Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: My Introduction

[cosnersxD]

Hey everyone, I'd just like to briefly introduce myself. I have been lurking on these forums for a while last year because that's the first time I've kept a RES. My friend caught one at a pond and let me keep it, but I didn't know the first thing about turtles and it died because of my lack of knowledge. I've read up since then but have never wanted to keep another turtle. Flash forward to just a few weeks ago, and my parents come back from a vacation in New Jersey with TWO baby RES that they got from someone who was illegally selling them by the bucket. I'm giving this another shot because I'm a lot better informed on the requirements of keeping these turtles and also am old enough this year to get a part-time job to buy everything I need for these turtles. I've decided to name the smaller one Mek but I still haven't decided on a name for the larger one. Here's a picture of them and their tank. I know a 10 gal is pretty small for two turtles, but I will upgrade soon. Any advice and recommendations are appreciated.



They share their tank with 4 mollies, which I read can be safely fed to turtles. My turtles have been living pretty peacefully with them so far, even when the fish are literally swimming right in front of their noses. There are also 3 Chinese Algae Eaters and 2 pond snails to help keep the tank clean. I actually plan to get rid of a few of the fish if I can't get a 20 gallon fast enough; the ammonia levels rise pretty fast and the tank isn't cycled yet. I perform 40% water changes almost every day to control the ammonia, and will continue until the tank is fully cycled.

Another thing I want to do is raise the water level, but I can't figure out what to do or buy to raise the lamps to an adequate height. Again, any suggestions are welcome. I'm currently using a 40 watt incandescent for heat and a Zilla Tropical for UVB (it provides 25 microwatts of UVB per second/cm2). Apparently this is equivalent to a 3.5 Reptisun, if such a thing existed. I know it's not a lot but the bulb is fairly close to the basking site so I think it'll be fine until I can get something better.

I'll post pictures of them and their tank later. The pictures I took show up too large on the preview and I need to downsize them. EDIT: Pics are up.

[valladin82]

I use the same UVB fixture and on the box it should show you an index which will give you a good idea of what kinda distance you want the light to be.I actually have mine sitting on a thin cell phone box up against a wall at about 8-9 inches above the tank, the basking area is probably about 2inches from the top. Don't be afraid to put more water in if you can work out the light situation. Mine have become very strong swimmers and I see them sometimes swimming against the water current caused by the filter. As for the light itself it seems to be working great. I got mine at about the same age as yours appear to be and they're growing like weeds. If you do things right you might want to consider a larger tank than a 20. Cause I am now as well.

[steve]

Welcome to the site. They sell stands to hang lights though some people use plant hooks, shelving or make a box out of egg crate.

[valladin82]

Haha I'm ghetto and used a cell phone box and the box the filter came in to block the light from blinding people sitting next to it.

[cosnersxD]

That setup looks nice valladin! One question though, you said you had your UVB on a cell phone box. I don't see it, is it behind the Repti Clear box? And thanks steve for the suggestion; I've actually considered the egg crate idea but I haven't found any in Home Depot and I don't know where else it might be. I might buy lamp clamps but apparently the lamps come with them so I'm trying to see if I can find a better solution. If not I'll just buy them, lamps and all.

[valladin82]

If you click on the photo it makes it bigger and you can see it. For some reason in the picture the light reflects off the box and makes it really bright (Its a white box). Its the perfect width though that it sits right on it but doesn't block the actual lamp itself. Directly in the center of the long lamp against the wall.