Habitat - Indoor

Well i was wondering if keeping my turtle :mrgreen:

in a 20 gallon long tank that i had custom made for me wrong.
I started thinking about this issue after reading in the care sheet about the 10 gallon per inch rule......which means i should be keeping mine at least a 40 gallon.
just wondering guys, how long more do you think i can keep my turtle in a 20 gallon?
He seems pretty small in his tank so far, and has lots of swimming space :wink:

You are going to need a bigger tank anyway because that baby isnt done growing! Depending on if he is a boy or a girl.. you may end up with a 10 - 12 inch turtle! Until you can get a bigger tank, you should build an above tank basking area so that he can have as much room as possible

I am in the same position as you, i.love.res, and I only have a 14 gallon tank (10 gallons of water). My Res seems comfortable, she swims nice, but I am already preparing for the turtle topper (see here). And we also need a lamp on top of it... :mrgreen:

Thats way to expensive in my opinion..then again, I love DIY projects

. You can make an ATBA for next to nothing (and no power tools even). I have been through every page of the basking area picture thread like 17 times haha. Heck you could probably get a bigger tank off of Craiglist for the price of that topper! As for the lights, Walmart has the lamps pretty cheap..the petstore will sell you the same thing with a HUGE markup. The heat lamp is just a regular light bulb..you can use any lamp for that. I have one in a regular floor lamp pointing at my plant tank until I can by the clamp on haha. The other light you need is ..$7? I think? You may get lucky on Craigslist. A lot of times, when they sell the tank, they will include the filters, heaters, ect.

You'll know soon if your turtle is male or female. Keep in mind, females will be larger than males and require more space.

sflemin2 wrote:Thats way to expensive in my opinion..then again, I love DIY projects

sflemin2, knowing myself, I'll spend way more in DIY than buying the turtle topper.... :oops:

Moreover, I can't use Craiglist, since I live in Greece - actually there is a Craiglist here, to my astonishment, but there is nothing in there for animals, let alone turtles...

Well, i'm pretty sure my turtles a male since i often see him fluttering and trying to hump the rock in his tank XD
One more thing, my tank currently has rims at the sides, and so i was wondering, will clipping the exo terra glow reflector to the rim cause the tank to have any problems? the clip is really strong, and it presses down hard, i am just afraid that it might cause the rim to crack or break or some thing 0.o

Marboo, egg crate (in the lighting section) is super cheap. I am in the process of building an ATBA with it right now..heres a shot (It is no where near finished!!! I will post a build thread.. but anyway this is egg crate).

I have enough from one sheet of egg crate to do the whole basking area for a 150 gallon tank. One sheet is $10. You can make the entire thing out of it if you want. I like how people use a piece of tile and just set it in the lip of the rim of the tank..I think it looks really nice. A piece of tile is less than a $1

i.love.res, thats what the clip is for..it should be fine

If you are concerned though, I have seen a couple of different ways to hang the light. Someone on here had the idea of getting a plant hanger to screw in the wall and hanging it from there (which I did with my last tank!)

Thanks for the suggestion, i'm just worried the tank might crack and i'll end up having a flooded room XD

i.love.res wrote:Thanks for the suggestion, i'm just worried the tank might crack and i'll end up having a flooded room XD

Do not read this viewtopic.php?f=6&t=29488

I have my Ranger which is 4 inches in a 40 gallon. It doesn't seem too small for him at all. I recently had him in a 20 gallon which did seem small for him but didn't really affect him.

LOL Steve!!!

Ranger, 4 inches in 40 follows the 10 gall per inch of shell.. but he will grow!

Yeah I know, 40 gallons was the biggest I could put in my upstairs room. I'm going to build him a outdoor pond when he gets a little bigger then 5 inches.

He is going to love that! You have plenty of time

Habitat - Indoor :: I keep my 3.5 inch turtle in a 20 gallon long D:

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