Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

Do RES get bored? I have a 2 yr old RES in a 20 gallon tank, with large gravel at the bottom, filter, basking light, heat light, smooth rock for basking, some fake plants, all in clean water, maintained at 75-80. But he seems bored! Any ideas on how to keep a RES from boredom? Also, I would love to see photos of successful RES habitats (tanks). My tank seems so boring, should I paste a picture on one side of the tank for the turtle to look at? I've even gone as far as putting a small tank with fake fish in it (that move around) next to one side of his tank, so he can look at them through the window.

He is in the tank all by himself. Will he get lonely? Should I introduce another RES (younger) into the tank? Or is he ok in the tank by himself?

Also, right now I only feed him turtle pellets and shrimp treats. He is starting to get chubby arms and skin outside his shell. What's a good diet for a 2 yr old RES?

Finally, is a 20 gallon tank good enough for a 2 1/2" RES? I can provide a photo if someone wants to see him and the tank/environment to tell me if it looks ok for him. I moved him from a 10 gallon tank to a 20 gallon tank about 2 months ago.

Thanks.

He should be fed veggies and aquatic plants primarily, with pellets every other day or less. Shrimp treats are completely unneccessary. The tank is pretty small, although you don't say how big the turtle is. Mine have a 55 gallon tank. They like chasing rosie minnows and moving rocks, these seem to be good recreational activities. Of course, I have two so they spend a lot of time interacting, but other people say turtles don't need friends to be happy.

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i have a 55 gallon breeder but i stacked rocks, waiste of space, to get a basking spot. how did you do yours? i can't tell from the photo. it looks like you have some special rocks or wood that reaches the surface of without taking up huge amounts of space.

Sliders live a sort of boring existence as a matter of course (or by human standards anyway) so I would not worry too much about him in that light. They eat, they swim, they bask during the day and then mate when they get older.

A companion would not be necessary. Some good environmental stimulation wouldn't hurt though. Get him some live plants to chew on and eat and also you can add some feed guppies or minnows and he will be get alot of stimulation from chasing them around. This provides stimulation and excercise so it would be a positive thing.

A twenty long tank will be okay for a slider the size of yours for a little while but you will have to step up to much larger afer he puts on a couple more inches.

Steve

Thanks, and here's another question...

Are the feeder guppies just that, or do I need to feed them, too? Does he only chase them or eat them?

I will invest in a live plant for him to chew. Right now we completely clean out the tank once every two weeks. I also add fresh water every other day, to bring the level to where it should be.

Right now he's about 2 1/2 inches long. I don't know if it's a girl or boy, I just call him Tommy. I roll pellets in calcium and put them on the rocks so he gets enough calcium. I also put small pieces of cuttle bone (bird bone) in the tank. He doesn't play or eat that, though....? I think I will have to buy a 55 gallon tank, soon. It just doesn't seem big enough for him/her....

Thanks!

The feeder guppies will eat the reptomin and other pelleted diets that you feed the turtle and also pick on any shrimp or anything other things you feed him so you really don't have to worry about specifically feeding them. He may just chase them he may eat them that depends on him really.

I would get a filtration system for you tank and then only do partial water changes once a week and clean the filter as needed (but certainly not less than once every three weeks (more like two though)-- depending on the size and type of filter).

I found live plants to be a messy thing that introduced algae into my system.

the turtle sort of ate them and they turned brown and wrotten. what type of plants do you recommend that might not have this result?

one way to tell if it's fat is ..... when it sticks its head in its she, the back legs are forced out a bit.

you should try to find plants it likes. everything except spinach is ok (spinach has something in it that isn't).

the diet should be more like 30-40% protein and the rest vegetable. your pellets are like 90% protein. so you will get a turtle growing too fast and too big.

but don't worry... 2 years is really not so bad. it's probably an adolescent now, and it just happened to get a lot of protein during childhood. ...which is sort of what they need anyway.