All Turtles Message Board

fancinanci · Guest Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 1

I have a baby land turle about 4 months old, he is the size of a nickle. Today I found a red eared slider about the size of a gold ball. I put the slider in the home with my land turtle.
I was wonder if they can live in the same container, or if they need different needs. I worry that my land turtle is so much smaller, I don't want the slider to hurt him. I keep and an eye on them.

If anyone can help, I would appreciate it. I have pictures, but not sure how to load them to this site just yet,

Nanci

2turtles · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 3:39 pm Post subject:

They have drastically different needs..

What sort of 'baby land turtle' aka. tortise do you have?

The hatchling RES is an aquatic turtle, and requires room to swim! RES' can grow to 8-14" SCL and will require a full 75-125gal tank when adults. For a hatchling, you can start with a partially filled 20gal tank, but she will quickly outgrow it.

The RES will have specific environmental requirements, with the basics being as follows

Basking Spot. Somewhere she can get completely out of the water to soak up some heat. Turtles are cold blooded creatures and require an external heat source. Your basking spot should be around 90*f

UVA/UVB lighting. Turtles require UVA for their general well being as it promotes activity, swimming, eating etc. UVB is required for calcium absorption.

Swimming room. General rule of thum promoted is 10gallons of water per inch of shell, but RES' are excellent, very good, amazing swimmers.

Filtration. RES' live, eat,pee, poo, swim, play, sleep in their water. it can become very fowl. You will require adequate mechanical and biological filtration to deal with the water quality, as well as frequent water changes

Diet. A base diet of Reptomin pellets is probaly ok, but you should seek to augment it with the occasional fish, worm, and vegetables. baby RES' will prefer meat to all veggies, but don't give up.

Heat. You may require a tank heater to regulate the water temperature in the mid to high 70's.

Think of your RES as a nifty fish who will want to come out of the water from time to time. Your Tortise is a land creature who may want to get her feet wet occassionaly. They require drastically different environments, temperatures, foods etc.

Welcome to AT!

http://www.allturtles.com/care_sheets/water_turtle_carehousing.php

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1.0.0 Trachemys scripta scripta----1.0.1 Chrysemys picta picta
0.0.2 Emydura subglobosa subglobosa----0.0.1 Testudo hermanni boettgeri

jobird37 · Guest Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 4

If you found the RES wild, the kindest thing you could do for it is release it into a good sized pond or lake close by where you found it. No matter how big an aquarium you have for it, it will never be as content as it would in the wild. If you want a RES, they are very inexpensive and you can buy captive bred ones that are used to being in smaller areas and eating pellets. They would also be less likely to carry diseases or parasites to your other turtle. The two types of turtles shouldn't be together, anyway. I know it would be more "fun" to keep the RES, but think of how you would feel if you had been used to the wide open spaces and were caught and put in a container.