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I rescued a large slider, (about 12.3" diameter), that was being kept in terrible conditions with little or no knowledge about how to improve the animals living conditions to optimum standards for domestic hunsbandry. I learned valuable information on this site and others and from animal experts who guided me in the right direction. Next week I will be able to buy a new 150 gal tank for my pet, "Rampage" which I named him after witnessing his fiesty spirit. I was told that part of the reason for his unsettled temperment was his profound dissatisfaction with his living environment and although I had immeditely made massive inprovements by my first week I still had a long way to go. I immediately focused on providing a healthy and sanitary living environment, then wholesome and varied diet. I have already seen his healthiness improve visually. My final hurtle will be the tank size. In his present tank, (which is too small) he does have a basking area provided by stacking slabs of sandstone and a pond at the other end of the small tank just large enough for him to sumberge himself completely with a few inches of water above. His tank is situated by a large south facing window so he recieves lots of natural sunlight and i have positioned rocks to provide shade. Since his tank is so small I take him out for long walks in the park adjacent to my house, he loves to walk and can move quickly, exploring every nook and cranny, bush and hedge. He loves to crawl and hide in monkey grass and other tall grasses. Even after I install him in his new 150 gallon tank I will still walk him because I feel he truly enjoys it. He walks to the door when I let him crawl around the house when he is ready to go outside and explore. Unlike some literature I have read my RES is very friendly and sociable and will come up to my friends and interact with them, (and not just because he thinks they may have food). I have also invested in a tank with rose minnows and one with crickets and he loves hunting them and eating them in his tank. I am almost there... I will keep you all posted when I get my new tank delivered... I have been researching tank designs and want to find out how to keep one side dry. Since the tank has to be cleaned weekly I am looking for easy ways to create land without having to take out buckets of rock. This is still one of my challenges. O I purchased a tank heater that will keep the water around 78degrees. This will allow me to put the air conditioner back on so I can now enjoy my home this summer.

You do not need to create a land area that takes up half of your tank. All you need is something large enough that will allow the turtle to come out of the water completely. Due to the size of your tank and your new turtle, you should look into creating an above tank basking area (ATBA). This is a land area that is situated on top of the tank with a ramp going into the water and walls that surround it to prevent the turtle from escaping. There's a sticky about them in the indoor habitat section with lots of pictures. Creating a basking area like this will allow your turtle to have the water depth it needs to not flip over and drown and it will provide the most swimming room. Trips outside are great for your turtle's health, just make sure and keep an eye on your turtle. Also, even though you're taking the turtle out for daily trips, you need to set up proper lighting over the basking area of the tank. It will encourage your turtle to come out of the water to dry off and it will be useful when winter comes and you won't be able to take your turtle on walks anymore.

Last, make sure and only offer rosies and crickets as rare treats. You don't want to feed your turtle too much protein. Look over the nutrition section on the main site to find out what you should be feeding.

Thanks Untsmurf, you have pointed out a very critical design issue, "how to design the basking area with a large tank", I had imagined such a setup but did not move forward because I figured there was a suitable in-tank solution. Thanks for directing me to think out of the box, or in this case tank. As I said, I had imagined designing and building a turtle tank addition that allowed Rampage to clibm out and enter another comletely dry tank where he could bask and dry off. I can harldy wait to find the pictures you referenced. This RES has so much personality she, and I finally found out it is a she, literally pulls all of my guests in to talk to her. When out of the tank she follows us around the house and comes up close, she is amazing but with this friendly persona also comes a dark side. She sometimes becomes very aggressive and unreasonable as well and i think spoiled but I love her so much it is still cute to me. I was not prepared for a turtle with such a dynamic social personality. She always seems like she wants to participate in social functions with my company. She literally lights up when company comes over after studying them for long stares. She actually followed my best friend who just met her into the bathroom one day. Is this behavior typical?

They have very individual personalities. My male RES would follow me around, my female RES wouldn't care.

I have a couple of thoughts that I’d like to throw out there.

First of all, good for you for adopting this turtle and doing your homework on how to provide a proper environment. I would love it if you could post pictures of this beautiful big turtle. I see lots of pictures of 3” and 4” turtles on here and not nearly enough of the big girls. Your turtle sounds like it has a great personality, especially considering the lack of proper environment.

You said two things that I have to “throw my two cents in” on…

teta wrote: Since the tank has to be cleaned weekly

You shouldn't have to clean your tank weekly. (although, I'm sure you do right now) When you get yoru new tank, it'll be better. A little tank maintenance done weekly should keep a 150 gallon tank absolutely pristine at all times (assuming proper filtration).

As a comparison, I am only able to maintain 40 gallons of water in a 75 gallon tank and I clean the tank about every 4 to 8 weeks. So, once you have plenty of water, with plenty of filtration, your maintenance schedule gets much easier to cope with.

You also said you have the tank near a window for UV light? That won’t work. The glass filters out the UV rays that your turtle wants, and direct sunlight just leads to massive algae growth. You want to shield your tank or tanks from direct sunlight at all times as much as possible. Aquarium backings on the sides and back help with this. If you don’t protect the tank from direct sunlight, you’ll be cleaning your tank every week!