Habitat - Indoor :: Turtle Dock situation

[Jess+skittles]

hi,

skittles is being strange about his turtle dock. i have the large one to fit a 10 gal tank. while i have it stuck to the wall skittles like to get between the rails and the tank wall and undo the suction cups mostly on the bottom. one day i caught him on the top of the ramp, standing up on his back legs and undoing the top suction cups and then the raft proceeded to float away from the wall as if he was going surfing and i caught the whole thing!!! i get so pissed off cuz he keeps getting between the railings and the wall so i have to fix it all the time and he gets stuck as well but he always gets out. last night he seemed really stuck so i had to manuver him out and he didnt even budge. twice i have given him time outs by taking it out and ive tried packaging tape but he mostly likes to do it underneath the dock where the suction cups r hard and not able to stick very long *ya know when they get old and orangy and more like plastic than rubber*.. he does the same thing with the trees that u suction to the floor of the tank.. he hasnt undone them but has gone between the trees and the wall ( they r from those smaller docks that i tried but the raft part sank when i put him on it; he fit right between the trees and it was the biggest one the store had.. talk about cheap!!) any other ideas for a basking area??i dont like having to use alot of room cuz i want to give him alot of swimming area and i dont have much money either

for those of u who have the dock, how do u clean it ? i keep getting alge in the crevices on the slanted part. the pet store said i can use bleach... i dont think so!!! again i only use about 4 5 gal in my 10 gal tank so those alge eating tablets would be way too much and will hurt my turtle

thanks
Jessica

[steve]

Is it the Zoo Med turtle dock? The large one is too large to use in a 10 gallon. It sounds like its a hazard in addition to taking up valuable swimming space.

For cleaning, just use warm water and a new toothbrush to gently scrub it. Some people like to have a little bit of algae on it since it makes it look more natural.

[Jess+skittles]

oopps sorry its a small ( the size for 10 gallons)

[kmichael55]

If he is getting stuck behind the bars, you should remove the bottom suction cups altogether. This is very dangerous as he could drown.
Also you said that he is heavy enough to sink the smaller docks, how big is he? A 10 gallon is only suitable for a 1 inch hatchling.

[Jess+skittles]

the bottom suction cups cannot stick anyways and it doesnt bother him and he STILL goes b/w the bars and the wall. i removed one but havent removed the other one. he also likes to put his head b/w the back edge of the dock and the wall so i have to move it up a lil so he doesnt get stuck. he is about 3inches in diameter. i was able to measure him before he jumped back in hahaha. i will have to ask my bf about the bigger tank. he does have the room to swim.. he usually sticks to one part of the tank and basks on the dock i guess its time to get a new one but i want a different one so he wont get stuck like with this one. he almost take up the whole flat part spread out. my baby's growing up so fast

[Jess+skittles]

update on his size... ie hs 3 across but about 5 6 inches long.. i idnt realize he may be too big till i saw him stretched out and he takes up almost the whole area just for the flat part of the doc. he swims but likes to "keep going" by swimming against the wall. at least im not like my bfs mom who put a full grown res AND a 7inch long turtle in a 20 maybe 30 gal tank with big flat rocks piled up (almost taking up 1/3 of the room) and 5 inches of water above the gravel alone!! to make it worse, the big one likes to try to climb thru the filter hole on the side and that tank has a leak so she has them in a 10 gal tank for now my bf knows its too small but they just dont have the room .. btw their filter is worse than mine and gets dirty within the day (they just got this new one just like mine) i thought he said he had a bigger tank or maybe its really a 20 gal or somehow they r not using it(maybe i misjudged the size) but its still way too small just for the big one its skittles bday soon so i will see about a new tank/filter or set up a fund for him lol

[SpotsMama]

Yes, I'd say skittles is ready for a major upgrade. If he's 5" or 6" long, that means he should be in a 50 or 60 gallon tank! The tank being way too small is why it's been so hard to keep clean. Once you get a a right sized tank and filter you'll soon see how much easier your life is. It's much easier to maintain and large tank and filter than a small one, especially if the turtle is too big for the small one.

The reason it's easier to keep a big tank clean is that with more water the turtle waste is more diluted. This means the tank is cleaner, looks and smells better, and is healthier for the turtle. In addition, you can use a much better quality filter.

Your turtle will be much happier in a right sized tank. My guess is you'd see a change in his behavior right away.

