Indoor Waterland Tub for RES

[packer43064]

How do you keep the turtles from climbing out? The water looks high on the edges, do turtles even climb out of these tubs. I know nothing of turtles, so IDK.

 

[Louie]

Louie,
Oh OK!! Sorry about that!! I have a link for you that should help you as I really don't know anything about the proper feeding of you little guys..
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheets.htm
You should be able to find what you are looking for here!!
I hope this helps. imho if your turts were RES I would say you were overfeeding a tad, but they aren't so I'm really not sure. I have found in my research that overfeeding seems to be a common problem. I know I overfed my guy when I first got him, but I did my research and corrected the problem!!

Great thank you

 

[Louie]

I always keep my tanks stocked with food. I dont have any other turtles right now but when I kept soft shells, I would give them pellets every other day and would always have several minnows in there. With my RES that I had, I would give them pellets every day as well as some aquatic weed (spirulina?) that is good for them that was always in the tank and a head of red cabbage each week. all of them turned out fine but i no longer have any of them ( i miss my soft shelled though). I also kept a few baby snappers (i would raise them to be a good size and then display them at the museum I worked at), those guys got pellets every day and a minnow or two each week. on occasion, a cricket but not very often.

The beast that I worked with at the museum (135lbs ally snapper) ate 2 lbs of fillet tilapia every day during the summer and one of the fillets was always prepared with some amount of calcium and other vital minerals. as the temps cooled, we weaned him off of food for the winter.

not sure how much that helps but its what you asked for. any more questions, let me know.

what the pyramiding looks like is that it was caused by not too much food but too much calcium. I think that he should move them to a vegetarian diet. no more crickets or pellets. the damage cannot be recovered but it will at least stop them from progressing towards organ damage or other internal problems.

Thanks.

"ate 2 lbs of fillet tilapia every day"

I would have thought that snappers of all turtles would not eat daily they seem so lethargic .

 

[Louie]

Hello all, I'm new to MFK and I have no idea how I have not already known about this site. In the past I have kept freshwater and marine aquariums, but their sizes have been limited. Anyway about two years ago I bought a couple RES hatchlings. I guess I chose to go with RES because they were readily accessible..

So now the two are about 4-5in and I finally took them out of the measly 35gal and now I know they must have been incredibly miserable.

i was on craigslist last week and this is what i found..a waterland tub, medium at these dimensions: 76 x 35 x 24"

as the water portion only holds about 65 gallons, I was thinking about filling the dry portion with water as well because that will add another 30-35gallons if my calc. are right.

I have heard RES really do not require much land area other than a spot where they can completely dry off and bask, then slip into the water when satisfied. Is this correct? As far as I can tell, neither of my RES are female..so egg laying won't be an issue. Any suggestions as to how I can convert this tub into a mini indoor pond? filtration, habitat, other compatible species? I would love to add some sort of sprinkler or fountain as part of agitating the water in the larger side and a waterfall that could also fill the smaller side to overflow into the larger area? Still trying to brainstorm what I can do with this rigid container..I kind of wish I'd scrap this and build my own layout but it's temporary so may as well wait for the real pond when I have a perm. place. anyway any suggestions are very welcome. It's a blank slate, ready to be fooled around with

I'm not in any rush as they seem to LOVE the huge basking area already after a day of settling in. They water area still seems to be big enough for them so any alterations I want to do precisely.

Though I do have to upgrade the filtration asap as I have an extremely insufficient Whisper30 on there..yeah as you can also tell from the horribly disfigured shell that the other guy hasnt been basking..The two used to alternate, but for some reason the one suddenly stopped basking. Yeah well needless to say the neglect is no longer an issue. Dont worry I never keep them in toilet water! I gave them water changes so frequently and manually siphoned out the poop every couple days..the substrate helped keep it down as well.

BTW I got this used but in practically new condition except a 1/2" hole drilled into the side of the land section. $150 on craigslist makes me satisfied for this overpriced hunk of plastic

Cheers

I went to pet store earlier and saw the large size which is size you have and the picture doesn't do it justice what a big set up for RES or most turtles.

The water area is plenty no need to tamper with the land area. Did you use wood,styrafoam to elevate the land area?

 

[Brianz]

Yertle, I think everyone has some great things to say about your setup. I have had 2 RES for about 3 years now and run into similar problems. MFK is a great site, but also I would reccommend visiting the two sites below for some help that is RES specific. MFK and ATP have been a huge help in raising my RES.

http://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upload/index.php?act=idx

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/