Habitat - Indoor :: Should I take on a new turtle who is in need?

[GoGoCharlie]

I have a 120 gal tank (filled to 87) with a 1 and a half year old female (as far as we know) RES in it.

I recently was visiting relatives and found out they have a female RES as well. When i asked to see it i was shocked to see a turtle at least 2 inches larger then mine crammed into a 15 gal tank with a crappy filter, no dock, no light, and way too much food.

This thing just floated there in this cube tank half asleep. It didnt even react to a large group of people entering the room. I need to get this turtle outta that tank.

Im gonna try to offer to take it of thier hands for them but my primary concern is my current turtle. She is a bit smaller then the other turtle and while that turtle is fat and lazy, i fear it may try to harm mine.

Im also concerned that the filter and tank might not be adequate enough. My current filter is likely the bare minimum I could feel comforable with and I need to clean its sponges twice a week. My apartments power grid (fuses) couldnt take another internal filter running and i dont have room for an external filter.

I try to make up for it by filtering as naturally as possable. ghost shrimp, water addatives, and other fish to break up the waste. Duckweed and this odd tumbleweed looking green plant in the rocks to remove amonia and nitrates.

I know i would need a new dock, but would the size of the tank be adequate? No doubt the turtles will be a bit cramped, but that poor turtle needs to be out of its current tank ASAP.

Its bad enough that its kept in the smaller childrens bedroom...

[BullDog]

If you do decide to take this RES in, you should quarantine it for at least 90 days. Since it's been in less than favourable conditions, it could have illnesses that might not be showing themselves right now, and you don't want your current RES to get sick.

You could set it up in a large rubbermaid container with filter, heater, basking area, all the essentials, for the quarantine period. After that, you could try introducing it to your current turtle. *IF* they got along (and you'd have to watch them closely for the first little while), the tank would be OK for the two of them at least for a few years. If your filter is just the bare minimum though, I think you'd want to up your filtration. Even a couple extra hang on tank (HOT) filters would help.

[steve]

How big is your turtle now? You can also try to rehome it if it doesn't work out... seems like a temporary setup from you would be decidedly better than what she has now.

[GoGoCharlie]

I measured her a day ago. her shell is about 7 inches from end to end

[papoopeepoo]

You sound like you have the right ideas in mind when considering taking the turtle in, so just weigh your pros and cons. Definitely follow BullDog's directions about a quarantine tank, and be prepared to have them in permanent separate tanks.

Are you sure about your apartment's power load? Do you really have an unsafe amount of items plugged into each and every outlet? If not, then you may be fine. For example, the Fluval FX5 canister filter I use is only using about 55-60watts, which is about the same power demand of an incandescent light bulb, and it's pushing about 600GPH. The real power demand usually stems from the heaters in a larger tank which do all the hard work (water takes a lot of energy to heat). So during the summer my tank consumes roughly 200 watts at any given time during the day, but during the winter it can be in excess of 650 watts.

For reference, in most of North America, 200 watts is just over 1.5 amps, and 600 watts is 5 amps. In Europe, the amperes needed are about half that of North America.

[debbieci]

i would take her home for sure but are the owners up to giving her to you? If so, i would probably take her home and get her a dock, fill up her tank and get a basking lamp-they are cheap. take care of her this way for a couple weeks-i mean i know it is not ideal conditions but lets face it, it is 50% than the way the poor thing has lived. Then introduce them during the day while your home and able to watch, do this for a couple days to a week then just bring her on board with yours. Your tank seems fine for them both at this point but i am not sure what type of filter your running. Seems like you can fill the tank up more too?

Try to find out if nayone ont he forum had problems intoducing turtles. I have not heard of problems before and it seems like people are always taking others in and placing them with the ones they have.....your great for taking it! I feel so bad for turtles that are in less than good conditions.