Hello everybody!
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 7:19 pmHey, I just wanted to thank the people of this board, I've only had my RES for about 3 days now, but this board has helped me a lot with taking care of him.
I received him in very poor condition, he was sitting at a friends house, unheated, in a shallow bowl with some marbles inside of it, and when they asked if anyone there would like a turtle, I saw it and decided that it needed a better home.
I didn't really have any idea how hard it would be to take care of him, but since then I have bought a 20 gallon tank, 30 gallon filter, 5% UVB full spectrum bulb, basking bulb, floating dock, 100 watt submersable visitherm heater, cycle water cleaner, NovAqua+ Water conditioner, and amquel to remove ammonia and chlorine, as well as a sulfa block.
Unfortunately, I fed him a little too many shrimps the first day (4 or 5) because I was told at a pet store that this would be his main diet since he was young (around 2") and needed mostly protein. I've since corrected that and have been feeding him 1 reptomin pellet a day, half in the morning half at night, and he has several small feeder guppies inside the water (which all appear healthy) that he can choose to eat. I keep his water at 81 degrees, and his basking area is probably around 90, though I don't have a thermometer to check.
I'll try to get some pictures, his shell is a bit discolored, and seems to be decaying a bit on the underside, which doesn't suprise me as he was sitting in a bowl with no basking place, with no sunlight at the wrong temperature for about a month, but now he swims around, eats daily, and every once in a while he'll chase after guppies.
I'm very new to the turtle world, and would love if anyone had any advice for me
I received him in very poor condition, he was sitting at a friends house, unheated, in a shallow bowl with some marbles inside of it, and when they asked if anyone there would like a turtle, I saw it and decided that it needed a better home.
I didn't really have any idea how hard it would be to take care of him, but since then I have bought a 20 gallon tank, 30 gallon filter, 5% UVB full spectrum bulb, basking bulb, floating dock, 100 watt submersable visitherm heater, cycle water cleaner, NovAqua+ Water conditioner, and amquel to remove ammonia and chlorine, as well as a sulfa block.
Unfortunately, I fed him a little too many shrimps the first day (4 or 5) because I was told at a pet store that this would be his main diet since he was young (around 2") and needed mostly protein. I've since corrected that and have been feeding him 1 reptomin pellet a day, half in the morning half at night, and he has several small feeder guppies inside the water (which all appear healthy) that he can choose to eat. I keep his water at 81 degrees, and his basking area is probably around 90, though I don't have a thermometer to check.
I'll try to get some pictures, his shell is a bit discolored, and seems to be decaying a bit on the underside, which doesn't suprise me as he was sitting in a bowl with no basking place, with no sunlight at the wrong temperature for about a month, but now he swims around, eats daily, and every once in a while he'll chase after guppies.
I'm very new to the turtle world, and would love if anyone had any advice for me