redearslider.com

Hi!
I found this site while looking for RES information. It is an awesome site, and by far my favorite of the bunch.
I purchased two baby red eared slider turtles at the beginning of May. Unfortunatly, I haven't named them yet! I have no clue if they are males or females, and I have too many names I like...I can't choose between them. Eventually, I will pick names though. One of my turtles has much darker skin and bold dark lines on his shell, while my other has finer lighter lines on his shell, and much lighter skin. I was thinking of naming the darker one Darcy(it means dark one) and the lighter one Dwight(which means light, or fair one) We'll see. I am also going to post some pictures of them as soon as I am able.

As for me, I have always loved turtles, so I was thrilled to finally get my own. I have my 55 gallon(long tank) set up in my room, with a heater, thermometer, and lots of fresh green plants. I also have part of the tank piled with aquarium gravel so they can get out, plus a peice of driftwood for them to climb on(they prefer the floating wood) They seem to love their home, they swim around, and watch me curiously when I am in the room. A couple times they mistaked my fingers for a large tasty worm....

I have many interests....I love to cook, sew, embroider, dance, swim, crochet, knit, draw, write, read, and make paperdolls! I also collect paperdolls. I love squirrels, and so I have a huge collection of squirrely sort of things. I have two cats, two red eared slider turtles, and lots of crickets(for my turtles to eat) I am the fifth of 9 kids. One of my brothers owned a painted turtle at one point(some of his friends recieved the turtle as a gift, and they didn't want it) My brother took the turtle, and cared for him, until he sneaked out of the pond and ran away! We are all still upset about it, because he was a perfectly wonderful turtle(his name was Waddle)

Well, there is a little about me, and what I like to do(and about my darling turtles)
I hope to get pictures of my turtles soon so I can post them.

God bless, Maplesquirrel

Hi and welcome. Looking forward to pics of your turts.

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you're off to a good start. One thing you should do as soon as you can is to get rid of the gravel in the tank. If you don't already have one, get a basking area that floats or is above water that the turtles can climb onto and basking under the basking light and UVB lights. Gravel could be ingested and they can become impacted from eating it if it doesn't pass. This causes a lot of damage and an extremely high vet bill if you have to take them.

Welcome! It sounds like you have several interesting and neat hobbies...how do you find the time to keep up with everything?

I'm an only child, and I could never imagine having that many brothers and sisters...but then I don't share very well either and it wouldn't be pretty to see. lol

I second the opinion on the gravel. Aside from the damage it can do if eaten, it's dirty. When I took my gravel out, I moved it to my breeder tank with fish and snails, it didn't last a year in there because it never got clean. It'll be better in the long run!

Good news! I re-set up my whole terrarium today. Thanks for the advise about the gravel. I totally got rid of every crumb of gravel. I only have polished pebbles(too big for them to eat) and bigger rocks. I also put in an archway rock. I now have three peices of driftwood on top, and a plastic platform for them to get up onto. I put in more then twice the water I had(I didn't have very much) So they have a lot more room to swim around now. The tank looks brighter and happier already. Thanks again for the advice!

All those hobbies I mentioned are things I have learned to do, or have been doing all my life. I just work on them at different times. Sometimes I don't do some of my hobbies for several months, or even years, and then I will pick it up again. I am crafty though, I love to work with my hands...And my imagination! I love having lots of siblings(6 brothers and 2 sisters) Though it can get obnoxious, and messy at times.