Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I really appreciate all of the input. Well, I guess I'm going to go ahead and upgrade filters...why so soon? The Fluval is not working all of a sudden, and I can't figure out why. I turned it off tonight so my son could go to sleep, and then I wanted to see just how much difference it noise it was...went to plug it back in and it just makes noise...no water comes out. I didn't adjust anything...only unplugged it. Soooo...hopefully, they will take this piece of junk back. (Ok, I may be doing something wrong, but I got it working with no problems...and now it's not...ugh!)

The heater seems to be working fine...keeping the water temp nice and cozy for the turtles.

After being gone for the weekend, the water is already cloudy after putting it in late last week...these turtles are proving to be even more difficult than my chameleons (which are supposed to not be that easy to care for). Of course, my son likes the turtles the best, so there is no letting them go any time soon...plus, I'm sure they're too small anyway. Was reading something about turtles being released and I was curious about something...can turtles that were bred in captivity not be released to the wild? I thought that is what was said. I was hoping when they're big enough, that they can go to a nice happy pond...I know, that would be awhile since they grow soooooo slow.

Kristen

Kristen
-----
1.1 pygmy leaf
1.0 carpet
1.0 jackson
0.0.3 red eared sliders

Glad your liking them! Sorry to hear about the cloudy water hehe

Okay the thing about your Fluval just "making noise" and no water coming out is because you haven't primed it with water. I personally don't own a Fluval but I've used one before. I'm not sure what version yours is but I just know that fluval's are hard to prime with water. That is... to basically get the water flowing - you have to mess with it (add water in it, etc) so that it does run. If you don't, and it just makes noise, then you can burn out the motor!

If you can't get it primed then ask some of the people here for tips

For your cloudy water, I think its best that after you feed your turtles, you either expel the waste they leave behind (a nice fish net will do heh) or even take out half the water while expelling the waste left behind. Then repalce it with clean water and its a clean tank. If your turtles are small you'll have to feed them often which could be a hassle but just know that sometimes turtles (i know it sounds stupid) but they eat their own poo (or the their buddies' poo). This really gets the water all messed up.. also the poo if its left there long enough will expel bad stuff. Since salmonella is in the turtles body, it might be easier spread if the poo is left in the water and someone handles the water and isn't careful (like cleaning right after)

NEVER release captive bred anything into the wild. If you must get rid of them when they get bigger, look to give them away to somebody. If you do a search in this forum, you'll find a TON of info as to why you shouldn't.

I would suspect this to be the case, but now that you say that, I find it interesting that the woman that was selling them told me about her letting one go because it got so big. I would imagine that these would be captive bred...they had TONS of little RES in a huge land/water set up (that big trough that has land on one side and the other is water...with a sloped area to aid in them getting onto the dry land.

The other weird thing, is that I have seen them with signs saying "sold for educational purposes only"...is that just a legality that people post to get them out of trouble since they are not supposed to be selling them? I didn't see one of those signs around this time...but I didn't look too hard. I did see just about everyong and their brother walking around with baby turtles.

So, I'm going to have these guys in a huge tank in my house for 30 years? LOL!!! I might have to build a pond for them...can I do that? hehehe

Kristen
-----
1.1 pygmy leaf
1.0 carpet
1.0 jackson
0.0.3 red eared sliders