Not to be mean or anything, but where your boyfriend's mom's turtles are concerned, if they really don't have space for a larger tank then they ought to give those turtles to someone who does. It's cruel to keep those turtles in such a tight little space, and there's no way they can keep the water clean. It's probably very unhealthy. Why don't you talk to him about it.

By the way, if getting a nice big 50 or 60 gallon glass aquarium is too expensive, did you know you can use a rubbermaid tub or stock tank for your turtles? They are very inexpensive and work very well. There are some photos on here of people with nice stock tank or rubbermaid setups.

[Jess+skittles]

in fact i did talk to him about the tank thing with his turtles and he knows but his mom has a "way" of understanding things which is not everything we think is the right thing to do.. kinda like her way or nothing and she s not gonna listen. i remember him saying they r looking for a big one but i will definately tell him to use a rubbermaid bucket. and i can tell u for a fact shes not gonna want to give them away she even got emotional about 3 ducks that they had to give back to the farm since they had to move back to the city.. i can understand about being attached but in reality she never did much of the work; my bf and his dad did and she treated them like cute babies and that was about it and only thing she will do for the turtles is feed them. so i do understand that ur not trying to be mean but i do agree with u and so would my bf if he had the choice.

whats a stock tank?

[N4784N R4613]

A stock tank is what allot of farmers use as a "water bowl" for there horses, or other live stock. You can get them at any hardware, or farm supply store. They come in all different sizes, and are cheap, compared to aquariums.

Here is a 100 gal. for $76...
http://www.1stqualitypetsupplies.com/49 ... map=490207

[SpotsMama]

N4784N...., you are right! I meant the livestock type!

There are pictures of setups on here using stock tanks. They can be made to look very attractive.

[Jess+skittles]

well.. i went to pet supplies plus today ... i settled on a 40 gal power filter from tetra for now. my mom does crafts so i went down to the basement to find a suitable container. i found one that has alot of area to it- my moms wreath box which holds a wreath as big as 27 inches in diameter. it's not as deep enough for the power filter tubing but i shortened it enough to fit (it came in parts). the filter seemed to lean back a lil and the sides of the box r not flat so i just used a couple of old cd cases to level it up. i was worried that skittles would get on the raft and climb out so i just kept it away from the sides. the suction cups railing for the turtle dock were not going to work so i used the trees lol. i only took off the plastic leaves so he wouldnt eat them. i used about 7 gal of water. i used some of the old water just enough so the holey part of the tube would be submerged. maybe tomorrow i can add more water to it. skittles seems to like it .. all he does is walk around like WOW lol stretching his neck out and peeking from underwater at me. he didnt dart like usual so i got to pet his shell a little. i also used almost a whole bag of 25lb bag of gravel.. id say about 3/4 of it. he even started walking around faster i guess to make sure he wasnt dreaming. i had to set it on a folding table so my dog wouldnt get into it.

i checked out the big tanks... the only thing i dont like about them is that they r made to be soooo long!! if it was more square ok fine but it seemed like it had the width of a 15 gal and the length is god knows what!! jeeze

25 lb bag of gravel: 12.95
tetra power filter 40 : about $32
5 gallons of water : 3.27
4 pack of filters:7.35
one happy turtle : priceless

[DavidY]

Ugh......you didn't say "gravel" did you? If it's the small gravel that will fit in the turtle's mouth, you need to pull it out of there. A lot of people here have lost their turtles because they kept eating the gravel until their stomaches were completely filled with it. It would clog up their digestive tract and they eventually died from not being able to feed. It was pretty heartbreaking to read about them going through it and finally watching their turtles die. Some of them got their turtles x-rayed at the vet and saw that their stomachs were bloated with the gravel. It was really sad.

[Tenodera]

I don't get it...In the wild they would have chances to eat TONS of gravel but no wild turtle has died from gravel eating, have they?

I don't have gravel in my tank. David is right, but I'm just curious

[SpotsMama]

You know Tenodera, several people have asked a similar question on here - which is why turtles would have evolved with a desire to eat gravel if it harms them? I don't know that we know the answer, but it's been speculated that turtles get bored in their tanks and eat more than they would in the wild, or maybe they tend to live in places where the surfaces are muddy rather than gravely, or maybe a lot of wild turtles actually do die of it in the wild.

All we can do is observe that indeed turtles in tanks are killed by it and warn people not to use it.

[Jess+skittles]

i have heard of turtles eating them but skittles never eats his gravel which took me by surprise. he is about 2 years old now and he just kicks it around with this back feet if hes swimming in one spot. he will only eat stuff that smells good and floats (food) but i do make sure none r floating. this set up is only temporary.