Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: New with a female RES that is pyramiding

[TortsNTurtles]

Hi I am new to this forum and I am so glad I found a place to turtle talk with others to learn, share, and enjoy pictures .I have owned reptiles & fish in the past but Gamera is my first water turtle. I love turtles & tortoises so I am so happy to have her. I have been reading up on turtle care.

I purchased Gamera cheep on Craigslist. She was listed as having a 75 gallon tank which turned out to be 20 gallons. Her name was Fred and thought to be a male but is a female who I renamed Gamera because of her shell & my love as a child for Gamera. I knew she had pyramiding from the pictures of her that was listed on Craigslist. Her post was up for a few months no one wanted her with the other many RES on Craigslist. I wanted to rehome an unwanted pet verses a pet store etc. They purchased Gamera as a hatchling for their son who was 6 at the time and had no idea how big she was going to get. Since their son lost interest she listed her and I am glad they did she is full of personality.

She is the 20 gallon tank which she is temporary still is in until I figure out what I need for her 125 gallon future tank. The changes I have made was replace the UVB bulb since I have no idea how old it was and purchased a dock she can bask on. the one they had in her tank was small for hatch-lings so she could not get out and completely dry. I also added a heater made for turtles as there was no heating source for the water. I just got her this past Saturday so I only made the very necessary changes and will slowly change things as we go to not totally stress her. Today I will remove the stones they have as I am concerned she will eat them & it is holding tons of poo .

Diet I purchased Mazuri water turtle food she was being feed All Living Things food. She liked sweet potaotoes & worms so far but not crazy about her greens which I will work on. She is 4.5 inches .I haven't weighed her but she feels light. I plan to do that this weekend. Her basking temps are 90 degrees, water temperature 78 degrees and air 80-81 degrees. There is two 40 gallon filtures that seem to be keeping the water clean until she starts digging in the dirty rocks I will be removing. She has a UVB light & water heater with the covering to protect from being burnt.

I am sorry its so long . I will be searching the sight to set her up in a larger125 gallon tank. Thanks for letting me join!

[TortsNTurtles]

I cleaned out all the rocks today and had to do a complete water change because the water was so yucky from the rocks. As a new turtle owner I already know I like a tank with no rocks. I might add a few large rocks that will be easy to clean around. I am so happy she has clean water. I weighed her she is 228 grams or around 8oz. at 4.5 inches. I am not sure if that is a good weight or not. Is there a general weight chart anywhere? Thanks

[penelope]

Welcome to the forum!
It sounds like you are starting off great.
Penelope was 4 inches when we found her. She weighed 115 grams. At the time, the vet said she was underweight.
Six months later she had grown over an inch and weighed 477grams; that time she was overweight / overfed.
I know it is not a clear cut answer, but maybe it will help put things in perspective.
Since i am not sure about the amount of pyramidding it is hard to say if it will sabilize over time (she is still quite young).
switching subjects - i think bare bottom tanks are very pretty, and easy to clean.
I am happy that you saved a turtle in need of rescue
**applause**

[steve]

Welcome to the forum! Most female RES don't hit 12", so you don't have to get a 125. Glass aquariums 55-100 gallons tend to resell well so there is good chance you can buy a used tank and sell it later for the same amount.

[TortsNTurtles]

Thank yinz for the warm welcome! Thanks Penelope for the weights that helped me get an idea. She seems to be in the middle so looks like a good weight even though she acts like she starved lol

[Swimmy97]

Petco has their $1/gallon sale going on until the 25th so you could get Gamera a 55 that would suffice until you get an estimate of how big she will get and like Steve said, they're pretty easy to resell. I used to use gravel (terrible terrible stuff) so it's a good thing you threw it out. I use a bare bottom with several large rocks for Swimmy to rest on or whatnot and he loves it. I used to have trouble getting greens into Swimmy until I made some jello shots. They're super easy to make and you can pretty much use any combination of acceptable veggies and fruit (also a good way to get cuttle bone or a calcium supplement into them). Feed Gamera one and then, a day or two later, if you leave a piece of red leaf lettuce floating around or on a veggie clip it should be devoured. Don't be discouraged if she doesn't start eating it in front of you, I've never seen my turtle eat a piece of lettuce but it'll be gone/ noticeably munched on if they're hungry. Do you have any pictures to share?

[TortsNTurtles]

A friend of ours just gave me a free 55 gallon with a leak.Since the sale is until the 25th I figure that gives me time to try and fix the leak. If not off to Petco I go.

I will have to try the jello shots. She is eating her greens with the vege clip thanks for the tip!

She is so much fun. I just love her in such a short time. I think if able I will always have a RES I will try to upload pictures. Is there an easy way with the Iphone? Thanks I enjoy this forum.

[Swimmy97]

Good luck with the repair, it shouldn't be too bad. Glad to here she's eating her veggies. I post mine to Facebook and then import them from fb to photo bucket.

[TortsNTurtles]

Well an update. The leak was fixed. It actually was not that bad of a job. My hubby made a basking area for me out of Plexiglas. I just purchased a Fluval Fx6 Aquarium Canister Filter & EHEIM Jager Aquarium Thermostat Heater 300W from Amazon. It should be here Wed. so Myrtle will officially be in her new tank this weekend if all goes well. I have one question as this is our first canister filter. Should I place it in a type of canister or large pad just in case it leaks? The aquarium stand is an open metal stand . I have a 2 year old son & a puppy also need to consider for the set up. Any ideas or advice would be great

[steve]

I like to put the canisters in a storage container under the tank. Tiny accidents and spills take a toll over time, especially on a wood floor.

[TortsNTurtles]

Thanks Steve !

[TortsNTurtles]

My EHEIM Jager Aquarium Thermostat Heater came today. Since its glass should I cover it with PVC pipe? I found this searching heaters and wish I would of purchased it as it looks turtle tuff. http://www.amazon.com/Fluval-E-300-Watt ... B001VMSK0I When I up grade next year to a bigger tank if I need another I will go for it. In the meantime should I make the Jager heater turtle safe or is ok without the pvc pipe. Thanks!!

[steve]

I don't use any guard but you can find cheap ones on ebay. I'd only really consider something if the turtle attacks the heater or bites the cord. Make sure you plug the heater, filter and UVB into a GFCI outlet.

[TortsNTurtles]

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[TortsNTurtles]

That is what was holding up the project we had to order the GFCI outlet on Amazon since we needed one with more than 4 outlets. We purchased this one.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WJ ... UTF8&psc=1 So we will fill the tank tonight and let it warm up and get the filter going. I am glad we did a mock set up because there were things like the location of the filter we did not consider. I just love this group it has been a huge help. I can't wait to get her switched over. I hope the monster pump does not blow a breaker Thanks again!