Habitat - Indoor :: I am about to BUY my first turtle, but I have questions...

[Mr Helton]

Hi, this is my first post.

Anyway, my wife found a baby painted turtle next to its dead mother. The baby only has 3 legs. We got a tank and have kept it for the last few weeks.

During this time, I have gotten hooked on the idea of more turtles, so I went to the petshop today to look around. I think the one that interests me most is the Red Ear Slider, which is how I found this place.

The guy at the petshop says that I need a breeder tank with a width of 18 inches for my turtles, but I won't have the room for something like that for a few months or so. If I were to get a turtle, will a 29 gallon tank be big enough for it for the first few months? The turtle in question is about 5 inches long.

Will it be a problem to put the baby turtle in with the bigger one? What if I throw some minnows in as well?

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please tell me anything you wish you would have known prior to buying your first turtle.

Thanks

[Skadica]

Welcome to the forum.

For the first 90 days you want to keep the turtles in separate tanks, in case one is sick it will not get the other sick.

I am glad to her you saved a 3 leg baby. How big is it?

You would want to have about 10g of water for every 1in. of shell. Minnows would be fine. the Red Eared Slider (RES) will grow to be about 4in. within the 1st year.

I would laugh if this is but I have a neighbor with the last name Helton.

But a 29g tank should be ok for now.

[Mr Helton]

Thanks for the quick reply! I live in Wolverine Lake, MI btw

Anyway, the turtle I am going to buy is already 5 inches or so, and the baby painted turtle is maybe 1.5 inches. As for the 10 gallons per inch, I read all that and plan to move to a 55 or 75 gallon tank asap but I need to get rid of some things in my living room first.

I think I'm gonna have to pick up another aquarium anyway because I don't have anything for the little guy during the 70 or so more days he needs to be alone. Well, nothing but a 10 gallon tank, but I'm sure thats too small even for the little guy.

I think I'm gonna go to the shop and pick up the turtle and another 29 gallon tank until I can get more room. I can always make that extra tank into another fish tank when I am ready to put the turtles together. That will be 4 fish tanks, lol!

[megcornell]

Hello!
It's great you're researching before buying...many people buy and then realize what they've gotten themselves into afterwards.
It's not advisable to house two turtles together in your situation. The first reason is disease... you don't want any illness passing from the new turtle to the old and vice versa... so you'd have to do an initial quarantine for 90 days. Secondly, your painted turtle is handicapped, and can easily fall prey to red ear bullying... RES can be aggressive and you don't want any injuries to either turtle. The third reason is the size difference. Even if the larger RES didn't mean to he could easily kill or injure the hatchling painted.
If you're thinking of getting a RES to be a companion to the painted, that's not necessary, turtles are solitary animals and actually prefer to be solo... it gives them more room, prevents males from pestering females to mate constantly, and eliminates aggression-- which can be a common problem in multiple turtle tanks. Any time you have two turtles theres always a good chance you'll eventually need two set ups which is not only costly but space consuming... not many people plan on having two 75 gallon aquariums in their houses.
The 29 gallon is already too small for a 5 inch turtle unfortunately, it would be passable but not ideal, you'd be better to buy a larger tank.
If I were you, I'd focus on the three legged turtle for now, see how turtle care goes, and then in a few months (use the time to clear out room for a larger tank ) see if you want another turtle. I know when I first got my hatchling, I thought it was so cute I wished I'd purchased a pair... but in retrospect it's been perfect having just Leo, she likes her space and I like how much cheaper one turtle is than two

[Blue Flamingo]

Yes, I agree with megcornell. Wait a few months a see. Definitely don’t put them together. Not only would the bigger one pick on the smaller one but it would also eat all the food and your little guy would suffer because of that.

Has the little map turtle healed up yet, if not you should treat the wound, see a vet, or something.
Good Luck

[DavidY]

I also have to agree with Meg. Your little painted turtle alone will provide you with years of enjoyment (and will take plenty of your time and $$ to care for ). It will grow to up to 10 inches long which alone will require a 100gallon tank. Adding more turtles can be fun and interesting but you need to be prepared to be able to provide each turtle with its own adequately sized tank incase they don't get along (which does happen). Also putting a 1.5" baby with a 5" adult is definitely not a good idea since the bigger turtle could easily kill the little one. My suggestion would be to just enjoy the little painted turtle you've rescued now and put off on getting another turtle until after it has reached a more mature size (4" to 5"). Then make the decision if you are ready to take on another one.

[Pluckt007]

hey i want to see a pic. of the 3 legged turtle!

[Mr Helton]

I have some pictures for you guys

http://yourmomatron.com/imageview/image ... le%201.jpg
http://yourmomatron.com/imageview/image ... le%202.jpg
http://yourmomatron.com/imageview/image ... le%203.jpg



Anyway, I'm gonna take the advice given and just keep the one I have for now, and see how that goes. I decided to make a Vivarium to keep myself busy for the next few months instead.

Thanks for the advice!

[megcornell]

He's a cutie. You may want to buy a floating dock... not only will it give him more space in the tank, but it may be easier to get on and will definitely be less rough on his shell. Brick is pretty abrasive and can damage the plastron.

[Mr Helton]

Oh really? I just assumed their stomachs were somewhat like their top shells. I'll go pick one up now and get that brick below the water ASAP

[megcornell]

Their shells are very resistant, but can get scratched pretty easily, and shell damage is pretty hard, if not impossible to reverse. Feel free to put the brick back in, but you can also opt for some fake plants or something smaller like a few river rocks because turtles like to move things around and dig around them, it gives them something to do

[marisa]

What a little cutie! I'm glad you're opting to keep just him. Animals can sense when one is "different" and can bully or become agressive towards the weaker one. And RES tend to be more agressive than painteds, even under normal circumstances.

Your little one should do just fine. Keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't have difficulty getting on the basking area. Make sure it's very easy for him to get on.