Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: Newbie Turtle Lover <3

[Misskey24]

George Basking :-)

Hello everyone, I am so excited to be apart of this forum. I have a baby RES that I have had for 6 months. I was like most people and didn't have no idea how to care for the turtle. I bought him in Atlanta and was simply told to feed it and change the water in the very small plastic tank it came in. After 3 months of living in this condition he became very inactive and appeared to be dying I immediately got online and began searching for answers starting with what type of turtle it was. I called around to my local pet stores as well. Long story short George (my turtles name, after my dad) is alive and healthy today and I plan on keeping it that way! I love learning new things about RES and I am a work in progress

[steve]

Welcome to the site! Glad to hear George is doing better! If that's a picture of his current tank, you'll need to make a few changes soon, primarily with removing the gravel.

[Kansasslider]

Hello and welcome. I agree with Steve about the gravel.Your turtle might eat it. A lot of res owners use sand as do I. I also noticed you don't have much water in the tank. Aquatic turtles love to swim and will stay under water for very long periods. my tank is 3/4 full of water. Ask questions the people on here really know their stuff and have helped me a lot.

[Misskey24]

Thanks Steve and Kansasslider for responding. I totally agree about the gravel as George is already picking it up in his mouth and spitting it back out. I will make the change tomorrow. Sand sounds amazing but hard....I will research it's use more and maybe give it a try!

[KarmaDogma]

Welcome!! Glad George is doing better. The people here are a wonderful source of information. I have 2 mature RES (age unknown, but they were at their last home for 7 years) for 11 weeks now. I knew nothing about RES before I found this site. We are a work in progress, too!