Hello.
New member. Have had turtles for 4 years. How it happened...
We put an outside pond in our yard, about 3000 gallons, in 2010. Thought it'd be nice to put some turtles in. Off to PetSmart and got 2 turtles. They did ok in the pond then we did a little research. They wouldn't survive outside during the winter in our climate, WI. There was this slight moral dilemma that new res owners go through. Let nature take its course or bring them in. So we went through an endless progression of aquariums and filters. We also had 10 Comet goldfish. Little crap machines. Anyway, the final setup was a 300 gallon poly stock tank, uva/uvb lamp, heat lamp, basking rock, plastic roof for the pond to keep heat and humidity in, 1000 gph pump, Hayward pool filter, worm farm, truckload of cuttle bones, Kale garden, etc. We put the turtles in the outside pond for the summer and the inside pond for the winter. After checking the outside pond temps in the summer, high 60's at best, we decided to keep the turtles inside all year. We had a male and a female. Last winter the male developed some issues and he made a one way trip to the vet. So now we just have the female.
The tank is developing a crack the length of the tank all along the bottom. I know the options for repairs and have decided to build a new enclosure with a different tank using most of the old equipment and designing this one to be more user friendly for us and the turtle. I'll be keeping the same 4x8' footprint. So here is where I compound folly. As long as we have a tank and one turtle, why not get another one to keep our girl company? Is this a good idea? We don't want another male res. What would be a good companion?
Thanks.
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