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hi everyone.
i am a new turtle owner. my daughter gave me ralfie for christmas and i am so glad i found this site. had no clue how to care for a turtle. ralfi is 2 1/2" long. my daughter bought the tank & setup & the store gave her the turtle free. i dont know how old he/she is so if anyone could help me that would be awesome.

hello and welcome you came to the right place to learn everything about taking care of a turtle haha. looks like a very cute turtle also grats you should take out that small gravel however because your turtle will try and eat it. you need large river rocks or something like that so he/she cant fit it in her/his mouth

Welcome to the forum. Without knowing when your turtle hatched, you really can't accurately know the age. You might ask the place where Ralfie was purchased about how old their turtles are when they get them (hopefully someone knowlegeble will have an idea).

Yes, it would be good to get rid of those pebbles. There are a lot of them, and at the very least, they're going to trap debris and make cleaning harder. If your turtle gets bored or curious, he may try to eat them, and if he does, there's the chance he could get impacted.

How big is the tank? Does he have a good basking area? Does he have both a UVB light and a heat light? Does he have a submersible water heater to keep the water at a constant temp?

What are you feeding him, how much and how often?

He looks cute.

welcome! he is a cutie!

marisa wrote:Welcome to the forum. Without knowing when your turtle hatched, you really can't accurately know the age. You might ask the place where Ralfie was purchased about how old their turtles are when they get them (hopefully someone knowlegeble will have an idea).

Yes, it would be good to get rid of those pebbles. There are a lot of them, and at the very least, they're going to trap debris and make cleaning harder. If your turtle gets bored or curious, he may try to eat them, and if he does, there's the chance he could get impacted.

How big is the tank? Does he have a good basking area? Does he have both a UVB light and a heat light? Does he have a submersible water heater to keep the water at a constant temp?

What are you feeding him, how much and how often?

He looks cute.

sorry i havent replied back in a bit, i took you guys advice & changed to river rocks, he eats tetrafauna retromin, it has mini-krill & mini sticks i alternated every other day the amount is the size of his head . i use a sun glo neodymium basking spot lamp, i use a submersable heater that keeps it at a constant temp 76-78 degrees F, he is doing great, very friendly, swims to the side of the tank when i walk in the room & lets me rub under his neck & now he has started giving me kisses!! he grew 1/2" so is now 3". thanks for the advice, i love this site!

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