Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 4 year old and I "rescued" this Midland Painted from certain demise on a local freeway last week. We have changed his water twice and gave him a basking light(75watt) and sandstone rock to bask in and he rarely uses it. He is in a 30 gallon tank with approx. 8" of water throuhout except where his rock protrudes. There is a filter and one of those dissolving turtle things I bought from Petco. We feed him everyother day with the tutle stix. He gets approximately 8-10 hours of darkness. Do I have too much water in the tank? Should I buy the Hexidine scrub? Add plants? How do we cure the white fuzzy things on his legs and green(alage?) on his shell? My son named him Dinosaur.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thank you

Well sounds like your off to a decent start if you want to keep this little guy. A 30gal tank is fine for now, but you need to consider getting a 55gal or larger soon. You said you have a basking area. Can he completly get out of the water and dry off? If so, good. Do you have a submersible heater? The water should be between 74-78 degrees. Im not sure if you said you had a filter, but if you do not, you need to get one. Turtles are very messy and need clean water. Im sure your not going to want to spend a load of money here so I will reccomend a Aqua-Clear 300 or 500. There cheap and do a decent job. Plants are great to add. You can get live plants and throw them in there for him to eat and nibble on, and you can get some fake ones if you want them to stay for good. The water should be as deep as possible (but you still need to have room for a basking area). About the "fuzzy legs" thats just him shedding. It means hes growing, completly normal. As for the algae on his shell, you can just scrub that off lightly with a clean toothbrush. Good luck, and if you have more questions feel free to ask!
Chris
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Hey whats up, I'm Chris and I currently have 0.1 Midland Painted, 1.0 Western Painted, 0.0.1 RES, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

WOW, this site is great. Thank you so much for your help. He can get completely out of the water to bask. How often should I get him out of the tank all together? I don't want to handle him too much. We are going to the store tonight to get some other food sources than turtle stix. I have a good Whisper series filter but it is an out side filter and I didn't have enough water depth to be sure. So I have been using one of those submerseable green filters that attach to the side of the tank and connect to what appears to be a bubbler?!?> Anyway I will take your advise and look for a 300 or 500. Thanks again.

You do not need to take your turtle of of the tank unless you want to. I would advise not to, doing so would most likley stress the little guy out. About the filter... The ones I reccomended are power filters as well. So they hang on the back of the tank. If you can spend the money, go for a canister filter. A FilStar XP2 or XP3 would be great. You may want to order from the internet beacuse they are WAY cheaper. Heres a link to a great online store.
Doctors Foster & Smith

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Hey whats up, I'm Chris and I currently have 0.1 Midland Painted, 1.0 Western Painted, 0.0.1 RES, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

What about Turrets? He will seemingly, involuntarily twitch and shake his head. I mostly notice it when he is basking. Which I am happy to report he has become a much more social fella. He is out on his slate rock more and doesn't dive in as soon as we enter the room.
Thanks again.