Hello, i am a new RES owner and this is my story.
I received my Red Eared Slider from a friend who was leaving the area and couldn't take it with him. He had been looking after it for 3 or 4 years and was its second owner. I was told it was "super low maintenance" and "inexpensive/low impact". I had never been to my friend's apartment, never seen the turtle or seen what its habitat looked like. With doing ZERO research on my own I agreed to take it. He dropped it off at my work the day before he left and i had my first look at my new "easy" pet. My first thought was "hmmmm... that looks like a rather small tank and a rather large turtle". I got the turtle home, set the tank down and filled it with just enough water to cover its shell, plugged in its little desk lamp w/ generic household energy saver bulb, tossed in a couple of pellets and then sat down with my computer to do a little research. I figured out that I had a female and then...
BOOOOM!!!! HOLY CRAP!!
Within minutes, thanks to redearedsliders.com and austinturtlepage.com, the realization of what I needed to do went off like an atomic bomb inside my head. I was honestly floored by the care and cost of housing a RES. My first thought was "how the hell are you still alive?"(in my head her response was "you want to know? I'll tell you. It's because I AM-PHIBIOUS!" Hence her name - meet Phibious.) My second thought, "EPIC DIY PROJECT FOR THE WINTER! F-YEA!". First things first, assess the current situation. I walked over to her tank and measured her SCL, 8 freaking inches! I then turned my attention to her tank, 30x12x12. OMFG, this 8" RES has been living in a 20 gallon tank for her entire life, yikes! At this point I am convinced that she could die at any moment and needs immediate and decisive action on my part to ensure her survival. The next morning i scooted down to the only place on island (yes, i live on an island) that sells aquarium/reptile supplies. From their extremely limited selection i snagged a reptile heat bulb, a UV bulb, and two clamp lamps with metal reflectors. Now it was time to shop for a filter. After a quick look on-line I found a cheap ReptoFilter that i could get delivered fast. (On a side note, Amazon Prime is the best thing to happen to island living since boats were invented.) After two days Phibious had heat, light, and clean(er) water. Next on the agenda was to figure out her general health. It was pretty easy to rule out most major medical problems. Metabolic Bone Disease? Nope, nice hard carapace and plastron, no soft spots. Septicemia? Nope, normal skin and shell coloring with no lesions or sores. Nonetheless i still had some serious concerns. Phibious was lethargic, hardly eating, shedding excessively and spent almost all her time basking under her new lights. I figured the majority of these conditions were due to lack of a proper habitat. So now the fun part - the first major upgrades. A bigger tank was my first priority. I did some investigating and concluded that a 50 or 60 gallon tank was all i had space for in my studio apartment. (Before everyone jumps all over me i know the 10 gal to 1 inch of turtle rule but i figured 3 times her old space was a huge improvement.) I found a reasonably priced 50 gal acrylic through fishtanksdirect.com and ordered it. Soon after, as i was babbling about my new project outside a local watering hole a very generous friend offered me an old 55 gal glass aquarium. His wife had been bugging him to get the thing out of the basement for years. SWEET! my build cost just went down by 200+ bucks. I called fishtanksdirect and was able to cancel the order before it shipped. (I only say this because the company was very friendly and helpful even when i called to cancel. I received my full refund in about 5 days.) The old aquarium was in decent shape but needed a bit of TLC. A good scrubbing and scraping and some new aquarium silicone did the trick. Next was water filtration and temp. The 200W Aquatop heater was an easy buy. Cheap, durable, and had solid reviews. The filter was a much harder purchase. Bigger is better, right? After much deliberation i went with a Fluval 405 as the FX5 is just too big for my current space. On to the lighting. i wasn't happy with my emergency setup so i decided to try a self-ballasted mercury vapor bulb and a reflective dome with a ceramic base. i also purchased a large oasis turtle ramp for a basking platform. after another week i had all my essentials for a vastly improved turtle tank. It only took me a couple of hours to get the new tank up and running once i had all the parts. I gave the filter and heater a solid 24 hours to do their thing before i introduced Phibious to her new home. I placed her in the tank and the plexi ramp sagged so much that she was half submersed while on the upper portion of the ramp. Easy fix, i propped up the lower ramp with a couple of bricks and put her back in the tank. Eager to see the little lady's reaction to her new home, I sat there for almost two hours watching as NOTHING HAPPENED. when i finally got up and moved closer to the tank i must have spooked her because she dove off the ramp and plunged into the water. What followed is best described as "absolute chaos". Splashing, awkward/frantic swimming, bubble blowing, general freak out. i tried to hang back and let her figure it out on her own but after a minute or two i swooped in and guided her back to dry land. It was another 24 hours before she attempted any further exploration of her new tank. Let's not forget that this turtle has most likely never before had a place where she could actually swim around.
We are now on day 5 of the new setup and she is doing much better. Phibious' skin has stopped shedding and looks 90% better. She makes frequent trips into the water and, while she is far from graceful, is starting to look much more comfortable in her aquatic surroundings. Her level of activity and appetite have also increased drastically. i have been giving her small portions of pellets, 4-6 a day, hoping that she will start eating again now that she has proper water temp and basking area. i got home from work today and all this mornings food was gone! Win! This setup is still very much a work in progress and i would appreciate any comments/suggestions you might have. i have lots of questions if anyone has the time to answer them. i am currently working on an above tank basking area as the next big improvement. I'm going to use her old 20 gallon as the major component.
ORIGINAL TANK
20 gal Glass Aquarium
Large Zilla Reptile Basking Platform with Ramp
Desk Lamp
NEW TANK
55 gal Glass Aquarium
Fluval 405 External Canister Filter
200W Aquatop Aquarium Heater
Large Oasis Turtle Ramp
Zoo Med Deep Dome Lamp Fixture
Exo Terra Solar-Glo High Intensity Self-Ballasted Uv/Heat Mercury Vapor Lamp
). i had also noticed the her shell looked irregular. anyone have advice on a feeding regement? her appetite seems to have returned so i plan on giving her a more veggie rich diet. the feeding and nutrition section has been very helpful but its a lot of info to take in at once. would just putting her on a regular/appropriate feeding schedule be enough or will she need a special diet for a while? i can start asking these questions in other sections if that would help.