Turtle Newb Needs Help

[Schildkröte]

Title pretty much explains it.

I was given a baby painted turtle today its only about the size of a quarter. I have a 15gal fish aquarium that I'm in the process of converting until I can get some more info/resources but other than that I have nothing. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[dmmj]

I think for now a 15 gallon aquarium would be sufficient, it will need a basking light/spot.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi:

Your aquarium will need some sort of landing so the turtle can climb out of the water completely. Also, a light shining on the landing to warm him up. Turtles need to be in the water in order to swallow their food. A nice variety of food stuffs would be nice...pellets, live food (crickets, worms, etc.), plants like water hyacinth. You can offer one type of food each day. And no need to feed more than once a day, even though he tells you he's starving to death.

A good filter will go a long way towards making it a happy arrangement, as water turtles can be quite a chore to take care of without a good filter.

Good luck, and hopefully someone else will come along and offer you more info.

 

[terryo]

A fifteen gal. is fine for a few years for that baby, but eventually he will need something way bigger. Painted's love to swim and need deep water with lots of green plants and a basking platform, where they can come out bask and get completely dry. They have no saliva glands, so need to swallow their food in the water. You should have a small heater and keep the water between 75 - 78 for babies. They also need a 5.0 UVB light. A heat light pointed directly over the basking platform. When mine were two years old they went outside in their pond. They love duckweed, and any kind of water plant. This is mine at 3 weeks and then at two years, outside in the pond. Do you have any pictures? Is it an Eastern? One of my favorite water turtles.

 

[SnakeyeZ]

It's already been said - but good... no no GREAT filtration is the key! Do not cheap out here, spend the extra money and get yourself something reliable. If not... you will notice real quick why this is important. Other things to consider which have also been mentioned is a proper basking area and basking light complete with UVA/UVB.

Also, a good rule of thumb is to expect to provide 10 gallons for every inche the turtles shell is. So... if it's 1" then a 10 gallon is the minimum and if it's 12" then you should be providing the turtle with 120 gallons.

 

[Schildkröte]

http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo151/Alice_Cullen1/Turtles n stuff/newwiddleturtle.jpg

Best I could do with my phone and a flashlight. Man that little guy can cruise!

Heading out first thing tomorrow to get he/she a light and whatnot. Until them I'm tossing around names x)

 

[terryo]

It's already been said - but good... no no GREAT filtration is the key! Do not cheap out here, spend the extra money and get yourself something reliable. If not... you will notice real quick why this is important. Other things to consider which have also been mentioned is a proper basking area and basking light complete with UVA/UVB.

Also, a good rule of thumb is to expect to provide 10 gallons for every inche the turtles shell is. So... if it's 1" then a 10 gallon is the minimum and if it's 12" then you should be providing the turtle with 120 gallons.

Absolutely! I forgot about the filtration. They best you can afford. Also I can't see any pictures.

 

[Schildkröte]

Darn photobucket being silly, hopefully just the link works *fingers crossed*

 

[SnakeyeZ]

I can see the pictures. Cute little bugger!

Here it is for those who can't see it.

 

[oscar]

I have my painted turtles in a 125 gal aquarium for the winter and then outside in my pond for the summer. To make more room in the tank I have made my own version of the turtle topper. its basically a box that sits on top of a portion of my tank and has a ramp leading into the water, my basking lamp is on top of the box, this gives the turtles much more room for swimming in the tank.

 

[Saloli]

also painteds are territorial though i have heard of a few that live together without much fighting

 

[tortoises101]

also painteds are territorial though i have heard of a few that live together without much fighting

I don't think they're territorial. I've seen photos of 50 painteds at a time basking on a fallen tree.

 

[Saloli]

they often share basking sites if they are scarce but they fight for the best positions especially the males.

 

[terryo]

The pond were I live has loads of Eastern Painted living with RES, and some other's that I can't identify. Sometimes you see them all on logs at the edge of the water, sitting on top of each other, when there's no room on the log.

 

[dmmj]

also painteds are territorial though i have heard of a few that live together without much fighting

I don't think they're territorial. I've seen photos of 50 painteds at a time basking on a fallen tree.

I agree I think painteds are one of the few that are not, and you will often see them all on top of each other.

 

[Saloli]

the ones around here fight alot maybe it is just these ones they bite each other and sliders too but then again they have to deal with red bellied cooters which are much bigger so maybe thats why they are more aggressive perhaps