Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 11:08 am Hello to everyone!
Hey guys, its Meldrick here. I'm from Singapore and I'm a college student. I've had two RES for 8 years now and this is my first time joining such a forum to interact with other res lovers. I have one female res and she's about 9 inches long and 6.5 inches wide. My other is a male and he's 5 inches long and 3.5 inches wide. I admit that when my parents gave them to me as a birthday present when I was little, I had no clue that they were going to grow so big. I did no prior research before getting them and it was a big mistake on my part. RES are the only turtles allowed by Singapore authorities to be sold here, and they're so commonly sold that everyone just gets them without finding out the proper way to care for them. I used to keep my RES in pretty bad conditions and I regret that. I'm trying to make up for it now by giving it the best that I can afford. Money and space are a huge issue for me, since I'm still a college student and living with my parents. Thus, the new aquarium I got for them didn't really stick to the "10 gallons of water per inch of shell" rule. I've really wondered whether releasing my pets into a local river was the lesser of two evils. It's really a Catch 22 situation here for me. I know RES are an invasive species and releasing them could damage my local ecosystem, but keeping such huge RES in my parents' apartment seemed cruel. I've tried re-homing them but no one wants them due to the fact that baby RESes could be bought anywhere and are much easier to care for than an older and bigger RES. By joining this forum, I hope to make new friends and find out better ways to care for my RESes. Peace!
