Turtles Living in Cramped Quarters

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Posted by dsres on May 12, 2003 at 06:38:02:

In Reply to: Turtles Living in Cramped Quarters posted by laurenk on May 12, 2003 at 01:49:31:

How big are they? Since they were bought in a pet store, I'd imaging they are 4" or longer by now. That pet store person sounded incredibly misinformed. RES
1) need light. need UV to replace the lack of natural sunlight. Most UV is absorbed by glass so putting the tank near a window won't do. Also, they need a basking light so they can bask outside the water.
2) a lot of folks here know a lot about filters but basically you need a pretty powerful one or the water gets fouled up pretty quick.
3) I have 10 gallon tank about 2 baby RES ( less than 2" each) and RES can grow to several inches or more so a 10 gal tank already sounds way too small.
I like http://www.resoasis.com for some good info but the enviroment sounds very unhealthy for the turts. Since my tank is so small, I do a full cleaning every 3 weeks and periodically replace about half the water every week to 10 days.
They need an environment that is mostly water so unless its a properly set up pond with the right temps, the backyard is a bad place.
:Hi,
:Last year, my mom bought my little sister two red-earred sliders from a pet store. They told her that they could live happily in a 10 gallon tank and would not get more than a couple of inches across. Well, now she has two big turtles that seem to just keep getting bigger. Now another pet store has told her that sliders can live in her backyard (it's 30 degrees at night where she lives and will get up to the 100s in the summer time.) I told her this probably wasn't a good idea. She is concerned because she is reluctant to buy a bigger tank (i.e. 30 or 40 gallons) because she doesn't know how to care for the tank (oh yeah, the pet store also told her that she didn't need to clean the cage, just needed a filter and that the turtles didn't need a light.)

:So, does she need a bigger tank? What size is a good size for 2 turtles? How do you keep a tank that size clean? Do you have to change the water often? Will a filter suffice? I figure that if I don't get figure this out, they will continue to live in cramped quarters.

:Any help would be greatly appreciated.

:Lauren

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