Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: inherited an old couple....

[wezeles]

Hi guys, names Dave
I just got my pair of red sliders for about a week now... male and female, 9.5 inches female, 7.5 inches male atleast 17 years old maybe older... they were my uncles since i can remeber.... and thats when i was 6 going over to his house and seeing them , i havent called him yet to find out for sure how old they are.
He acctually wasnt the last to own them, my younger uncle was, he got them when my firts unlce moved out of state a few years back and just recently they called me asking if i could take them off there hands because hes a teenager now and doesnt have time for them... I talked it over with the wife and im thrilled to have them..
ive had plenty of intresting pets in the past.. ferrits,iguana,snakes but never turtles first experience with them... took me 3 days just to figure out what species they were...

since then I cleaned the tank spotless,its a nice 75 gallon tank but hopefully i can get them a bigger one here soon and use the 75 gallon for something else, also gave them alot more water, they were living in only 6 inches before got that up to 14 inches and gave them a nice basking area instead of just the log they had before, along with a basking lamp that they didnt have.... cranked the water heat up a bit they were at about 74 degrees before now i keep it at a constant 80 they are way more active and playful, still working out there diet but so far crickets, carrots,spinnach, wardlys logs, and tetra krill treats is what they have been eating... small amounts of something different each day instead of one large amount every 3 days like they were getting... helps keep the tank cleaner and they are much friendlier "begging" when anyone comes to the tank now... for decorations is pretty simple just a big bag of river rocks for substrate some large salt rocks for looks... and sand stone for basking area, i have loads of it and its just the right texture corse enough for them to climb but still soft enough to not damage there shells when they jump off it just leaves a small layer of sand after a weeks worth of jumping... but enough talk here some pictures, sorry the water isnt cystal clear yet just filled it up a couple hours ago, but it has a nice magnum 350 filter so its normally always perfectly clear....




ill get some better pics once the water clears up...

[megcornell]

Hello and welcome to the site
What a cute couple you have there!
I have a few concerns about their habitat though- that gravel is awfully small and turtles have a nasty habit of eating it and becoming impacted with it. You'll also notice the water becoming much cleaner without the gravel there to trap debris.
Also, I'd be worried about that basking area falling over. That looks like quite a precarious stack of rocks.

[emma]

Welcome to the forum!

[wezeles]

i was gonna add specifics to all that in the introduction but thought it was running long as it was lol...

1st... the gravel was the largest size i could get at the time too large for the male to fit in his mouth.. i was concerned witht he female and watched them for the first hour after i put the gravel in it she picked up a few pieces gave them a chew and spit them right out... my uncle said he always had gravel in there tanks growing up and they were ok about it... she only grabbed a few of the reddish orange rocks "guessing she mistaked them for the new carrots in her diet but shes already ignoring them, ill keep an eye on her for a while to make sure though

2nd... i dont mind the clean up i have a few fish tanks as well and im use to a weekly clean and partial fill of water so for the looks im willing to do the work, i actually go through with a small fish net a few times a day and skim out anything large like any extra food, or turlte residue left over... so the tank normally stays very clean on a daily basis...

3rd... although it looks very shaky the sand stone is actually wedge between the glass... the rocks themself arnt holding up the platform the glass is holding it in place.. and the platform is wedging the other rocks down... they have already tried there hardest to move every rock in sight with no luck, so its acctually working out very well and they like the new hiding area

they like to beg for food but beyond that they are pretty calm just doing there thing... never bite, rarely hiss "unless you suprise them picking them up like my wife found out" and probably the most fun ive had with a pet in a while, great to look at and play with...

i plan to add some background to the tank soon they love running into the walls at full speed now that the walls are clean, but i would also like to maybe add some plants or fake plants for looks... with there appetites now im not sure how long real plants would last so what would you guys recomend?

[megcornell]

Live plants are an excellent addition to your turtles diet, but like you assumed they are usually quickly eaten. If you want more stable decorations buy some plastic plants but do give them turtles veggies, it's an excellent way to ensure a balanced diet.
I really can't stress enough how dangerous small rocks are- here's a link showing a rock that another member's turtle recently passed (luckily)- there are also plenty of stories that don't turn out so well. If you're worried about aesthetics you can always add some large river rocks, most turtles like to scrounge around them for food and to push them around.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... highlight=
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... highlight=
The second link is another account of turtles passing gravel, it's just a really unnecessary risk to have in the tank.