Habitat - Indoor :: water question

[bubblestheturtle]

my turtles are usually at my boyfriends house but sometimes we move the tank to my house when he is out of town or for other reasons for about a week at a time. my concern about the water is that we both use water from the tap/hose at our house to fill the tank, and then put the right amount of water cond. in it. we get water from differnt places so is the sudden change in water bad for the turtles? i dont know if our water contains more or less of anything in it.

i was wondering if useing distilled water to fill the tank was ok? this would eliminate the possibility of having a change in water when we move the tank from one house to another. the tank is small so filling the tank with gallons od distilled would probably be eaiser then with tap.

[marisa]

I wouldn't used distilled water---it lacks electrolytes and minerals your turtles need. Tap water, with a dechlorinator/conditioner should be fine. I don't think the change in tap water is going to affect them negatively, especially for such a short time. But, rather than moving the turtles to your place when your boyfriend's out of town and then having to move them back again, could the turtle's just stay at your boyfriends and come into check on them when he's out of town? If they have a good set-up, you wouldn't even have to check on them every day...

[bubblestheturtle]

i could do that, however, they are hatchlings and need to be fed every day. his house has an alarm and is 15 min away. i could technically drive there every day and feed them while he is gone. (im at his house while he is there practically every day anyway), but as long as they are in a small set up and are hatchlings, its easier to move them around. but when they get bigger, and have a huge set up and all, they will def. stay at his house.

[steve]

Tap water is fine, but use cold tap water instead of warm tap water. While your turtle is out of the tank, use the water heaters to warm up the water. In the past, I've used some boiling hot water to help it warm up faster. For a smaller tank, I would have water heaters in a separate rubbermaid container the night before.

www.redearslider.com/water_quality_issues.html

[bubblestheturtle]

ok thanks for the advice