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i am completely new to turtles! don't know a thing! i need to know everything! do they need any hides? how high off the water should the basking rock be? etc.! i must know everything im getting them on wednesday/thursday! please help!
ps. my big brother has a leopord gecko! do they have anything in common! mabye something i could use for my RES!? and this is my brothers login name!
thanks all!
Oh boy. Turtles are completely different from leos. Basically to start out, make your water as deep as possible (how big is your tank? Filter?) The basking area should slope into the water, so the turtles can climb out. I use cork bark for the basking area, since it floats, or you can buy the floating turtle islands from the store. BTW, RES get very large, if you have a female you will need at least a 100 gallon tank sometime in the future.
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You REALLY should do what I did. I joined this site a few days ago and read the previous posts for a couple of hours. Almost EVERYTHING has already been answered somewhere. It was really helpful b'c when a question is answered, it poses another question somewhere. I was making mistakes for almost 2 months and am still learning.
You will find some eat rocks or gravel on the bottom (something new to me). One mistake I made was I only bought a Basking Light at first. Then realized I needed a UV light taht puts out sufficient UVB rays.
The water needs to be certain temps and get a little lower at night.
The basking area has to be above water enough that it's completely dry, but they have to have a way to get onto it also. It also needs a resting platform under the top of the water or someway to rest and breathe sometimes while not basking.
http://www.chelonia.org/care.htm
Go here to look up care sheets for sliders and other basking turtles. Also try to get the book "The General Care and Maintenance of Red-Eared Sliders" by Philippe de Vosjoli.
Why are you getting the sliders so fast? Where are you getting them from? Are they babies, juveniles, or adults?
Katrina
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