Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello! and happy independance day to all my u.s nieghbors!
im gonna be a Turtle- mommy!
my local reptile rescue society is gonna be calling me this morning regarding 2 res. i do not know the state of thier health yet buti do know they were rescued from evil owners, who had them living in a death pool(a plastic 5 gallon "aquarium" with no filter, no heater and a 100 watt lightbulb in a lamp without a shade as thier basking area) so i hope with all hopes that they are in good condition, and thier shells are okay. ive been reading everything and anything i can find on aquatic turtles and im totally turned off by tanks because unless i can get a huge lobster tank i dont want it,i hear they get stressed out from being able to see thru the glass and they can't get out of it. i dont really care about it being asthetically pleasing , i just want it to be HUGE and intellectually stimulating as possible. so ive decided that i want to build 2 indoor ponds (the kind you buy at home depot) that are attached in some way and a couple of basking areas, even if they are only babies i still am going to build this. i also just planted some pots of organic dandelions, parsley, hibiscus and marigolds to feed them and have access to a farmer's market that sells fresh organic fruit and veggies year round and have found a guy who breeds worms, crickets, guppies and feeder mice, right in the city and he delivers for free! Everthing is coming together and man, am i ever excited ever since i was a kid i wanted a turtle, but now iam 21 and have the money space and time to do this. i have a few questions only for the serious, long time res keepers/breeders who have ponds and over 100 gallon tanks. please do not reply if you have a Death Pool(anything under 25 gallons for more than 1 Turt) or had your res for less than 2 years. i will figure out how to post pics and show you the kinda set-up i want, but without further ado here goes my questions.Some of them may be dumb, but i guess the only dumb question would be "what kind of hot dogs and chips do they eat?"
1.) with a pond indoors, will it be okay to use the pond filters you buy at the home improvement stores? will it be noisy to have indoors? or would it be better to buy one from a pet store? this also goes for a heater as well.
2.) what is by far the best pellet on the market these days? is floating or just regular pellets best?
3.)how often would be best to do a complete water change, without risking the good bacteria? (with the best filters i can afford and me being on a constant poop watch!)
4.)at about what age can you start to tell what sex they are?
5.) is it nessesary to hibernate them if they live indoors?
6.) when feeding pinkie mice will he eat it out of the water?
7.) what brands of stuff can i buy to add to the water to manage waste, ensure good health, control parasites, ect?
8.) what kinds of fish can i house with the res's? im interested in koi, but will he try to eat them? they probably will be about 4 inches in length.
9> can you reccomend some good books to buy?
thanks alot in advance for any feedback, even if it is constructive critism, don't worry i can take it.
Cheers, Nicole

Happy 4th of July! Congrats on adopting rescued turts and wanting to provide the best environment for them. They're very lucky to have you as an owner. I do know the answers to some of your questions but I'm not qualified to reply by your standards. Good luck!

thanks for the compliment! it turns out all my pets are rescues from the s.p.c.a, one cat with a thyroid problem, 1 canary who was captured at a park but couldn't locate the owner, 1 baby panda bear hamster, he was brought in because the mother decided her babies made a good snack and a 100 gallon aquarium with 2 4' long koi! i recommend the s.pc.a as the first place to look for a new pal, you never know what you'll find there!

Cheers,

Nicole
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this is how a Res looks when he eats

don't worry, i wont out you down for giving your personal opinion, you gotta res thats happy and healthy by all means let me know, girl! im pretty friendly and don't like to argue online! im just making sure noone with a plastic lagoon with a plastic palm tree doesn't give me any "advice" i don't need!

Cheers,

Nicole
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this is how a Res looks when he eats

I was merely stating facts regarding myself. Nothing to argue about there. Best of luck with your turtles and pond construction. I'm sure you'll find a wealth of info on the forum.

