Feeding and Nutrition :: Eating Issues

[Shelby+Tucker]

Thank you for you help cutpanda86. :l

[steve]

@cutepanda86 - good to hear, so there's no need for treatment?

@Shelby+Tucker - it's possible he was sick to begin with... it's important to get their habitat and diet right as soon as you get them

[cutepanda86]

No there is not. I'm very relieved. Ran right out, bought a new heater, lights, and thermometer. I'm hoping to get his area back up to par. The heater I had made the water too warm. The light I had wasn't giving him enough warmth. The vet said I was doing a good job, it just needed some tweaking.

Thanks again to everyone for your help.

@Shelby - If you need to talk, PM me. My dog passed away last year and then I lost my beta a few months ago. If you need someone to cry to, let me know.

[Shelby+Tucker]

@cutepanda- thanks a lot for your help! I wil!
PS. I <3

[cutepanda86]

I <3 too.

Question to everyone. How much do your turtles eat? I changed the lighting and the water, and all Sheldon ate was like a pellet.

Now I've adjusted the water down to see if that helps. However I did notice the basking bulb took almost all day to get up to 85 so I probably need a bigger bulb right?

[Shelby+Tucker]

@cutepanda: My turtle is about 10 months old and he eats about one pellet a day..that's what i feed him and that is what he eats no matter what the temperature is. But I think it depends on these questions to determine how much you should feed him: How old is Sheldon? what kind of tank setup do you have? What do you feed him and how much? What kind of lighting does your tank have (basking, UVA,etc.)?

[Shelby+Tucker]

Question: What do you think the ideal setup would be for a 1-2 inch turtle? (including aquatic plants, lighting, and whatever else turtles need)? thanks!

[cutepanda86]

Well he's about 6" long and he has a 15 gallon tank. I feed him pellets but the most I've seen him eat is one pellet. He has a basking light and a UVB light. Both say they have UVA.

As far as tiny turtles, I would think 10 gallons would do for a long time. They say to use 10 gallons per inch so it'd be a good place to start. Definitely, basking light, UVA and UVB, dock, plants is you want. I hear that real plants are better.

[Shelby+Tucker]

Thanks! Where can I buy a floating dock and UVA and UVB lights? Thanks!

[cutepanda86]

I bought the floating dock at Pets Supplies Plus but I also saw them at Petsmart and Petco.

Bulbs and fixtures can be bought at all three locations but only Petco had the Self Ballasted Mercury Vapor bulbs in the store. Those bulbs are recommended by Tortoise Trust. Here's a link on bulbs and lights that may help.

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/lighting.html

[steve]

This is for a 15 gallon?

[cutepanda86]

I bought a lamp stand which allows me to hang the lamp straight as required and adjust the height and distance where it is located. This gives me plenty of control over the air temp which seems to be working because Sheldon ate 4 pellets this morning! On Tuesday, I'm going to see if he will eat 5 or not. It took him 15 minutes to eat the 4 but he's also still adjusting because I just installed the new lamp yesterday.

[Shelby+Tucker]

yay Sheldon ate! And thanks for the link!

[cutepanda86]

He ate 5 today! Thanks Shelby+Tucker!

[Shelby+Tucker]

Any Time! It was probably the lighting