Habitat - Indoor :: Help? College student who got a surprise Christmas gift.

[Aliokona]

Hi, I'm a freshman in college. I've been reading through this site for the past week, and it's obvious that RES turtles are adorable, but a HUGE investment, what with tanks and heaters and filters and whatnot. My roommate didn't think about this when she bought me two hatchlings (Pinky and the Brain) from Chinatown for Christmas. She also wasn't aware that this is illegal.

That said, I want to keep the turtles alive, but I don't really know what to do. I already have a ten gallon tank with about four inches of water and some gravel at one end with a heating lamp. Only from going through this website, that doesn't seem like enough. And it's probably stressful for them that I have to move them to clean the water every other day. I can't really afford to buy more for them than I already have - like underwater heaters, thermometers, filters, etc., and I've also heard that the turtles you buy from Chinatown don't live very long. I don't want to make a huge investment and then have them die.. and have turtle equipment but no turtles.

So, I guess here are my questions:
1) Should I make the water deeper and get a filter?
2) Should I get a rock for them to bask on at one end instead of gravel, so it's easier to clean?
3) One of them already has swollen eyes and has stopped eating (I'm going to Petco to look for antibiotic drops today).. I boil tap water and use that in the tank. Should I test the water, or clean it more often..?
4) Is the reason that Chinatown turtles don't live very long because of the way they were initially raised or because too many people who buy them don't know how to properly take care of them?
5) General advice..?

Any help at all would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.

[BullDog]

1) Yes and yes, Res are aquatic turtles and they love to swim, so the more water the better. For younger turts, you can get some fake plants for them to rest on if they're tired of swimming. Also, a filter is a must. For a small tank, a half decent filter shouldn't be more than $20-30. You should get a filter that's rated for 3x your tank size. For your 10 gal, get a filter that is good for at least 30 gal.

2) Yes, you should remove all of the gravel. You can get a zoo-med turtle dock, which suctions to the side of your tank and the dock floats. If you're crafty, you can build your own basking dock, just browse the photo gallery for ideas.

Also, don't forget you need a uvb light.

3) I personally don't have much experience with swollen eyes, so I would suggest waiting for someone else to respond, but the water does need to be kept clean. If one is sick, you should consider separating them, so the other one doesn't get sick as well. A lot of people test the water for ammonia and nitrate. When you first change the water, in the first week to the first month the amonia levels will be high. They can be kept down by doing partial water changes. As the tank gets established, nitrate levels will rise, which also can be brought down with partial water changes.

4) I think the reason not many chinatown turtles survive is because the people who buy them have very little information on them, or are given incorrect information. They are also usually kept in sub-optimal conditions in the store... However, I've learned from this site that hatchlings do have a low rate of survival, and that may be just the way it is.

5)
10 gallons is pretty small, even for two hatchlings. The cheapest option to provide a more spacy habitat would be a rubbermaid storage container. I've seen the 40 gal containers for only $15. Checkout craigslist.org. You can find great deals on tanks and even filters. However, living on the dorm your space is probably limited. There's several people on this site who are also living in dorms, and they've been able to provide good habitats for their turts.

Browse the forum and site, and use the search option to find some cheap ways to provide an amazing habitat for your new green pooping machines ^_^

[missibsu]

Be sure to check out the main site, www.redearslider.com for additonal great info.

I think that many illegal turtles don't survive because people don't know how to care for them. On the other hand, there are people who get turtles and take care of them and they still don't make it. We have some of those people on this site. Many illegal sellers don't care about the conditions that the turtles are kept in, and many are purchased when they are already sick.

The other advice that I would offer, don't go cheap and plan ahead. I thought I would start small, but two turtles means double the growth in twice the time. I wasted a lot of money buying things that were quickly outgrown. I also wasted money on the cheaper filters and the cheaper heaters, then I had to replace all of that within a year. Plan ahead and save yourself a few bucks. The rubbermaid is a great way to go until you decide what you want and how you want it.

[spot_skater]

Hey there.

Just to give you an idea on prices of stuff, I got my filter (a duetto with two sponge elements and carbon pellet filtration) for around $25 at a local pet store. The tank I got for $12 in the Bronx... I think it's a 20 gal, but I could be wrong. A stealth 25w water heater for $25 from petco, and I use a regular 60w light bulb to give my turtle some light. I also have a Zoo Med heat lamp ($25?), that emits no light, for his basking area, which has been working fine for me, and is guaranteed for like five years or something.

For basking, I went to the local Lowe's and built something. I think it cost me a total of $12, and a few hours of my time. Granted I had some power tools to play with, but it all worked out.

With that said $12+$25+$25+$25 = $87. And Jamal was $5, in Chinatown, as well. It's been six months since I got him, and he's doubled in size, and has not had any health problems and is still very active.

I also use Reptisafe and TurtleClean for his water changes and tank cleaning, which are about every 3 weeks. Sometimes less time.

Also... I had two turtles at one time. Jamal and Pedro. Jamal basically wouldn't let Pedro eat, so I gave him to my now ex-girlfriend to take care of. Make sure that both of them eat and stay healthy, and that one doesn't dominate the other!

Just get creative, and everything should be just fine.



James

[Hoooneylynn]

The best thing to do is get rid of all the gravel. It can be ingested and your turt can die if they cannot pass it. I recommend some river rocks that are bigger than your turts head, but your tank is already too small for two turts so you may not want to crowd what little space they have. Good luck!

[SpotsMama]

Regarding your little turtle with swollen eyes and poor appetite - these are symptoms of a very serious (and unfortunately common) respiratory infection (RI). Would you say your turtle is lathargic (low energy level)? Does he sneeze, or swim lopsided? If he/she has an RI, you'll have to get him/her to a herp vet - someone who knows about turtles and can treat them. Also, if one of them is sick and the other isn't, you need to separate them as the disease is contageous.

The turtles in Chinatown are often kept in dirty water, have poor diets and are way overcrowded. Little turtles are rather delicate to begin with, and these substandard conditions mean a lot of them get sick and don't make it. Sometimes the symptoms of their illnesses don't show up until after someone has bought them and taken them home.

It's very important to keep the water clean and warm and make sure the hatchlings have a good diet and habitat to give them the best chance of survival.

[Aliokona]

Thanks so much to everybody who's posted, this helps a lot.

As for the sick turtle, he(she?)'s definitely lathargic and has started doing this thing where it opens it's mouth every so often, and one of it's legs twitches back. Like it's trying to breathe through it's mouth maybe? I have no idea. I separated them this morning. My mom doesn't like the idea of taking it to the vet - she doesn't really like them in the first place and thinks it's going to die anyway. I'll see what I can do though.

Thanks again, this has been a great help!

[Muirner]

warmer water conditions, increased basking temperatures, (only go up at most 2 degrees on each). Make sure he/she is eating. Maybe zoo med eye drops if the eyes are swollen.

[Aliokona]

The swollen eyes are getting better, sometimes the turtle can open them now, but still doesn't really move during the day and refuses to eat. Still seems like it has to breathe through its mouth and not its nose. So maybe it can't smell the food?
Is there such thing a a turtle flu?

[SpotsMama]

RI is kind of like turtle flu - or pneumonia. The only way to deal with it, I'm afraid, is a trip to a good vet.

[Aliokona]

Couldn't convince my parents to make a trip to the vet. This morning Brain the Turtle passed away to the giant turtle pond in the sky.

Pinky's doing well in his revamped home though. Thanks to everyone who helped and commented on this thread