Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My wife is bringing home a rescue turtle, some type of pond turtle. She says it's with 2 red- ears and some fish. Please give basic set up ideas, i have a 30 gallon tank i'm going to use.If some of you can post a pic of your set ups, that would be great. I'll post a pic of the turtle when i get it. Thanks.

If its a pond turtle why are you posting this on the Mud/Musk forum? You would probably have better luck in the General Turtle Forum. Anyway, a 30gal will not be big enough for a "pond turtle". I would say a 55gal would be the smallest considering we dont know what kind of turtle it is yet. Personally I like natural setups. So, I would throw in some natural colored gravel or river rock. Then some aquatic plants like Anacharis. You will need a filter and a heater. I would reccomend a canister filter like a FilStar or a Magnum. For a heater I would go for a Ebo-Jager or a Tronic, about 150 watts. Then you will need to make a basking area. You can pretty much use anything you want there. They have commercial basking areas or you can make your own out of a log or whatever. You will need a heatlamp over the basking area, and ideally a flourecent light over the water area with a good UVB bulb. For more info go to www.AustinsTurtlePage.com
Chris
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Hey whats up, I'm Chris and I currently have 1.0 Softy, 0.0.1 Midland Painted, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

You don't know what kind of turtle? Or what sex? Well male or female, an adult pond turtle will fit easily and live easily in a 20 gallon aqarium with about 5 inches of water and a few basking rocks.
Michael
Michael's Place

>>You don't know what kind of turtle? Or what sex? Well male or female, an adult pond turtle will fit easily and live easily in a 20 gallon aqarium with about 5 inches of water and a few basking rocks.
>>Michael
>>Michael's Place

you have a plunger on hand to stuff him into the tank with. If memory serves a lot of sliders and cooters get about 6" or more and would be incredibly unhappy in a 20 gallon (assuming 20 long). For a 6" turtle I would say bare minimum of 40 breeder (36" x 18". I've got an adult female razorback musk who's 4 1/2" and I've got her in a 40 long and I still feel a little bad that the tank is so narrow.
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"The serpent crams itself with animal life that is often warm and vibrant, to prolong an existence in which we detect no joy and no emotion. It reveals the depth to which evolution can sink when it takes the downward path and strips animals to the irreducible minimum able to perpetuate a predatory life in its naked horror."
Alexander Skutch

No, no, and no. A 20gal tank is WAY to small for almost any adult turtle (Muds and Musks being the exception). Female sliders will get about 12in. Males around 8in. I think a 40gal is even to small. For an adult female slider you should really have a 100gal tank, thats ideal. You should have about 10 gallons per inch of turtle (shell). So once you find out what kind of turtle this is, I will be able to help you more.
Chris
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Hey whats up, I'm Chris and I currently have 1.0 Softy, 0.0.1 Midland Painted, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

I think a 20 is too small even for a mud or musk!
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Eryx - All the fun of a boa in a convient pocket size!

me too
and a 125 is decent for an adult male slider
too small for a ten inch female
a tewnty make s good box for worms or feeder fish : )

Twenty gallon aquaruims are OK for a juvenile mud turtle or as a quarantine tank but that is about it.
You could also MAYBE keep one of the smaller populations of three stripe mud turtles (like from extreme S. Fla. where they are even smaller than in the rest of their range)but even then that is the minimum size.
But there is NO adult slider of any kind that would be happy in a tank that small.

Being happy isn't even the issue here. Its using common sense. An adult "pond turtle" would have a hard time turning around in a tank of that size. . .
Chris
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Hey whats up, I'm Chris and I currently have 1.0 Softy, 0.0.1 Midland Painted, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

If you're bringing in rescus/fosters and need a fast, inexpensive set-up, get thee to Wal-Mart, Lowes, or Home Depot and get some Rubbermaid or Sterilite containers. Depending on the size the turtles, you can get the squarish 44 qt containers for temp. housing for smaller turtles, and 29 or 40 gallon tubs for larger turtles. For basking you can also get stackable storage shelves in either the kitchen or storage section of these stores. You can either put a ten or 20 gallon aquarium screen on one end of the container to hold a heat light, or build your own screen top.

Katrina