Turtles Living in Cramped Quarters

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Posted by dsres on May 12, 2003 at 10:56:18:

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

BTW, stunt's comment was correct. Needs to be a UVB light. They often have names like Reptisun.
Their home should be bigger but here is an old shot of my set up.
1. UVB Light
2. basking light
3. some sort of ramp and external basking area
4. underwater heating to keep the water temp constant
5. thermometer
6. filter. I had a dinky little one but upgraded to an external more powerful (Fluval 104) for my 10 gal tank.
I think people have similar set ups for larger tanks but you get the idea. I think it spend like $200 on this 10 gal set up.

I originally got the turts thinking these tiny cute turts would be easy to take care of like a goldfish in a fishbowl. They turned out to be more work but worth it for me. But its not cheap and they do live a long time. Good luck.
: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

Follow Ups:

Turtles Living in Cramped Quarters turtlefancy 05/12/03 (1)
- Turtles Living in Cramped Quarters dsres 05/13/03 (0)