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This is my first turtle its a res I have had it about 3 months I believe it's about 6 months old and about 21/4" Shell. It's in a 20 gal tank with lil basking log. I have a uvb bulb 13w it's a really good one and a nice basking bulb 75w both highly recommended by the girl at pet smart he gets about 10-12hrs of light a day. I have a submersible filter with water aerator its a 165gph it helps keep the water from being clouded but the tank floor is usually messed up by day 7 which I heard turtles are quite messy so I clean the tank every week. His diet consists of 3 reptomin pellets in the morning and 7-8 (appox the size of his head) or just less because I like to add some 3-4 mealworms everynight. On occasion I'll throw in a live cricket. I have also thrown in some carrots kale romaine etc he just pecks at the veggies but seems not interested which I also read is normal.. I also feed him cuddle bone she'll removed twice a week he likes those... One question I have is when can I throw in a lil guppy fish for him to eat and should I just buy the fish 1 or 2 at a time from pet smart? I have a good water heater and it keeps it at 78 degrees and its 95 degrees in his basking area.... Am I doing it right? I really like this turtle and want to keep him around any and all suggestions are welcomed and appreciated...

My first post title "how am I doing" I said there would be pics but had trouble before approving the post see if you can put these pics in the post or approve the post and I'll add the pics and delete this post.. Thank you much

I merged your topics.

I'd skip the mealworms. Though he's not getting a lot of pellets, he does look like he's growing fast. You can do the guppy thing... it's not necessary but it should be fine.

Welcome to the site!

Thank you Steve and thanks for having me on the site.. So 86 the worms and should I do "a head sized" amount 7-8-9 pellets in the morning AND evening? And maybe instead or a few live crickets a week 1-2 guppies a week? And should I buy guppies from pet smart? I heard of some fish having parasites I feel if I buy from a big chain store I may get better quality? I hate to sound so ignorant but I've grown attached to this this guy and hopefully I'll learn quick and I will have him awhile... I do read a lot on the site I've got a handle on things just looking to critique my care... So everything else I mentioned seemed up to snuff so far?

Welcome to the group. We are new to turtle ownership as well, we have a little midland painted turtle, I don't think he's quite as big as yours. You didn't say what you named your turtle. I like your tank it looks nice and also interesting for your turtle.

We have been putting small pieces of lettuce in our tank every couple of days, he doesn't appear to eat it yet, but I figure when he needs the nutrients he will finally try it. He also has eaten a couple tiny earthworms. I only give him one once a week and he had a tiny piece of Turkey yesterday. I also offered him one Kernal of frozen corn the other day. So far he eats everything cept the lettuce and shredded carrot I have been trying to get him to eat. I know that our babies shouldn't eat to much so I just offer tiny pieces just so it gets introduced to him and hopefully he won't turn out to be a picky eater.. So far that hasn't been a problem..lol Even gave him a small piece of banana.. but that I won't offer often.. too much sugar and I don't imagine turtles get that much fruit in the wild..lol

I want to introduce feeder fish as well, but I think we will just put one in and see how he does. I don't wanna have to go all out with buying fish food and things you need to keep fish alive..Hopefully one he can catch and give him something interesting to do in the tank.

I got the turtle from a captive breeder here in jersey he's a good friend of mine gave it to my 4yo son. I asked him what should we name him? He said turtle, I said you can't name your turtle turtle. He said ok turtlely so we named our turtle turtlely. He's extremely active seems to be quite happy and begs like crazy I had no idea turtles begged for food it's hilarious!!!

Haha yeah,, They are crazy beggers,, gotta have strong fortitude not to overfeed.. I can't wait till ours eats vegies so I can at least offer that if the begging gets to me..lol

Our original reason for getting interested in Turtles, was where we moved too the park manager said people would feed the wild turtles in the pond outside our house pond pellets. So we decided to give it a try.. That is all she wrote, we got hooked on our wild friends, can't say we saw the same begging behaviour we see from our pet captive turtle.. But those turtles got to the point when it was feeding time, they would all line up on the bank and a couple would head up hill towards our door, checking to see if we were coming out yet.. Our ponds would flood often and I always joked one day MOmma is gonna come knock on our door for feeding time.. haha

We hope one day to hopefully be able to replicate the pond on a small scale, We would love to have a RES and a Florida Red Belly one day. But for now its just gonna be Phil..lol

For pellets or the protein portion of his diet, I'd keep it 1/3 or less per day. Try feeding consistent amounts and times. They will get use to the routine. I prefer to use some veggies in the morning and some pellets at night.

Looks like your doing a great job. Nice clear water and good looking tank and turtle.

Thank you for your replies like a lot of people I'm sure I'm just worried I'm not under or over feeding him I've done a ton of reading and I believe I have it down I've cut back on protein and added a lil more pellets at night and might throw him a guppy here and there

Hi, Maxtegroom,

I'm pretty new to this community myself - I hope it is as much help to you as it has been to me.

One thing I noticed about your set-up (which is pretty good already, btw) is your filter. I didn't learn about filters until way late in the game, and so I thought I'd pass on some info to you while you're just getting started.

I thought it was a lot to digest myself, so I'll just drop some stuff here to start your reading. Here are some helpful links:

Types of filtration
Your current filter is handling the "chemical" part of the filtration, and is doing an OK-ish job at the "mechanical", but is not helping a lot with the "biological". A canister filter (I have Eheim 2215s in my tanks, for example) are best for turtle tanks.

Water parameters
A quick cheat sheet about the parameters you should be measuring in your water

API Test Kit
How to measure said parameters

Pretty sure there are more reading resources on this topic too right here on this forum, if you browse around.

Regards,

Lol, you are not the only one. I got my first turtle 16 years ago, and it wasn't until 2013 that we (my fiance, now wife) named him. He was "Turtle" up until that point.

Maxtegroom wrote:I got the turtle from a captive breeder here in jersey he's a good friend of mine gave it to my 4yo son. I asked him what should we name him? He said turtle, I said you can't name your turtle turtle. He said ok turtlely so we named our turtle turtlely. He's extremely active seems to be quite happy and begs like crazy I had no idea turtles begged for food it's hilarious!!!

I just fed him his first guppy which lasted all of ten minutes!! I also got cuddly bone which he loves. How much bone and how often are we feeding cuddle bone to them?

I feed mine chunks a few times a week. Dont forget to remove the hard backing. Also buy bird cuttlebone its cheaper than the turtle cuttlebone.

Thanks that's pretty much what I've been doing. And bird bone is WAY cheaper!! I didn't realize it was so large either I do just break off little pieces... So turtley kept eating feeder fish and my son got upset so I bought him a beta named tomtom