Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: Newbie Res Owner In T.O Canada....

[mikespike]

First of all i would like to say what a great site this is.
Secondly i am the proud owner of two new red eared sliders, one male and one female and measuring approx 4" in shell length each.

Though i still need to take a few steps to ensure that my newest family members are as happy and healthy as possible, i have taken them from heaven to hell.

At the pet store i purchased them from they were living in a approx 10gal tank with approxx 3 inches of water. with no heater, no real dry zone or basking area and the owners didn't even know if they were male of female.

Their new home is a 40gal tank 1/3 filled with a nice dry flat to rest on among other goodies. I will post pics later in the week.

So my problem.

I noticed last night and today that one of the RES were rather restless and doing a bit of digging, so i looked up some info on some sites today including this one and have concluded that it is fact a female and i believe reaady to nest. Also, my other RES, being a male is constantly chasing the female and courting with here.

I was wondering if there is anyway to tell for sure if she is ready to lay her eggs and if so should i seperate her from the male and place her into a seperate man made nesting area? Or should i leave her in the main tank and make a nesting shelf, if you will, on the end of the tank opposite the basking area?(one end of tank basking, one end nesting)

Will the male's courting continue to cause too much stress for the female even after she layes her eggs?

Finally, how often should i replace the water, either completly of partially if i use a submersible filter as well as an external 404 filter system with a three step filter system?

Sorry this is so long but my girlfriend and i are rather worried about the female and would like to have both RES's as happy as possible as soon as possible.
I am sure iwill have many more questions as the weeks move on.

Thank-you,
Mike

[jenaero]

The best thing to do is build a nesting area that she can easily access any time she needs to. She sounds rather small to be gravid but it's a possibility. Don't count on the male giving up any time soon either. Permanent separation may be necessary because constant mating attempts by the male will be stressful to her.

A 40gal is rather small. For turts of their size they should be in at least an 80gal. Even then, be prepared to upgrade again later. I appreciate that their current conditions are better than that of the pet store, but they do need more room. That may cut down on the harrassment as well.

The less water you have, the more often you'll have to change it. I have a 125gal with 2 6in turts and a fluval 404. I do partial changes only every month or so and top-up every week to make up for evaporation.

[mikespike]

Thank-you for your prompt reply.
After looking at some pics on this site, again a great source of info, i redone their basking area, raised it and added another 1/3 of water. They seem to be happy and now that their basking area is more user friendly the male has seemd to back off a bit from the female.

Currently we do not have any feeder fish in the tank. Do you think if we added a couple of new specis to the tank that will also help to curb the harrassment as well?

Finally, the male turtle seems to be developing slight shedding of the shell(some scales starting to lift) after i rasied the basking area last night. Should i be concerned or is this a result of not being able to properly dry his shell in the past? I am currently using a flood light that i hooked up last night. Tonight we are going ot the pet store to get the proper lights, but i read that this should be ok for the short term.?

Again thanks for all the info,
i will post pic soon when i get more time.

Cheers,
Mike

[jenaero]

Feeder fish might distract him for a bit but it's certainly not a permanent solution. Are you planning to get a larger tank any time soon?

Shedding of the shell is normal. If anything, the basking lamp is probably helping him along. Sorry if I missed it, but I didn't see any mention of a uvb lamp....do you have one? What are the water and basking temps? Is the basking area large enough and sturdy enough to hold both res at once?

[mikespike]

We are planning on getting a larger tank around christmas time first we want ot ensure we have the regular day to day caring of the turts down pat first.

No we don't have a UVB light we are picking one up tonight when we get the feeder fish. Currently well as of last night, we are using a screw in flood light which i believe only produces UVA light corect?
The water temp is 77-79 degrees, however i am not sure the excact basking temp. I do know that these guys seem healthy and go from water to basking a few time during the day, and healthy swimmers.

As for the basking area, it is big and sturdy enough for the both of them and has two level incase one needs more space. I built up a foundation of rocks with flat rocks on the top and two ways to get on top of it. However we are going to make one out of pcv piping to free up more swimming space underneath the area.
I do have one question though. I have noticed that the turtles, mostly the male, has a twitching motion with his head while basking and flicks his front feet as is he were bating away flies. I may be wrong but after watching for the most of today i concluded that he is tring to splash water on his face, could this be true? A bath of sorts.

THanks again,
I will keep you posted after i make futher revisions today.
Cheers
mike

[jenaero]

Twitching while basking is normal. I can't remember the cause behind it but it's nothing to worry about.

Good luck with your revisions...and don't forget to post pics

[CountryGirl68]

Welcome Mike. Jen has given you great advice, the most important being to upgrade their tank as soon as possible. The added space should reduce any harassment between the turtles.

Wait until your turtle does the superman pose - head and all four legs extended out towards the light - you're gonna love it!!

[steve]

Just remember that a larger tank is not necessarily a solution. Some male RES are very persistent, like mine, and is not aggressive but is constantly harassing female RES.

[mikespike]

Thanks guys for all your responses.

I have seen the superman pose, too funny, these guys crack me up all the time with their crazy antics.

As for the male driving the female crazy, they have done a reversal and now from time to time the female is following the male and doing the the face slap ritual. I am thinking she is trying to confuse him by making him question if in fact she is a female. lol.

Steve. Have you taken anysteps to reduce the harassment from the male to female?

Cheers

Mike

Updates to come soon....

[steve]

For the type of harassment my male RES is doing, the only choice I have is to temporarily separate them. He is very persistent and doesn't take no for an answer. I am very fortunate that my female RES hasn't decided to hurt him for his efforts.