Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I used to have RES when I was younger all the time... I live here in East Texas (they're native here). I bought a plastic kiddie swimming pool, put a big rock in the middle and filled it with distilled water. His new home is on the balcony of my apartment and will have sunshine directly for a few hours every day. He's a about the size of a fifty-cent piece. As far as feeding goes, I should buy little feeder minnows, yes? Any advice on his care would be appreciated... thanks!

-Chase

PS. I think his name will be Inferno (long story)... a picture is soon to come! I also have a Russian Tortoise named Sampson!

I think i would put some way of letting him get some shade in the pool. Maybe like a plastic water cave or something. A filter would also be good as well because its cleaner for the turtle and for u. Little fish are good if he will eat them. Try some plants as well (like romaine or something).

Also buy some commercial food such as ZooMed hatchling food. My hatchlings ate that readily. If you can't find that, I found that they would eat turtle floating sticks, if I split them in bite size pieces. I haven't had any success getting mine to eat veggies yet, but they love canned tuna, canned dog food, COOKED chicken, beef, etc. But I only give it to them 2-3 times a week because too much protein is bad for them. I've also given them baby crickets (which they love) and I'm soon going to try some small feeder fish and maybe some mealworms. Just to give you some suggestions.

get a filter zoo med shrimp treats are good for the turtle and the hatchling food and make sure the water is enough for it to stand at the bottom and can stretch his head up for some air...

Don't use distilled water. RES need the minerals that are found in normal tap water, distilled water can make your turtle very sick. Also, get him in the shade, direct sun will over heat the water which can be very quickly fatal to a turtle.
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I thought tap water was bad for turtles because of all the chlorine, etc, so I leave it out for at least 24 hours. Are you saying straight tap water is better for them?

I always use tap water. Never leave it out either. I also never had any problems with my turtles.

use spring water not tap water

Tap water should be fine. I use it and let it stand 24 hours to let the chlorine evaporate like someone else posted. If you`re concerned about using it, add a water conditioner like Reptisafe to put back some of the minerals in it.