Kiwi

I don't have a pond set up yet, but here are some answers:

2.) what is by far the best pellet on the market these days? is floating or just regular pellets best? Most people use Reptomin, it seems to be the standard. My turtles get reptomin twice a week. The rest of the days they just get fresh greens and veggies, but mine are adults. Baby RES do need more protein.
3.)how often would be best to do a complete water change, without risking the good bacteria? (with the best filters i can afford and me being on a constant poop watch!) I would say never do a total water change, you can do partial ones every few months. I changed all my water only once, and that was because I was moving to another house.
4.)at about what age can you start to tell what sex they are? about 4-5 inches long, age isn't really important, but a slider should reach maturity at about 5 years old and 5 inches long
5.) is it nessesary to hibernate them if they live indoors? nope
6.) when feeding pinkie mice will he eat it out of the water? Pinky mice are not good for them, they are too high in protein and fat. RES cannot eat anything out of the water, they can't swallow without being submerged. They may grab things on land and pull them into the water to eat.
7.) what brands of stuff can i buy to add to the water to manage waste, ensure good health, control parasites, ect? Better to just have a good filtration system and leave the chemicals out
8.) what kinds of fish can i house with the res's? im interested in koi, but will he try to eat them? they probably will be about 4 inches in length. Koi or any fish will get eaten, even if they are bigger than the turtles. Koi are also very messy and will add to the bio-load of the tank. Snails and ghost shrimp are good additions, they may get eaten but will at least eat some waste and algae.
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Hello there!Thanks for the advice! i may not agree with the changing the H20 only once a year, even with the best filters on the market, the common theme among the Herpetologists ive spoken with is: A Clean turtle is a Happy Turtle (an a live one at that!) but im sure whatever works best for you and your Chelys, right? i decided not to house my pet koi in there, they are my pals not food! i think i'll just try the shrimp and some feeder Comets and guppies. Will my res choke on the snail shells? if not, im guessing the "escargot" would be an excellent source of calcium?

Cheers,

Nicole
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this is how a Res looks when he eats

Glad to hear you are taking in these RES!

I have 2 female RES that I raised from hatchlings. They are
5 years old now and are about 5" long.

I will answer your questions based on my knowledge of
raising them and reading everything I could get my hands on.
I do education seminars at local petstores as I have 2 RES
2 Painted turtles and 3 Iguanas. (all rescues)

1. The preformed ponds are great to use from Lowe's, home
Depot, etc. I have never used an aquarium. Because of the
sizes of my RES I have just purchased a 165 gallon pond for
$129. Try buying an aquarium for that price! You can use
an outside pond filter but it would depend on what kind, ie:
cannister, submersible, etc. If you keep the pond indoors you
will not need a heater as long as you keep the temp in your
house about 70-72 degrees year round. Make sure you have a
basking area that reaches 85 degrees and a UVB source like the
Reptisun 5.0.

2. I believe Reptomin is the best source as a staple food and
then add greens and water plants like anarcharis.

3. I will answer this question and question #8 at the same time.
I personally would not add any fish (other than maybe a few
minnows for food). Fish require a very specific water quality
that RES do not need. You are going to have trouble keeping that
quality because as you will find out, turtles are very messy!

4. Depending on your experience with turtles you can usually
tell quite young the sex. I think I can tell at probably 95%.

5. It is not necessary to hibernate them indoors and to be honest
I would leave that to the people who have a lot of experience
doing so.

6. I WOULD NOT feed pinkie mice. As RES grow older they are
need less animal protein and feeding this can lead to kidney
failure. I have always used Reptomin as a staple food feeding
about every 2nd to 3rd day otherwise I give greens like Romaine,
and turnip. I also buy frozen shrimp (thawed) and soaked dry
cat food maybe 1 time/week. Also water plants like anarcharis
and water lettuce. I also don't think this would be a food
source in nature.

7. As far as books, many I have read are outdated. I think
the internet is a great source for the most up to date info.

I look forward for pictures of your set-up

Linda

Glad to hear you are taking in these RES!

I have 2 female RES that I raised from hatchlings. They are
5 years old now and are about 5" long.

I will answer your questions based on my knowledge of
raising them and reading everything I could get my hands on.
I do education seminars at local petstores as I have 2 RES
2 Painted turtles and 3 Iguanas. (all rescues)

1. The preformed ponds are great to use from Lowe's, home
Depot, etc. I have never used an aquarium. Because of the
sizes of my RES I have just purchased a 165 gallon pond for
$129. Try buying an aquarium for that price! You can use
an outside pond filter but it would depend on what kind, ie:
cannister, submersible, etc. If you keep the pond indoors you
will not need a heater as long as you keep the temp in your
house about 70-72 degrees year round. Make sure you have a
basking area that reaches 85 degrees and a UVB source like the
Reptisun 5.0.

2. I believe Reptomin is the best source as a staple food and
then add greens and water plants like anarcharis.

3. I will answer this question and question #8 at the same time.
I personally would not add any fish (other than maybe a few
minnows for food). Fish require a very specific water quality
that RES do not need. You are going to have trouble keeping that
quality because as you will find out, turtles are very messy!

