Habitat - Indoor :: help a clueless owner.

[ajk7986]

i have a 2 inch slider, and i've had him for 2 years and 2 months. i keep him in a 10 gallon tank, with the water level 2 inches from the top. i have a reptofilter, http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_ ... N=2#detail and a floating turtle dock. i keep the tank in front of the window for light. i feed him reptomin, and just recently i've started giving him a few guppies once a month. i use turtle clean, http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_ ... +clean&N=2

my questions are: is the reptofilter ok? is there a better filter that i can get? should i move him away from the window, and what kind of lamp should i get for him? that activeheat mvb? i'd prefer to get a uvb and heat lamp in one.
is there some sort of chemical i should put in the water because i fill his tank with tap water? should i keep using that turtle clean stuff? are there any other supplements i should add to his diet that are easy to obtain?
and do you have any more suggestions? i don't want to spend a crapload of money but i do have some to put towards turtle.

turtle's tank:


thanks for whatever help you can give me.

[oobie58]

yea its a good filter.

[oobie58]

do you have any lighting in there?

[kmichael55]

Well, it says the filter is for terrariums up to 20 gallons, Ideally you would want a filter rated 3x for the tank you have...if you have a 20 gallon tank, use a 60 gallon filter.

Do not keep the tank in front of the window. The glass filters out all the beneficial UVB rays that the turtle needs for a healthy shell, to metabolize calcium. It could also heat up very quickly from the heat and be dangerously hot. And you will probably get a lot of algae growth.

You need to move him away from the window, get one a heat lamp (regular household bulb will do) and direct it over the basking area. The temperature of the basking area needs to be 10 degrees higher than the water temp. You should get thermometers to measure this, you can't really judge by feeling it.

The water should be about 78 degrees for how small your turtle is. The basking area should be about 88-90.

You will also need a UVB bulb above the basking area, for those beneficial rays I was talking about earlier. If it does not say UVB on the box (at least 5%) do not buy it.

These lights should be on for 12 hrs a day, off 12 hrs a day.

The MVB (mercury vapor bulb) is a good option if you want to use only one light, but you can only use it for a tank that is over 50 gallons. It looks like you have a 20 gallon, so for now I would stick to the two bulb setup.

There are water dechlorinators, AquaSafe or ReptiSafe, that you put about 5mL per 10 gallons of water in to the tap water after you fill the tank to remove the chlorine, it can hurt the turtle's eyes and burn his skin.

I don't know anything about Turtle Clean...but for supplements I would suggest just feeding a balanced diet of pellets and veggies/aquatic plants...any powder supplement will just wash off in the water.

Also you should consider a few fake or real plants, floating ones are fine, so that he has somewhere to rest on.

[megcornell]

Something's a little off if you've had that turtle 2 years + and he hasn't grown. He should be 4-5 inches at least. How much do you feed him? You should be supplementing his diet with veggies and the occasional guppies or shrimp as treats. I don't know much about the turtlesafe product, so I can't help you there. What you need to buy are thermometers (both for water and basking area), a water heater (those are cheap 10-$25), and basking lamps (both UVA- a household bulb, and UVB which you can find in petstores and online). The tank shouldn't be in front of a window because the sunlight can drastically affect the water temperature. As for the filter, it never hurts to have a better one, but you should really put your turtle money towards lighting and heating as those are more important at the moment.

[Safdar]

Im conserned for parasites
Since its been 2 years and he hasnt grown and you feed him live food
Which has a small risk of parasites (depending on what type of environment they came from)

The filter is fine, But if you plan on upgrading, then get one for a big tank
So that if your going to get a bigger tank you wont need to buy a new filter

For the light question- The window is made to block out any uv ray so it wont benfit your turtle

A MVB bulb will be a little too strong for a 10 gallon
I recomend you get a compact fluroecent bulb for the UVB rays
And i regualar House bulb for the basking light
Dont buy those espensive clamp lamps at petsmart and stuff
You can easily get a regular clamp lamp at lowes or home depot for around 7-8 bucks

For the water condition- Use a water conditioner to get rid of the amnomia, only use it when you do water changes.

[untsmurf]

The lack of growth is probably attributed to the lack of UV light. Your window panes are made to block all that out. If you add a uv light and a heat lamp for basking, your turtle will do much better. Direct both of these lights at the basking spot. And it isn't really a good idea to keep the tank in front of the window, it will promote the growth of algae and bacteria.

[RunninWideOpen]

I think all your questions can be answered by the main site, Redearslider.com . It's got all the info you need for habtitat requirements, feeding, etc.... It's packed with info.

[Safdar]

I agree just look through the site and all its topics
Then if your confused and need more help
We're always here

[ajk7986]

i have read through the site and all the topics. i was looking specifically for brand names, of exactly what kind of lights i should go out and get. also if the filter was sufficient for a 10 gallon tank.

[ajk7986]

i also wanted to confirm that all i was missing was a heat and uvb lamp to have a proper habitat for turtle.

[RunninWideOpen]

I like the exoterra UVB 5.0 coil bulbs. I'm also using a Reptiglo UVB 5.0 tube on one of my setups.

I don't feel brand is particularly important, as long as it has a specific UVb rating and doesn't just say full spectrum. I would stick with UVb 5.0 or 8.0. Some people have experienced eye problems with the 10.0 bulbs.

I've heard that those turtle filters are nearly worthless, but i've never had one. The smaller the tank you have the harder your filter has to work. The rule of thumb for filters is that it's rated at least twice the capacity of the tank for turtles, but that's all based on the rule that you have 10 gallons per inch of turtle. If you have less water, the filter has to work even harder.