Hello all. I just purchased a spiny softshell hatchling. I had previously owned a texas softshell for almost two years in a 46 gallon tank and he died recently. No idea why, he went from a perfectly healthy turtle of 2 years to a floating, sick turtle in three days and perished. I had a UV light for him, 6 inches of sand and plenty of clean water powered by two 30 gallon high power whisper filters. Weird stuff. Anyways I am gonna keep the new hatchling in a 10 gallon for a month or two until I get my 46 gallon up and running again. I have the 10 gallon setup filled with about 9 or 10 inches of water, and sand which is about 5 inches on the shallow side and one inch on the deep side. A basking rock has been provided as well as a cave. The tank has a lid that came with two bulbs in it(brand new) Do you think the baby softie will be ok in the 10 gallon for a couple months until I can transfer him?> Let me know what you think. Chris
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New softshell question
Replies (2)
I just set up a 10 gallon tank for a baby softshell myself. I have kept small softshells a number of times in the past. I believe a 10 gallon is fine for a hatchling and will suffice for several months. I have never kept an adult. When they get to big for a tank I just put them back in the river.
Your set up spounds sounds fine. I think addition of a UVB light would be good but if you get him to eat whole animal foods it should be okay for a while without it. Just rememmer that a ten gallon tank with lots of sand allows for a very small amount of water and will probably need to be changed three or four times a week regardless of filtration. (a small maount of warm water with fecal matter, urates, and rotting food when kept warm is basically a big petrie dish) If poisons are developing slowly in the water (which may seem clean) the turtle can withsatnd it for a while but then may "suddenely" get sick and die. Never underetimate the value of water changes, they prevent more than half of all problems with water turtles i think.
Also, by all means, dechlorinate the water.
