Started Building Home for my LEO :)

[Sandeep]

Hello friends,

I was exicited having a water turtle i was bonded with it in no time. Now i want to build him home .

Here are few doubts i'm having....

*I'm having a 20Gallons aquarium can i use that?
*Here in my place i'm not sure if we can get a light for basking, what can i use as an alternative for it?
*Will he be happy living alone or should i get a companion to him?
*I'm feeding him Gold Fish/Koi pellets and freeze dried Tubifex worms, is it OK?
*I've bought a heater, thermometer, power-filter, Areation pump and gravel for him, what should be the ideal water temperature, air temperature and basking temperatures?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions

 

[harris]

We need to know what kind of turtle you have and it's size. I can tell you that no matter what kind you have your suggested diet will not work.

 

[Yvonne G]

We need to know what kind of turtle you have and it's size. I can tell you that no matter what kind you have your suggested diet will not work.

He has a picture of his turtle here: http://tortoiseforum.org/thread-13110.html

 

[Greg T]

I'm guessing on the size to be small, like 2"-3". A 20 gallon tank will be tight but okay for him for a short while, but will be very small for two turtles. I had two small ones in a 30 gallon for a while and it was okay. If you can't afford a UV light, then at least put them by a window and give them a regular light for heat. Not the best, but better than nothing. Your diet is lacking real meat, so I suggest you purchase some small feeder fish from a pet store and put them in there. I fed mine a few fish a week. Also, if you can't find a good basking shelf, I used a piece of green styrofoam from a hobby store and wedged it in there to allow them a place to get out of the water and sun themselves. They can't swim forever and need a place to rest.

Good luck!

 

[Sandeep]

Yes my turtle LEO is about 2.5inch, thanks Greg. Any more suggestions please:shy:

 

[DAC8671]

Here is a picture of my RES tank.

It's about an 80 gallon tank filled 3/4 with water. We have upgraded the tank a few times, starting out with a 30 gallon. THEY GROW FAST!

I don't have any rocks on the bottom. She would eat the small ones and it's too noisy for me to have the big river rocks on the bottom, as they like to dig and dig and dig.

We made her basking shelf out of two floating docks that we cut. We zip tied the two larger ends to the top to make the platform, and the pieces we cut, we zip tied on a slant so she could climb out better. The base is just carefully measured pvc pipe. In order for us to remove it, we need to disassemble it as it's a tight fit. Otherwise it would float.

We do have som larger decoration rocks in there and she loves to hang out there. Usually just one back foot on it, just enough to balance her so she can be in the water and her head on top of the water.

We have a basking light and a red heat lamp over the basking shelf. The white basking light is for daytime/early evening. The red is for night. We also have a UVB bulb over the water area. Her water stays about 72-75 degrees.

She eats floating pellets for turtles, small feeder fish (if we get them too large she won't eat them), dried shrimp pellets. I've tried giving her veges, but she doesn't eat them.

Right now she is about 9 inches. We rescued her when she was probably about 5-6 inches long. Females have shorter nails and fat stubby tails. We will definately be putting her into a backyard pond this summer.

Just in the past few months, she went through a period of time where she DID NOT EAT ANY of her pellets. After a few weeks I put some fish in there and she gobbled them up. Now she is back on pellets and eating her fish once a week.

---

I forgot to mention, they are VERY VERY MESSY TURTLES!! Please do yourself a favor and get the highest powered filter you can find. Get one that is for a tank 3-4 times larger than the one you have now. When you upgrade tanks, you will probably need two.

That is another reason we don't have the rocks on the bottom. It's easier to clean with less stuff in the tank.

 

[Yvonne G]

If I'm remembering correctly, you've told us that you're in India, is that correct? Go to a hardware store or a place where they sell building supplies. You'll find a light fixture similar to this:

Set the fixture so that it shines over the area where the turtle climbs out of the water. Any old bulb will do. I don't know if your light bulbs in India are the same as ours here in the U.S., but I would use a 60 watt or a 100 watt bulb. Just a regular household bulb. No need for the UV bulb because your turtle gets his Vit.d from his food.

Dig around outside in moist dirt and find your turtle some worms. Crickets will do nicely too. Any kind of bug that you can find that hasn't been sprayed with poison.

You want the water to be cooler than the basking platform. The platform should be upwards of 85 degrees, so it would be good if you have the water in the high 70's.

The fish pellets and freeze dried worms are fine. But you can also add bits of chopped veggies (zucchini, lettuce) or water plants to the diet. If your turtle can't catch the fish you put in, you can (everyone: if you're squeamish, stop reading now) put the fish in a net and swing the net against the floor to stun the fish. Makes it easier for the turtle to catch and eat. Not too many gold fish, though. They have copper in them. Mosquito fish are good feeders.

Be sure to send us a picture after you have Leo all set up in his new home.

 

[Sandeep]

Hello,

All the suggestions are really helpful to me and i'm in the process of building home for my LEO, I'll share the pics soon.

Thanks again