My first RES.
Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 10:55 pmHi my name is Sarah and I recently just bought my boyfriend and I a young RES. We have named him Little Turtle. I had bought him off the street in Chinatown while recently visiting new york. The man who sold him to me has no knowledge of the little guy, so my boyfriend and I immidietly took him to Pet Co. to get a little bit of info on him. They confirmed my RES is a boy, just a few days to a few weeks old. he is about the size of a half dollar. We have him in a 10 gallon tank with about 4 inches of water to swim in. He has a floating mini-dock (Zoo Med) as well as some large pebble substrate. We have also purchased A water filter (TetraFauna) as well as a submersible heater (TetraFauna.) We feed him ReptoMin variety aquatic turtle food (MiniSticks, Mini Shrimp, Small Krill.) He also nibbles on the Anarachis plants we bought for him too. He seems to be happy, but I am still afraid that maybe we aren't doing enough for him. I never thought I could love him so much, and I have only had him for about a week and a half now. He swims quite often, "chases" his food, and basks under his heat lamp. Here are some pictures:
) has acclimated so quickly. And, it's wonderful that he's eating plant matter already, great job on that! If you can, you may want to look into reptomin baby pellets instead of the variety pack you're feeding now. The baby pellet is higher in calcium and is smaller, making it easier to eat. Growing turtles need lots of calcium to keep healthy shells and bones. Also, if you haven't picked one up, look for a UVB bulb, that helps turtles metabolize calcium.