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I am a new mom to 2 RES. I took them when my nephew got tired of them and I was glad I did. I love them already! They were sadly being kept in a 5 gal betta tank with gravel (oy). In his defense they were quarter size when he got them. Now I will post pics later bc I have yet to get great ones. I am slowly making their environment better and as fast as I can to which they're already perking up. They were starting to not eat pellets and would only eat freeze dried shrimp but I got them back to pellets. So onto introductions:
In the first corner we have Michaelangelo "The mover" Perez coming in at 3.75in approx. 7 months old.
In the second corner we have Bubba "The Basker" Perez coming in at 2.15 in and approx. 7 months old.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Mikey is a girl since she is almost 4 in and has short nails and her cloaca is close to her shell. Since when you hold Bubba next to her he looks like he's going to be exactly the same (though it's too early to tell) I'm thinking I will have 2 females. So Mikey is short for Mikayla and Bubba will be Bubba bc it fits her
Mikey is out going, always swimming, begging, and the first to try anything. Also likes to try to get into things she's not supposed to like the filter intake tube.
Bubba is slower, basks every chance she gets. Pick her up and she goes into her shell and you have to hold her a bit before she comes out. Usually the turtle on the bottom. ( though she was riding around on Mikey the other day!)
Currently they are not in the best tank. I did get them out of the 5 and into a 10 within days. They will get a 55 when our local store does the $1/gal sale which is rumored to start soon.
The filter conked out on me so I am using the 5 gal filter til my aquaclear 110 comes.
They have repti glo 10.0 and a zilla 50w
A floating dock ( have I got ideas for a homemade one for the 55g!)
I had two large stones plus a hand full of river rock in (threw out the gravel that they came in) BUT bc of the filter conking out I took them out for now to make cleaning easier since I have to clean so often.
I have learned so much from this site already I can't wait to become more active and show my progress as a new RES owner!

Welcome to the forum! Michaelangelo sounds a bit big, so you might have to re-evaluate their diets. Petco has the $1 sale on going now, I think it ends Jan 25th. I think someone said that their local stores match the sales, sometimes with larger tanks.

Keep in mind that the 110 requires high water levels to stay primed... so you might need to factor that into the basking design you might have.

Thanks Steve!
Our local Petsmarts does not do the $1/gal sale and we dont have a Petco.
Thanks for bringing up the priming issue that was a question I was going to look into. Ive been looking into supplies to make my own above tank basking dock so I think Ill practice my design on this tank. It will be a learning process for sure!

oh and since Mikey is this size when I got him I only give them each 6 or 7 pellets a day. The container is almost gone so I think my nephew just dumped abunch in at a time when he had them and Mikey, being the aggressive feeder, ate most of it.

Congrats on your new turtles! I am new to turtles too. I look forward to seeing you completed basking dock.

Going to attempt to post pics of turtles now.

Awww what a cute turtle!

sorry too big! fixed it! Mikey:

[

Bubba:

Im putting my new tank set up and pics in the tank section

Bubba, that's such a cute name!

Thanks! She came named that way but I liked it so much I'm keeping it even if she is a girl!

I got a free 55gal tank yesterday! It needs some major cleaning so thats on the agenda this weekend. plus i have a stand coming for it next week so they should be in their bigger tank by next weekend! Im so excited! After I get the filter and heater for it Ill start saving for 125gal tank next. Progress progress progress. Ill post pics of the new basking area in the basking topic sometime this week. I hope to have it done before they move into the new tank.

sperez3 wrote:I got a free 55gal tank yesterday! It needs some major cleaning so thats on the agenda this weekend. plus i have a stand coming for it next week so they should be in their bigger tank by next weekend! Im so excited! After I get the filter and heater for it Ill start saving for 125gal tank next. Progress progress progress. Ill post pics of the new basking area in the basking topic sometime this week. I hope to have it done before they move into the new tank.

Nice, you cant beat free!

I was def grateful !!