Hi everyone! I've been lurking on this site for about six months now, since a RES named Sanddollar came into our home. SD belonged to a friend of my daughter's, that we agreed to pet-sit for, while the friend was on vacation. SD was about 3-1/2" long at the time, and arrived in a tiny container intended for a betta, that was barely big enough for her to turn around. My husband and I immediately thought, "that can't be right." My daughter said SD had been kept in that tiny container for over a year, since the 20G aquarium the friend had her in broke or something. Well, after we researched to see what she *should* have been in, we were pretty upset. We moved her to a Rubbermaid tote, got a heat lamp and UVB lamp, and set up a temporary basking platform, amazed that she was as healthy as she was - no shell problems or anything. Fortunately, the friend hinted that her mom kinda wanted her to get rid of the turtle, and by the time they returned, Sanddollar had already won us over, so she stayed! She is very friendly and interested in people (and always trying to con us into giving her a snack LOL). She now has a 40G aquarium with a good filter, heaters, and basking dock, and has probably grown an inch since we got her. I really appreciate the wealth of knowledge on this site - it has been an enormous help! I'm planning to upgrade to an ATBA and have gotten a lot of ideas from the basking area pics thread.
Looking forward to learning more!
Jennette
