Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I have two of my own RES that are about 4 years old. I adopted them when they were silver dollar size from someone who bought them in china town. They live in a 100 gallon tank and I've created a nice little turtle wonderland for them and eventually plan on moving them into a pond.
Here's were I need some advise; I may have the opportunity to foster several hatchling RES for my local animal control agency. They were conviscated from a pet store and they are in the process of figuring out the legality of placing them up for adoption. I may foster some while we are figuring things out, possibly long term until they are large enough to be adopted. There is no way I can afford to set them up as nicely as my other two, I will need something that is more bare bones. Any ideas how to do this? I was thinking of using large rubbermaid containers, I'm not sure how this will work with a basking light.
I don't want them to have to kill these guys because they are too small. Any ideas or advice are appreciated,
Thanks

Glad to hear you want to save these babies! Unfortunate that any shelter would kill them because they're under 4".

People keep sliders in all sorts of things. A rubbermaid would be fine. Basking lights can be set atop a wire lid (easy to make), or used with a stand or hanging handle. As long as it's kept a few inches from the plastic container on each side, you should be fine. Just make sure to use a tub that is deep enough, and a light that is low wattage enough, to keep the water from overheating. Thermometors must be used ~ as you know. Heating the water may prove more difficult. I have heard of people using aquarium heaters (inside a piece of PVC for safety) in plastic tubs. I'm not sure of any precautions you'de have to take, though. But, as a rule these heaters don't get hot like other heating elements do, so I don't think that would be a problem.

Other things you might consider to house them in....
A woman I know online works for a Texas turtle rescue (Gulf coast turtle and tortoise society, they have some excellent info on their website ~ www.gctts.com) houses all her turtles outdoors in large stock tubs.

Or, you could speed up your pond plans and house them outside.

Many people use "kiddy pools". They'll heat up too quickly outdoors, but are fine inside.

My vet housed her sliders outdoors in an old bathtub.

Basically, you can be creative. Just as long as the temps on water and land are kept at acceptable levels.

I can't stress enough the importance of Quarantining all the new babies from your existing pets. They can appear completely healthy and fool you with a serious disease months later. So be careful.

Good luck and have lots of fun!
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...So many snakes, so little time...
Don't litter ~ Please spay and neuter your cats and dogs!

Thanks for the info! These guys will defaintely be quarantined, in all likelihood they will never come in contact with my own turtles. I just brought them both to a herp vet and they have a clean bill of health, so we're not going to put them at risk.
Thanks

Rubbermaids would work fine. You could also buy some clamps and clamp the basking light (and UVB light as well if you bought the type that screws in like a regular bulb) over the basking area. I use a large plastic container for my turtle and haven`t had any problems doing this. You can buy a heater guard for the water heater if you don`t feel like drilling holes in a PVC pipe. Good luck.

Where do you find a heater guard? I have never seen one of those and would like to purchase one.
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"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals"
--Immanual Kant