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Well let me tell you my story before I'm slammed for doing things wrong! So I am 17, recently out of high school and I have been telling my parents and girlfriend how I am dying to get my own pet. My own little buddy to hang with and be mine. Well I narrowed down this obsession to three candidates. A hairless cat, a bearded dragon, or a turtle. Well one day I realize my girlfriend and parents have been conversing a lot, about what I am not allowed to know. Then one day my parents disappear for about 3 hours and I cannot figure out why although I know for a fact it has to do with me. They were buying a terrarium, but of course I did not know this. The next day I am forced to go to work with ma momma as I am not allowed to be home. Obviously by this point I am very excited about what's going on. I come home that day to find this guy in my family room.

As you can assume, I was overly overjoyed. Within the hour he was named Wade and was officially my new buddy.

Now that you know the back story... HELP ME PLEAASSEE!!
I clearly had no idea I would have a turtle suddenly one day so I was definitely not ready. I mean I know you are supposed to do your research and be prepared before getting a pet such as this but CLEARLY I had no warning here... So I need help on getting this guy a suitable habitat going. Also, today is the second day I have had him and he has NOT gone on the rock to bask yet. Is that okay? Below is a link to a video that you can use a reference to his current home. I will also post pictures. So please what do I need to do to give this little guy the life he deserves?!

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M2xWqvtyGI





This is the filter being used: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2752353

He is a boy, 4 years old, and was rescued from the Human Society. Can you guess whom he is named after?

Hi, welcome to the site. This is a good attempt at a first setup, but there does need to be some fundamental changes. And do keep in mind that he just moved to a new home, so he's a bit shy.

First, get a good submersible water heater, like an Ebo Jager and have it set for around 78F. Next get 2 thermometers, those stick on types are OK for the glass/water temp, you can also get one that's in a tube to measure basking area temps. Those need to be roughly 10F warmer than the water. This entices basking and will draw him up there.

Get rid of gravel. Get rid of smaller river rocks and anything smaller than his head. You can fill up his tank more, about 3/4 or more. Get a new basking area. A nice piece of cork bark would look great in there and will last for years. Set the UVB over his basking area and you don't need a night time lamp.

You'll need to upgrade the a real filter too, but that can wait.

Pick up a good pellet like Reptomin and don't use peas What's his diet like?

I was also sprung with two RES (although happily!) and have been playing catch-up. There's a lot of great information here that helped me see where I needed to go with my habitat and led me to give back one of my turtles so I could dedicate myself to one awesome tank for one turtle.

Since I am not very experienced yet I will leave that to some of the other members, but I can tell you in my month of research that the first things I learned about were the necessity for large tanks (10 gallon per inch of shell length), very strong filters (you'll want one rated for 3x your tank size), managing UVB light (different kinds of bulbs and how far away from the turtles and what to look for problem-wise), and the proper diet for preventing problems like pyramiding of the shell. There's tons of info here and at other turtle forums and sites for all of these issues. Welcome!

Wow you guys are quick! Thank you for the information. I do have a submersable water heater that is down by his little house. I believe that is why he spends so much time over there. Also, in the future (when the money comes in) I plan on completely remodeling the tank. I'm thinking slab rocks on the bottom with all of those larger abominations as well as the gravel removed. I also plan to stack up the slab rocks far enough to make a new basking area apprx. 8" from the heat lamp. That way he'll get more warmth from the light and I can fill the tank with more water. I would LOVE to get a new filter but sadly it will have to wait the longest due to the expense. I also plan to get a back drop and a lot more fake plants.

Right at this moment his diet it crushed carrots and green beans, Repto-Min pellets with dried shrimp and krill (which will be given sparingly), and finally very small and VERY SELDOM slices of cooked unseasoned chicken. Next time I can, I will be getting some dark lettuce, milk worms or other insects, calcium supplement, and maybe some little guppies.

Am I on the right track?

The tank is so pretty already! The gravel is pretty important to get rid of but it looks like you have quite a bit of the river rocks you can keep. Just a note, a lot of us use sand in the bottom of the tank. Some say the river rocks are a pain to clean (but they are so pretty!!). Good luck with the plants.. mine always get destroyed pretty quickly lol

Heres everything you need to know about his diet http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html. What is the calcium supplement? You can give him cuttlebone. It is the stuff you give birds.. you can get it SUPER cheap (like $.50) in the bird section and it is the same thing as what they sell in the turtle section..except they up the price. You will have to take the backing off of it and cute it up. Turtle love it!

And..are you sure he is a boy?

The calcium supplement is your basic duster from PetSmart, the same I used for my old Bearded Dragon back in the day. I'll look into the cuttlebone if that would be better for him. We will be remodeling the tank soon and getting the gravel out but right now it is completely covered by the river rocks and inaccessible by him. So how is his diet? Is it acceptable?

P.S. I am pretty sure he is a boy being that the humane society that had him for 4 years had him named Leonardo (cliche!). But I'll post a couple more pics so you can judge for yourself. He has VERY long frontal claws which lead me to believe that he is indeed male. But, hell, you tell me! You can see his claws in the last 2 pics.

Wade does look like a male, a tail picture from underneath could confirm it.

With his diet, I'd try to keep it mainly leafy greens (red leaf/green leaf/romaine lettuce). You can give him a small amount of pellets daily. Carrots are fine in small amounts too. The plain, cooked chicken should be a rare treat. I don't know about milk worms, hough earthworms are fine. Skip the shrimp and krill.

Sounds good, thank you! I will shift his diet towards this. Are green beans okay?

No beans or peas.

Sweetness, thanks guys! His new tank should be ready within the week in which I'll be posting pics Thanks again everyone!