Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey, i've never kept a turtle and thought about getting my first.
I've had my eye on this baby red-eared slider. Its just a bit larger then a quarter, maybe 2 inches. Here's what my settup would be:
10gallon tank filled 50-60%
water heater, heated to about 75-78ºF
large gravel
plants
either turtle log or corkbark. corkbark would probably be easier for such a small turtle
UV light
filter
small basking light. basking spot should be in the mid to upper 80's.
Does this sound good?

Also, should I use plastic or live plants?
Here's my big question: I've also had my eye on an Orange Belly newt. its about 4inches long. Is there any way I could keep these two together?
Thanks for your help.
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1.1.0-Tokay Geckos
1.0.0- Leopard Gecko
0.1.0-Irian Jaya Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1-Armadillo Lizard
0.0.1-Pyxie Frog
0.0.2-Pacman Frogs
1.0.0- Fire Salamander
1.2.0-African Giant Millipedes
2.0.0-Madagasgar Hissing Cockroaches
0.0.1-Desert Hairy Scorpion
0.0.4-Florida Bark Scorpions
Grunngg@yahoo.com

Hi,

Your setup sounds pretty good to me. I would go with plastic plants cause your turtle will eventually just eat/destroy live ones.

A few suggestions though: Make sure that your turtle can easily get onto the basking area, also make sure that the heat lamp is focused on the basking spot. Small turtles like that can be quite picky eaters. Experiment with a variety of foods: turtle pellets, baby crickets, worms, etc in order to determine what he/she likes to eat. Juvenile turtles should be fed on a daily basis, however much he/she can eat in a 3-5 minute period. Also, make sure you buy a good filter, whether its submersible or canister. I suggest getting one suited for twice the size of the tank, so in your case a 20gal filter. The 10 gallon aquarium should be suitable for about a year or so, as long as you only plan on keeping one turtle.

I wouldnt suggest putting your turtle with a newt. First off, newts are fairly sensitive to water conditions and turtles are very dirty pets. Also, once the turtle matures, he/she will bite at anything that moves including the newt.

- 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

Here is a good link for you to start your turtle setup

http://www.turtletimes.com/Forums/index.php?showtopic=12879

I would buy a bigger tank as well because it will soon out grow that tank in no time.

i LOVE turtle times.

you set up is ok, except for a few things.
the water level needs to be the highest it can. RES are swimmers and they LOVE water.
also you will need about 10 gallons for every inch of turtle, so aready your tank is too small.
here is a picture of what my tank sorta looked like, just the basics.
the only thing i changed is that now the UVB light is over the basking area along with the heat lamp and the turtle dock is farther away from the light...
i hope this helps!

Yes,
this sounds very good! I can see you did some research )
Accept you will need a water filter or a separate container where you will feed your turtle.
10g tank is just all right for this size of turtle and I would say it will be all right when the turtle will be even 4" long...I am not american I'm from Europe and I don't believe you must! have 10G for every inch of turtle...That simply is not true! Yes, bigger is always better and if you have space you can get larger tank but your turtle will be just fine in your 10G tank full filled with water.
Good luck and enjoy your little one!

Sounds alright. Make sure you get adequate filtration. Maybe you should consider a 20 gallon to start off with at least it will buy you some time. After another inch or so you may find that keeping him in the 10 gallon is just too messy and ordeal.

As far as the newt NO!! Mixing species can be disasterous. They also have different temperature requirements. Newts in general are colder species than sliders.

Also the slider will make the water quality unbearable for amphibian. Newts absorb so much directly from the water. Imagine absorbing all that ammonia from the turtle waste. It woudl surely toxify. AND lastly -- speaking of toxifying -- most newts are poisonous. If you turtle ate the newt he might die from toxins that the newt has in it's skin.

Steve