Aw jellybean, that's cute um as far as plants go idk I never had any with my RES. but live ones make a nice touch. I think musk turtles like to dig so some sort of riverbed sand would be nice I suppose. Turtleshack carries it. I would do a little research on the plants though
thanks. I am hoping he will grow a little bit in the next month or so because the lady I got Jellybean from did not have proper lighting and Jellybean wouldn't do very much. She had the little guy in a 10 gallon tank with 5 other turtles that were 4x Jellybean's size so it didn't get to eat very much. Ever since I got Jellybean, the little guy has been really active. I have the turtle set up in a 20 gallon by itself with stuff for it to explore and hide. I have an underwater heater, a uv light and a basking area since it likes to sit in the water and bask with its head out of the water. Such a lovely and fascinating animal.
Obviously they aren't turtles, but my goldfish like to root around in their sand all day (another vote for sand here) so it is very hard for me to keep live plants in the substrate. I imagine a nosey turtle would be the same!
I compromise by using silk plants that are weighted down there and using live floating plants like Anacharis and duckweed at the top.
I think musk turtles are very, very adorable. Congrats on your new addition!
Thanks NudistApple. I found out yesterday that Jellybean is a girl. She has an extremely short tail and there are no patches on her back legs (you know, the patches of skin the males have on their legs). I am going to wait at least 6 months before I get a baby male musk turtle.