My baby RES

[tropics007]

one of my friends had to move, so I decided to house her baby turtles. They are only in a 30g right now, and are still very very little ( so cute). Their is 4 altogether. I have raised baby turtles before. They have fine grain sand, a waterfall filter ( tetra), heater, basking ramp, and light. They go outside for 30min. a day in order for them to have proper shell growth, and shell nutrition. ( they are closely watched,and are never more than 2-3" away from me when they go outside) They are eating on baby krill right now ( freeze-dried), but I plan to start every other day feeding them some live bbs. They get their shell cleaned lightly everday with a soft toothbrush. ( this imitates a bath). They will go bask for about 1 hour a day, and they rest of the time, they are swimming and playing around. They are about 2" across their shell. A 30% water change is done everyday.

The last pic is of my female golden retriever "Buddy", she is 11 years old,and still acts like a puppy. LOL!! Sorry about the blurry pic of her, she moved right when I took the pic.

[Vicious_Fish]

Cute turtles! I would recommend a more varied diet along with a good turtle pellet to supplement all the vitamins they need like Reptomin. I can't say I understand the shells in the tank but it would be much easier to keep clean if you kept the tank bottom bare.

[Moesmom]

Great turtles. I didn't think you were supposed to put any gravel or sand in a turtle tank because they can eat it?

[tropics007]

Cute turtles! I would recommend a more varied diet along with a good turtle pellet to supplement all the vitamins they need like Reptomin. I can't say I understand the shells in the tank but it would be much easier to keep clean if you kept the tank bottom bare.


Thanks for the comment. I have tried the turtle sticks, and the small turtle pellets, and they refused to eat it. Their was another food that I tried as well. ( i forgot the name), but it looked like little pieces of meat, and it smelled horrible, and they would not even try that stuff. I do not mind the work invloved with the turtles. I have raised plenty of baby turtles already and know the work and money involved. I tried the bare bottom tank, and they just hid the whole time. They love a sandy bottom tank. Thanks again. The shells came with them, and she told me that I had to put the shells in for the baby turtles so I did. At first, I did not undertstand that either, but I stuck the shells in, and the turtles loved them. The last baby turtles I raised were the total opposite from these guys.

[tropics007]

Fine grain sand is fine for turtles. This is what they recc. if you are going to do a substrate. Gravel is major mistake as they will try to eat that.

[tropics007]

They use the shells to push off of, and to help move them along.

[BoCoMo]

Cute turtles! I would recommend a more varied diet along with a good turtle pellet to supplement all the vitamins they need like Reptomin. I can't say I understand the shells in the tank but it would be much easier to keep clean if you kept the tank bottom bare.

+1 on the bare bottom tank

I just released two of these into our pond :D - These guys live for a long time and will require a much larger tank in time


Thanks for the comment. I have tried the turtle sticks, and the small turtle pellets, and they refused to eat it. Their was another food that I tried as well. ( i forgot the name), but it looked like little pieces of meat, and it smelled horrible, and they would not even try that stuff. I do not mind the work invloved with the turtles. I have raised plenty of baby turtles already and know the work and money involved. I tried the bare bottom tank, and they just hid the whole time. They love a sandy bottom tank. Thanks again. The shells came with them, and she told me that I had to put the shells in for the baby turtles so I did. At first, I did not undertstand that either, but I stuck the shells in, and the turtles loved them. The last baby turtles I raised were the total opposite from these guys.

Try crickets, small meal worms & earthworm (pieces)

Also, are you conditioning the water? If the water in the tank heated & filtered? Do you have a basking spot for them in the tank? Are you washing your hands after you handle the turtles? (salmonella)

Cute turtles (If you want to see mine check out my photo thread! :D)

[tropics007]

thanks. I will give crickets a try. We have tons at out lfs. It says in my original post that the water is heated, and what filter is used. One of the pics actually shows one of the baby turtles basking. Yeah. I know how large they get, I have raised res before. You cannot see the basking light above, but it keeps that area 85-88 degress. Of course, I wash my hands after I handle them. I even have a bottle of hand sanitizer near the tank for after I wash my hands. LOL!!

I am very surprised at how much everyone knows about turtles. I think that is great. I will check out your turtles!!


