Hi,

Recently me and my girlfriend rescued this Red Ear Slider from a very bad place. He was kept in a small carrying case with no water, heat, UVA/UVB lights, no place to climb on, and with water so low that he was unable to swim. He would just lift his head up above the water for breathing. He was kept like this for almost a year and a half, and because of lack of proper care he hadn't grown a bit. Surprisingly, he still survived and we were to rescue him.

We took him to a pet store and the guy immediately told us that it's going to be expensive to get this turtle set up. We were shocked, but we still did it. We got him a 15 gallon tank, with a zoo med basking area, a light for heat, UVA & UVB lights, underwater heater, and a decent filteration system. The only problem is that we are coming in on some difficulties with setting up the cage.

It seems as though the light bulb for heat is a bit too strong and the RES doesn't go to the end of the basking are to bask, he only stays at the edge. We tried adjusting it and it still stays pretty high. I am using my laser thermometer that I use for my boas to measure the basking areas and the water, and the basking area is showing over 100 degrees. Another problem we are facing is that we can't get a small enough fluorescent fixture to fit our tank and with the other light we can't really position it properly over the basking area. And from what I understand the UVA/UVB lights aren't very useful when pointed at the water. The last problem we are having is our filter system. WE are using a hanging filter system with chemical, mechanical, and biological media. It's a very nice filter, however, it's preventing the turtle from swimming. The sucktion is too strong and won't allow the turtle to properly swim. I tried reducing it, but that didn't work either. Also the fall on the water seems to be too strong and disrupts the water constantly. We tried raising the water, but we can only raise it so high and the waterfall is still too strong.

Sorry if this was a bit long, but this is the first time we've ever dealt with a RES and we are trying to make this turtles life a lot more enjoyable than it was. I've been reading a lot of care guides to help us, but these are the things I still can't figure out. I was thinking of using a mercury vapor light bult to get rid of the problem of having all those different lights running into each other, but the only problem is that they seem to be way too big for the 15 gallon enclosure and companies don't make any smaller than 100 watts. If you guys have any suggestions, please let me know, so I can help this young turtle. Thank you very much in advance.

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