4. Depending on your experience with turtles you can usually
tell quite young the sex. I think I can tell at probably 95%.

5. It is not necessary to hibernate them indoors and to be honest
I would leave that to the people who have a lot of experience
doing so.

6. I WOULD NOT feed pinkie mice. As RES grow older they are
need less animal protein and feeding this can lead to kidney
failure. I have always used Reptomin as a staple food feeding
about every 2nd to 3rd day otherwise I give greens like Romaine,
and turnip. I also buy frozen shrimp (thawed) and soaked dry
cat food maybe 1 time/week. Also water plants like anarcharis
and water lettuce. I also don't think this would be a food
source in nature.

7. As far as books, many I have read are outdated. I think
the internet is a great source for the most up to date info.

I look forward for pictures of your set-up

Linda

sorry, the res i was talking about aren't from the rescue society i indicated in my post"my local herpetologist". the one i told you about are from a diferent rescue place based in saskatchewan and i will not ship these as im afraid for their health. im really glad that at least they were saved from the death bowl, tho' the res im gonna adopt are gonna be from Reptile rescue AB
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this is how a Res looks when he eats

First off - This sounds like an amazing endeavor for you but might I suggest that if they are very small animals you first start them off in a large rubber made tub of 50 gallon size or so. You can monitor the little guys better that way until they get to be 3 inches or so. You want to watch them eating etc. and be able to access them easily. They will get lost in a huge space like you are planning if they are little hatchling sized animals.

Also -- the glass tank think stressing them out is really not a problem so if you wanted to keep them in a tank until they got a bit larger for you magnificent pond then don't worry about it.

Now if they are a reasonable size and pond ready let's hit you questions -- here we go!!

1.) with a pond indoors, will it be okay to use the pond filters you buy at the home improvement stores? will it be noisy to have indoors? or would it be better to buy one from a pet store? this also goes for a heater as well.

You can use a fish tank heater just make sure you a 300 watt one for each 100 gallon pond and put a protector around them. They also sell larger 700 plus watt sizes but they are hundreds of dollars.

Get a pond filter. For indoors it is probably best to get the type that the filter box itself sits inside the pond. This way you just reach in, remove it clean it and sink it back in.

2.) what is by far the best pellet on the market these days? is floating or just regular pellets best?

Mazuri, Reptomin, and NASCO makes a turtle brittle. These are all good products.
3.)how often would be best to do a complete water change, without risking the good bacteria? (with the best filters i can afford and me being on a constant poop watch!)

NEVER!! Once you have a well cycled pond you should never have to do a 100% water change. With two turtles in that size if you did a 1/3 water change ever 2-3 weeks and cleaned out your mechanical filtration media (sponges or whatever filter material) it should function just fine.) If you can provide proper lighting get some some aquatic veg. Like water hyacinth to grow that will even help keep the nitrate levels down in your water and make water changing even less of a necessity.

4.)at about what age can you start to tell what sex they are?
Usually after 3-4 inches you start to see some sexual characteristics developing in the males.

5.) is it nessesary to hibernate them if they live indoors?
No

6.) when feeding pinkie mice will he eat it out of the water?
No they can only eat under water. They will snap something off a rock or from you hand but must swallow under water. IMHO do not feed pinkie mice. Not necessary and will foul up your water.

7.) what brands of stuff can i buy to add to the water to manage waste, ensure good health, control parasites, ect?
If you maintain a good balanced pond you should be fine and not need anything. As far as parasites just have your turtle feces checked by a vet. If they are clean they should be fine.

8.) what kinds of fish can i house with the res's? im interested in koi, but will he try to eat them? they probably will be about 4 inches in length.
This depends on the individual animals. My turtles live in the outside pond with koi and are fine. I would just keep an eye on them and see what's what. Koi would be the best choice I think as they can move pretty fast. Those orandas and other big round goldfish would be too slow and tempting and at the very least get their tails chewed on for fun.

9> can you reccomend some good books to buy?
thanks alot in advance for any feedback, even if it is constructive critism, don't worry i can take it.

There are lots of good ones out there. Books by Russ Gurley are very informative and you can go to Austin's turtle page to find some good care info.

Good luck and just be sure to give them a nice set up BUT not get soooo crazed about it that you burn yourself out trying to build turtle metropolis LOL!! Seriously you want to give them a good life but NOT hate them for controlling yours. Just a thought. POST PIX when you have it all done.

Steve