graytabbiecat
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2015
- Messages
- 11
Hello to all. I am a relatively new turtle owner.
I have my little box turtle Tennyson. Cute as a bugs ear!. I adore him big time. I acquired him/her from a friend one night while drinking. I ended up bringing the little guy home for my 17 year old daughter. He stayed in her room for about 6 months. She was not turning the lights on properly and was just not taking good care of him. When she went on vacation I took him over. I moved him in my room, of course he was trying to hibernate and I was going to let him, however he went from 18 grams to 15 grams in no time. I woke him up and he only got to somewhat hibernate this last winter. I would wake him up every week to feed him and then he would go back to bed.
Tennyson had his first visit to the Vet yesterday because I thought his shell was separating. Well I found out that since he was eating cat food at a very young age and not getting any of the other nutrients he needed, he is now stunted. The cat food was before I got him, just so you all know. He will not touch his veggies at all. I tried a new mix this morning to see. He ate a cricket or two and went back to bed. I will see if he touches it this morning and give him time. Vet is having me give him, veggies and meat supplements, extra calcium, and vitamins to see if we can get his shell growing again. I cried big time at the vet, I felt like a horrible turtle mommy. Vet assured me I was doing everything right.
Tennyson has an enclosure that is approximately 30" long x 18" wide, the height does not matter. He has about 6 inches of dirt to burrow in. The dirt (organic soil, of course) is kept wet enough to sustain him and earth worms. I did not think he would eat those big earth worms and I put them in there to eat the grass roots where I could not see them. One morning the little guy found one and enjoyed it. He does not care for red wigglers, no worries, my other turtle love them. The tank is planted with wheat grass as well. I replant and clean out when it dies.
Vet tech and I talked yesterday and Tennyson needs a little outside time even in his plastic box. It has been winter here so no outside enclosure yet. I need to plan that and make it.
About a month ago, my daughter in law's friend had to get rid of her six year old red eared sliders. I was going to get two turtles and all their habitat for free. WOW! I jumped at the chance. Come to find out that it was a 55 gallon tank, filter inadequate, sludge under the rocks about 1/4" to 1/2" (gross) and never had a bug or veggies. These sliders never had a basking area either. So set up the 55 gallon tank, got rid of all the rocks and sludge, got new filters, and introduced earthworms, crickets, veggies. They like them. I got another tank that is 60 gallons and the two tanks are joined by the basking area. Oh and I was told that during the summer they can go outside but no more than 1/2 an hour or they get sun burned. So free turtles, not so much.
I love to feed them worms because they love to eat them and they play tug of war with them. I know that is mean to the worm but they get all excited. I try to make sure to pet them daily so they get used to it. They used to swim away but now they let me pet them.
I need to decide if I am going to put a pond outside for them, or leave them inside. Big Mama laid eggs in water, not so good for her. Not that I want to breed turtles because there are way too many abused turtles. Anyway, I have to decide if I am making a turtle haven outside or keeping them inside all summer. I have a couple of weeks because the freeze is not quite over yet. If I don't make the turtle haven this year, I have to figure out how to get the RES some land so she can bury her eggs.
Mind you I did not name them but the female is Big Mama and the male is Earnest. I will try to get pics of them and add them there.
So that is my turtle story and I have found this site very informative. I will post pics of my turtles here in a minute. They are on my phone. Pardon the pictures of my RES's tank, it should have been cleaned out yesterday. One of the filters was not working properly this week so I had to fix it. After Vet trip I did research and not cleaning tanks. Today they will get cleaned though.
My name is Carolyn and I live in Colorado Springs.
Thank you to all the turtle owners that have put out so much information and useful information on this site.
I have my little box turtle Tennyson. Cute as a bugs ear!. I adore him big time. I acquired him/her from a friend one night while drinking. I ended up bringing the little guy home for my 17 year old daughter. He stayed in her room for about 6 months. She was not turning the lights on properly and was just not taking good care of him. When she went on vacation I took him over. I moved him in my room, of course he was trying to hibernate and I was going to let him, however he went from 18 grams to 15 grams in no time. I woke him up and he only got to somewhat hibernate this last winter. I would wake him up every week to feed him and then he would go back to bed.
Tennyson had his first visit to the Vet yesterday because I thought his shell was separating. Well I found out that since he was eating cat food at a very young age and not getting any of the other nutrients he needed, he is now stunted. The cat food was before I got him, just so you all know. He will not touch his veggies at all. I tried a new mix this morning to see. He ate a cricket or two and went back to bed. I will see if he touches it this morning and give him time. Vet is having me give him, veggies and meat supplements, extra calcium, and vitamins to see if we can get his shell growing again. I cried big time at the vet, I felt like a horrible turtle mommy. Vet assured me I was doing everything right.
Tennyson has an enclosure that is approximately 30" long x 18" wide, the height does not matter. He has about 6 inches of dirt to burrow in. The dirt (organic soil, of course) is kept wet enough to sustain him and earth worms. I did not think he would eat those big earth worms and I put them in there to eat the grass roots where I could not see them. One morning the little guy found one and enjoyed it. He does not care for red wigglers, no worries, my other turtle love them. The tank is planted with wheat grass as well. I replant and clean out when it dies.
Vet tech and I talked yesterday and Tennyson needs a little outside time even in his plastic box. It has been winter here so no outside enclosure yet. I need to plan that and make it.
About a month ago, my daughter in law's friend had to get rid of her six year old red eared sliders. I was going to get two turtles and all their habitat for free. WOW! I jumped at the chance. Come to find out that it was a 55 gallon tank, filter inadequate, sludge under the rocks about 1/4" to 1/2" (gross) and never had a bug or veggies. These sliders never had a basking area either. So set up the 55 gallon tank, got rid of all the rocks and sludge, got new filters, and introduced earthworms, crickets, veggies. They like them. I got another tank that is 60 gallons and the two tanks are joined by the basking area. Oh and I was told that during the summer they can go outside but no more than 1/2 an hour or they get sun burned. So free turtles, not so much.
I love to feed them worms because they love to eat them and they play tug of war with them. I know that is mean to the worm but they get all excited. I try to make sure to pet them daily so they get used to it. They used to swim away but now they let me pet them.
I need to decide if I am going to put a pond outside for them, or leave them inside. Big Mama laid eggs in water, not so good for her. Not that I want to breed turtles because there are way too many abused turtles. Anyway, I have to decide if I am making a turtle haven outside or keeping them inside all summer. I have a couple of weeks because the freeze is not quite over yet. If I don't make the turtle haven this year, I have to figure out how to get the RES some land so she can bury her eggs.
Mind you I did not name them but the female is Big Mama and the male is Earnest. I will try to get pics of them and add them there.
So that is my turtle story and I have found this site very informative. I will post pics of my turtles here in a minute. They are on my phone. Pardon the pictures of my RES's tank, it should have been cleaned out yesterday. One of the filters was not working properly this week so I had to fix it. After Vet trip I did research and not cleaning tanks. Today they will get cleaned though.
My name is Carolyn and I live in Colorado Springs.
Thank you to all the turtle owners that have put out so much information and useful information on this site.
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