I have had my
for about a year now (his friend only lived maybe 2 months under my care, poor guy). I kept him in a small plastic goldfish tank with a water pump and a pile of rocks for him to chill out on when he wasn't swimming. He has grown quite a bit from when I first got him (maybe the size of a quarter when I got him, he is pretty big now!) and I decided it was time for a tank upgrade.
How I wish I knew of this site before I bought my tank, hahaha.
As you may have guessed, I bought a standard 10 gallon tank.
http://oi51.tinypic.com/2rc37yx.jpg
http://oi51.tinypic.com/f3zh1.jpg
http://oi53.tinypic.com/2eclybl.jpg
This is a mansion compared to his last tank. He really enjoys the room.
http://oi53.tinypic.com/2qc2dk5.jpg
He went unnamed for pretty much the whole year until I tried searching for a turtle video on YouTube and somehow pulled up the fight between Turles and Goku from Dragon Ball Z. Thus, he was named Turles.
After I bought it and set it up, I decided that I felt it was pretty lonely in there so I bought two new guys.
http://oi53.tinypic.com/ilabyw.jpg
This proud guy claiming the rock is known as Goku. Someone needs to keep Turles in check, right?
http://oi52.tinypic.com/et5oo2.jpg
This dude with the cool black designs on his shell is known as Matt Conine, named after a friend of mine and was used as a comedic gesture.
While looking for turtle tips, I came across this very useful website.
After browsing it for a bit, I noticed a few of my mistakes.
1) I shouldn't have tiny gravel. I should switch to stones.
2) I am going to need a bigger tank. Thankfully, my buddy is a aquarium enthusiast and has a bunch of extra tanks and stuff, so switching to a 20 gal is not an issue.
3) I should probably have some sort of heating light/water heater. I don't know what I should do for this. My current tank's hood has two light bulb sockets I can use. Do I need UVA or UVB bulbs? Or do I need both? How about a water heater?
4) I think Goku is developing soft shell. While I am not sure, his shell is soft compared to the other two guys who's shells have no squishie-ness at all. Having read through a few of the forums, I bought a CuttleBone from the bird section at my local pet shop. I am not exactly sure how to use this. Do I just stick in the whole thing? Do I cut a piece off and chuck it in?
I would also appreciate any other tips/concerns you could throw at me. I want these guys to live a good life.
Oh, that reminds me. I have no idea if they are guys or girls. I just assumed they were guys, being the big hulking muscle man that I am.
Just for the hell of it, here is a pic of the two new guys hanging out on the rock.
http://oi55.tinypic.com/35anhix.jpg
(I had to remove the img tags due to oversized images, sorry about that)