Let's see,

I have turtle health conditioners, Jurassi safe, Tetra aquasafe, bitotize waste degrader, turtle eye drops, repti turtle eye drops, turtle vitamins, vitashell, and more. I have a cabinet full of medications if needed, and water conditioners that I use.

I just ordered some baby turtle food . It was pricy, but I want to see if they will eat it, I will try the crickets in a few days. I think they are like 12cent each for the small.

Thanks again.

[thesixis]

Hey good luck with the little guys. I also keep RES (4) in a bare bottom tank, but I paint the outside a dark color. I feed black worms, red worms and repto-min. My RES also love plants, I grow duck weed and give them some everyday.
Good Luck.

[Vicious_Fish]

Keep trying the turtle pellets as they are very important to have in their diet. Sometimes it takes a while for baby turtles to eat them but once they do they'll be hooked.

[BoCoMo]

thanks. I will give crickets a try. We have tons at out lfs. It says in my original post that the water is heated, and what filter is used. One of the pics actually shows one of the baby turtles basking. Yeah. I know how large they get, I have raised res before. You cannot see the basking light above, but it keeps that area 85-88 degress. Of course, I wash my hands after I handle them. I even have a bottle of hand sanitizer near the tank for after I wash my hands. LOL!!

I am very surprised at how much everyone knows about turtles. I think that is great. I will check out your turtles!!


Let's see,

I have turtle health conditioners, Jurassi safe, Tetra aquasafe, bitotize waste degrader, turtle eye drops, repti turtle eye drops, turtle vitamins, vitashell, and more. I have a cabinet full of medications if needed, and water conditioners that I use.

I just ordered some baby turtle food . It was pricy, but I want to see if they will eat it, I will try the crickets in a few days. I think they are like 12cent each for the small.

Thanks again.

lol - busted on not reading the thread thoroughly enough! Looks like you prep like I do - If you're going to be a bear be a grizzly is a common saying in our family (if you're gonna do it go all out) looks like your good to go :D Please keep updating, I'm subscribed :thumbsup:

[FISHSHROD]

Nice turtle my friend !!!!!!!!!!!

[tropics007]

lol - busted on not reading the thread thoroughly enough! Looks like you prep like I do - If you're going to be a bear be a grizzly is a common saying in our family (if you're gonna do it go all out) looks like your good to go :D Please keep updating, I'm subscribed :thumbsup:

LOL!!! Thanks. The baby turtles you had in your pics are very cute.

[tropics007]

thank you.

[Moesmom]

My turtles are loving Snail jello now. It is also good to feed them most vegetables, mine love squash, zucchini and lettuce, but the always get the turtle pellets as the main diet.

Bocomo I would be interested to hear about your releasing your turtle and how that went. I might have to do that in the near future I live on a lake with res's basking on our dock, but I am worried about setting them free. I do fish minnows out of the lake and put them in their tank so they can get used to catching their own food. I also try to take them out in the yard a couple times a week to get them used to being outside.

[nikitanain]

Your turtles are adorable!

I think BOCOMO released the turtles in his private lake, releasing them in a public lake that is not owned by you is NOT recommended since they will eat all the fish in the lake which can cause havoc, and it is against the law....

[tropics007]

Thanks AC.

[BoCoMo]

Your turtles are adorable!

I think BOCOMO released the turtles in his private lake, releasing them in a public lake that is not owned by you is NOT recommended since they will eat all the fish in the lake which can cause havoc, and it is against the law....

Yes - I wouldn't recommend releasing them in any public waters, however they are native to Missouri and their range covers the entire state so chances are good you may find some RES's in the waters already :D

[BoCoMo]

My turtles are loving Snail jello now. It is also good to feed them most vegetables, mine love squash, zucchini and lettuce, but the always get the turtle pellets as the main diet.

Bocomo I would be interested to hear about your releasing your turtle and how that went. I might have to do that in the near future I live on a lake with res's basking on our dock, but I am worried about setting them free. I do fish minnows out of the lake and put them in their tank so they can get used to catching their own food. I also try to take them out in the yard a couple times a week to get them used to being outside.

Sounds like you have a great home for them :D

[Rbishop]

Cuties!

[tropics007]

Thanks.

[ChrisK]

Nice turtles

[tropics007]

Nice turtles

Thanks.