All Turtles Message Board

k9ck024 · Level 2 Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 96

How high should a tank be if two baby live in it? Is 14-16 inches ok?

shellyangel · Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:02 pm Post subject: hi there

Hi, i am shellyangel. Am sorry you havent had a reply yet so i'll let you know about my experience. I also had 2 baby terrapins, had them for 14 years so they reached fully grown adults. My youngest one passed away there February past but i am so grateful that my eldest is still with me. Now my experience with my 2 guys was that they needed A LOT of room to swim around and also to have alone time too as terrapins can be quite lonesome characters. I went from a bowl, to a 1 foot tank, then a 2ft, 3ft, and now i am left with a 4 foot tank. You will know yourself anyway as they get older and bigger, you will know when and if you need to upgrade to a bigger tank for them. My 4 foot tank is fine at the minute for my terrapin and i know they love to swim, he has plenty of room to swim across the length of his tank as it is 4 foot and sufficient enough space to swim up and down for the tank is 16 inches in depth. But as i said, you will see them grow and will be able to tell if they need more space. Your ok at the minute as they are little cute babies, any room is great for them at that size. Good luck.

turtbert · Level 3 Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 272

personally I think if possible the water should be deep enough so they should not be able to touch the floor and stick their noses out. My water depth will be 20 or 21" when I build the basking platform on top.

I vote for buy the biggest tank you can afford now to save keep upgrading, I learnt the hard way Sad