General Care Discussion :: New RES owner

[cenobite]

Hello. My kids found a baby half dollar size RES in the road near our home. Strangley enough, we do not live near any body of water, so I do not know where it came from. Luckily, I had an old 10g aquarium, filter, water heater etc, and bought a few other things to set it up. So far, the RES seems happy, pretty active and eating normally. Based on a recommendation from a Petco employee (who happens to own severel RES) I have done the following:

Set up aquarium with turtle dock, large stones on the bottom and some ceramic ornaments / plants.
Filled up about 3/4 of the way full, enough for the filter and submersible heater to work.
The hood has one UVB/UVA Bulb on one side and one regular fish tank light bulb on the other.
I have been feeding it hatchling turtle pellets and small matchstick size pieces of carrots (both of which he seems to love).
The Petco employee said I do not need a heat lamp at this time, since I have a submersible water heater.

Any other suggestions on what I should do or change would be appreciated.

[ljapa]

You've come to the right place.

I would disagree with the petco advice. A turtle needs to fry it's shell and thermoregulate it's body temp both to digest and for general health. The UVB over the water is good, but UVB and heat over the basking area is ideal.

I too started with a wild RES. I've had her nearly two years and she is in great health, although I'm fighting retained scutes.

Check out the care section of the main site:

http://www.redearslider.com/index_basic_care.html

And all the other sections too.

Watch how much you are feeding your turtle. They will overeat, and that can cause issues. The general advice at his size is the amount of pellets that will fit in his head daily, or maybe slightly less. My experience is they go through growth spurts like toddlers, but unlike toddlers they will eat and eat and eat if allowed to.

One bit of advice I got here is to look at the flesh between the neck and the arms. If it's sunken in, you aren't feeding enough. If it's bulging, you are over feeding.

[cenobite]

Thanks for the advice. At this time, we cannot endure the expense of getting a screen top, heat light / lamp and another lamp for the UVB light. Is there another option for heat? I have the water temp close to 90 degrees. The aquarium light and UVB light are about 7" over his basking spot, and seem to be giving off a good amount of heat, but not sure if it is substantial enough. Should I leave him outside for some time during the day?

[steve]

You can use any standard incandescent bulb for heat. Water should be around 78-80F, the basking area could be 90F. Keeping them outside depends on what you put them in and if they need supervision.

[cenobite]

I have now since set up UVB and Incandescent for my RES. He seems to be basking a lot more now. Started feeding him Red and Romaine Lettuce as well. I noticed a slight oil like slick on the surface of my water. Is this harmful to my turtle? The tank and filter are all clean, so is there something I should do about this, or get an air stone of some sort?

Week 2 down for this new turtle owner, and so far, little Sherman seems to be thriving!

[steve]

Oil slick is probably from his waste and a lack of water surface agitation. What kind of filter do you have?

[cenobite]

I have the Tetra Whisper Internal Power Filter 20i.

[steve]

There's probably not a lot of water circulation, especially if it gets clogged quickly.