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Hello I'm a 21 yr old female. I have my own career which I love, born and raised in Los Angeles and I have many interestes. Animals being a big one. : )

Someone abandoned two turtles at my friends house and I offered to take them. One is 6-7 inches the other is 8-9 inches. They are RES and both female. I've had them for about 6 months.

I currently have them in a 60gl tank with a Rena canister filter and a really secure basking dock that I made with PVC piping. They have their UVB/UVA / Heat lamps and I feed them zoo med pellets, veggies, fruit, cuttle bone, rosy reds as a treat and this mix of dried crickets/meal worms/shrimp for their protien.

I'm interested in growing my own Anacharis/Duckweed and water lillies. which I have fed them before but I would like to just grow my own instead of rebuying all the time. Something I'm also hoping to learn more about on here.

I just recently found out about their needs when it comes to space, I figured I would eventually get a bigger tank but I was unaware adult females need about 125gl each and that they needed it now. I got them a 3ftx10ft kiddie pool that I put them in during most of the day. I made a basking dock in there with some rocks and a domed cemet pice I found in a field. They come back in though as soon as the sun goes down, I also let them walk around freely sometimes. I'm doing this in the meantime of deciding what to do for their permanent home, which is another reason I joined the forum. To get some more info and ideas.
My ideal would be an in ground pond. I currently live in AZ however and my main concern is the temps that can get up to 120degrees in the summer but I have seen people out here with Koi ponds so I don't know. I've also seen some 300gl+ aquariums on craigslist for really decent prices but they all come with really high stands and I wouldnt want their basking area so high. I'm really leaning more towards a stock tank. Whatever I go with I desire to be permanent so I want to know as much as I can about all 3 options before getting started.

I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you and to learning as much as I can to take really good care of my turtles. I never thought they would be so high maintenance but I really love them and want to do the best for them.

Thank you : )

- Valerie

Hi, welcome to the site! I think Anacharis/Duckweed grow fairly well with little care, but lilies might be more difficult. A pond sounds great! You can even simplify it - they have 300 gallon stock tanks which will offer deeper water levels than ponds.

If you want to keep your RES indoors, you can still do a stock tank depending on space. Aquarium stands can be custom made if you desire a certain height.

Do you think the heat and summer temps with mess with them?
Thanks for the info about the aquarium stands. I hadn't thought about that.

You'll want to add some partial shade if possible. Water plants would help block out some to the sunlight too.

Wow you have a lot of options. Can't wait to see which one you choose and hopefully a build thread on it. I'd probably go with a pond and shade like Steve mentioned. Welcome to the forum.