How deep does water need to be in RES tank?

[mel262011]

How deep does the water need to be in a Red Eared Slider tank? The water is 4 1/2" deep. Is that enough for a 4" RES or do I need to add more? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ascott]

Look out.....you are likely going to get lots of different opinions

I have a tall long tank (60+ gallon I believe) and it is filled to the rim...no frilly stuff in it..just open swimming...and then on the top I have a home made tank topper that covers half the length of the tank and under that there is a large basking dock that has a low grade uvb 12-14.. inch tube light and a 100watt basking lamp....they are happy campers...I use to have a bunch of stuff in their tank before and it was a bear to keep just right...now it is simple clean and works

 

[mel262011]

Yeah, I probably will. My baby RESs have the same amount in their tank. I will add a few more inches to the tank with my 4" in it. I keep them seperated

 

[ascott]

I think that they love to swim....the girls love to bask on their dock...one of the girls is on and off all day...the other girl likes to make like a turtle raft and float more than bask....and I do keep a steady eye on them to make sure their harmony does not change..if it should then I will be in the market for another tank....LOL

 

[mel262011]

I have one of them that stays on the basking rock most of the day, it will only go in the water to eat then it will get right back on the rock and not move. The little one won't even move when I walk over to the tank, the rest will move, but that one will just look at me. They are really interesting to watch. They make me laugh sometimes.

 

[Laura]

all i know is that it has to be deep enough to put their head underwater.. or they cant eat..

 

[ascott]

My favorite thing is whenever I walk past their tank...and if I pause for even a brief moment...they throw themselves off the doc and start paddling like crazy like..." oh oh oh food food food"...if one did not know better you would think they were starving to death...LOL and I just love their eyes and when I feed them their greens it is like a tank of piranhas....water splashing and flying...feet flying and they swim up and take the food from my hand....and one of the girls gets so excited that she gets right close to the edge and starts swimming so hard that she actually comes up onto the lip of the tank with her little feet hanging on the lip then I hand her the leaf and she slips back down into the water lime a gator with a kill...it is so darn fun.... and I always have to put the screen top back over the side of the tank opposite of their tank topper side because I am always aware she is my sneaky turtle...lol

 

[mel262011]

If a turtle could smile,all of mine would be smiling at me all the time, especially my 4" (who I got yesterday)

@ Angela - what do they eat when they get 4"? my babies eat the pellets, shrimp, and krill.

 

[WallieTheTortoise]

I have my 2in RES in a 20gal so far and I fill her water to the top.

 

[dmmj]

I have had RES now for almost 30 years ( 28 to be exact) and when I have young ones inside, my adults are outside 24/7 I like to provide as much water as possible, they love to swim and they are good swimmers, so a nice deep tank is ideal. For the minimum I would do at least twice the shell depth.

 

[mel262011]

okay, I will do that

 

[ascott]

Melinda I feed my girls shrimp, mealworms, crickets, and then a herb mix along with a spring mix....in thethe morning I give em their meaty stuff and some time in the late afternoon I will give them some of the herbs and spring mix (organic is my personal preference) during the summer months they will also get flowers from the yard like the torts do.....also in the nice weather days I will put them outside for some good ole sun 2 to 3 times a week for a couple hours on those days.....that really gets em
in a pumped up mood....one of these days I will set them up a secure pond for the good weather months...

 

[Yvonne G]

Lots of water is ideal, but if you're looking for a minimum, you want enough water so that if the turtle accidentally gets flipped over, he can right himself. To shallow and he might drown.