My daughter Gillian just had her 4th birthday. She is obsessed with turtles. She even claims she's going to be a doctor turtle when she grows up. No, not a turtle doctor but a doctor turtle. She's so silly. Her turtle right now is about the size of a half-dollar. She/He will probably get to be around 12 inches. Gillian named her Marley. We have her in a 20 gallon tank right now. By the time she's finished growing she'll have to have about a 120 gallon tank. These aren't very good pictures but she's very shy. She's slowly starting to become more active and not hide at the first noise she hears. It's just taking time. She does, however, eat very well and loves krill. My husband can't wait until she's bigger and he can feed her live fish. I think that's disgusting. Gillian wants to feed her crickets, which I know are good for her, but I'm not sure how I feel about that. I love little Marley but I'm just not a reptile person. Feeding live things to other animals just doesn't appeal to me at all.
-- Edited by ZoeandTucker at 09:20, 2007-08-17
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Saving just one dog won't save the world, but it surely will change the world for that one dog. -Richard C. Call
Red-Eared sliders are pretty cool. You don't have to feed them live, they have aquatic turtle pellets you can give them. Her shell is a beautiful green!!! Its cool that you realize how big they get. A lot of people come into my work and think that they'll be just fine in a 20 gal for the rest of their lives. UGH..... Congrats on the new turtle!!
We're giving her turtle pellets for hatchlings. She won't eat anything bigger. We give her the krill twice a week as a treat. The thing I'm having trouble with is the heater. I have to take my heater back and get a new one. Even if I set my heater on 70 degrees it just keeps heating my water. At one point the water was up to 83 something. I think I'm supposed to keep the water between 78 and 82? Can anyone verify? I'm plugging and unplugging that heater all day long. I worry myself sick about this little turtle.
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Saving just one dog won't save the world, but it surely will change the world for that one dog. -Richard C. Call
You want to keep it warm like a fish tank, 72-82 range is good. If the heater won't shut off there might be a malfunction on the heater, however where is the thermometer sitting for the water? If its a stick on the tank one you can put it at the bottom of the tank or mid-way through the water
Thanks exorcist. I have it stuck on the tank in the bottom. I am going back to Petsmart today or tomorrow to return it. They had one there that was marketed as being for aquatic turtles so I'm going to try it. I've had 3 heaters for this turtle already! Maybe its a user problem instead of the heater I'm blaming it on? I read all of that info. before I bought her the turtle. I wanted to know what I was getting myself into. It was all in seperate places though so its nice to have it all in one place.
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Saving just one dog won't save the world, but it surely will change the world for that one dog. -Richard C. Call