Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My Oregano is growing pretty fast 2.5 inches now and his 20 gallon is too small. I was thinking of just going up to a 75 gallon and setting it up where the tank is a wetland and then building an additional dryland alongside of it for Oregano to climb out and bask on. Any suggestions?

I suggest that unless you expect Oregano to lay eggs, then all you need for a basking area is a spot big enough for him to get completely out of the water. The only time RES need land is to bask, lay eggs, or look for a new home. If you provide lots of land area, and your turtle uses it a lot, hes telling you that his water area is too small, and hes looking for a new pond. Best Advice, make the water area as large as possible, and the land area as small as possible.
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Hey,

I agree. A setup with equal land and water seems more suitable for semi-aquatics like spotteds, bogs, and some muds. I know for one thing is that it'll be harder to clean and maintain in terms of removing wastes, preventing growth of bacteria, etc. The turtle can also dirty the water up a lot faster by traversing back and forth. It might look scenic but as aquatics, red-ears should prefer a huge ratio of water to land. Just think of a pond/lake with a log floating in the middle...that's where they bask mostly because it makes them feel safer than having to come ashore.

Johnny

I wasn't thinking of a really large area, more like an area that was about 10-12 inches each side, because they get about 10 inches and just have some slate as the platform with maybe a little of moss for moisture around the basking area. Oregano would be able to climb out of tank to bask. I am not real creative with building so I thinking really simple and small for basking area. But thank you for the info about large land areas and nomadic tendencies.