with about 4 inches of water to swim in. He has a floating mini-dock (Zoo Med) as well as some large pebble substrate. We have also purchased A water filter (TetraFauna) as well as a submersible heater (TetraFauna.) We feed him ReptoMin variety aquatic turtle food (MiniSticks, Mini Shrimp, Small Krill.) He also nibbles on the Anarachis plants we bought for him too. He seems to be happy, but I am still afraid that maybe we aren't doing enough for him. I never thought I could love him so much, and I have only had him for about a week and a half now. He swims quite often, "chases" his food, and basks under his heat lamp. Here are some pictures:

[emma]

oh wow, in the first picture you can still see his egg tooth! What a cute little guy! Welcome to the forum!

[Sarah89]

Thanks (: Is that his egg tooth? My boyfriend said it was, but I had read that it falls off within an hour of hatching. I know he is definantly at least two weeks old. I was afraid maybe it meant he was sick! lol.

[emma]

Yeah, it should come off pretty soon. I wouldnt be worried.

[turboturtle8]

Welcome!! Seems like you are off to a great start with your new turtle

[forlogos]

welcome to the forum! What a cute turtle!!

http://www.redearslider.com/determining_sex.html Hate to tell you but the Petco people were wrong, you won't be able to tell its sex for a while.

You have all the basics for a proper setup - does the basking lamp also provide UVB?

You're off to a great start!

[megcornell]

It sounds like your little turtle is off to a good start- it's good that he (or she ) has acclimated so quickly. And, it's wonderful that he's eating plant matter already, great job on that! If you can, you may want to look into reptomin baby pellets instead of the variety pack you're feeding now. The baby pellet is higher in calcium and is smaller, making it easier to eat. Growing turtles need lots of calcium to keep healthy shells and bones. Also, if you haven't picked one up, look for a UVB bulb, that helps turtles metabolize calcium.

[Blue Flamingo]

Hi!!! You have a cute little turtle there.

[Hil Is Sweet]

That little guy is so cute. He has a big ol head though hah