Hello.

First, the turtle you have is a Red Earred Slider not a Painted. You are correct in assuming the tank is too small. It definitely needs more water. I suggest getting at least a 10 gallon aquarium. The basic equipment you will need is a filter, heat lamp, and uvb light. They definitely need both lights.

The tank setup can be relatively simple, sliders like to swim so you can fill the tank as high as you like with water. Make sure to provide some type of way for the turtle to completely remove itself from the water, such as a log, rocks, etc.

You can feed the turtle basic turtle pellets you can find at at any petstore. I use Reptomin myself.

You can find a lot of good information about these turtles using a search engine (google, yahoo, whatever) Just type in red earred slider care sheets.

Also, I would consider reporting this seller to the proper authorities. It is illegal to sell such small turltes, especially since he is selling them with inadequate housing. I hate to see turtles being distributed by uneducated sellers and buyers.

-Mike
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Mike
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2 Painted
1 Musk
1 Common Snapper
1 Cooter
1 Map
1 RES
1 Corn Snake
1.1 Water Dragons
2 African Frogs
1 Toad
1.0 Degu
1.2 Chihuahuas
0.1 Cat

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