Habitat - Indoor :: Question for Spookster (or any one else) about the size...

[kidzncatz]

of the river stones. I read some where they shouldn't be smaller than the turtles head??? I was looking at Spookster's gallery (awesome pictures & set-up, by the way) and noticed the river stones look to be about the size of the ones we purchased. But, they are technically smaller than her head.

Here are a few we put in that I am now obsessing about....



She's gone over a kissed on a couple of them but that's about it. What do you think? I don't want to take any chances.

Thanks in advance for the help!
Amy

[Kallistos]

You have to make sure that there's no way that the turtle can eat the rocks. The whole the rocks should be the size of the head is a basic reference. From the picture it doesn't look like she could eat those rocks, but when she get's larger you may want to take the smallest ones out..

[marisa]

Having rocks larger than your turtle's head would ensure s/he wouldn't be able to swallow them. That said, my RES has had some of the same rocks in his tank for about 3 years now and some of them are definitely smaller than his head, but still to big for him to actually swallow. He's never sjown the slightest interest in eating them (he spends time spinning some of them around and fluttering at them), and they're nice to look at, so I've just let them be.

The rocks in the picture don't look like your turtle could ingest them, but if you're uncomfortable, maybe you'd feel better taking them out and putting in some larger ones. Or, as RESowner said, take out the smaller ones and leave the rest in, changing them as your turtle grows.

[kidzncatz]

I think I'm going to just fish them out of there so I won't worry. I truly don't think she'd be able to ingest one but I would never forgive myself if I was mistaken My hubby bought a ton of them but I think I'll just have him uses them in her old tank (which he is bringing into his office to fill with fish.)

I appreciate everyone's input here. Thanks!

[BullDog]

I had the same concern as you. I had a few in my tank that were roughly the same size as Ralph's head, which in reality he probably couldn't even come close to fitting it in his mouth, but they made me feel uneasy, so I just took them out

[Spookster]

Those look plenty big. RES can open their mouths pretty wide but not that wide. The general rule of thumb is that the rock be as big as their head but that doesn't mean they can eat something just slight smaller than their head. You should only need to be concerned with small gravel which they can swallow pretty easily without having to open their mouths wide.

[kidzncatz]

I ultimately decided to take them out and have replaced them with some larger rocks that I am positive she can't swallow. I'm sure the others would've been fine but I obsess about enough things as it is & didn't want to add that to my list.

Thank you all for your input!