Reptile & Amphibian Forums

on saterday i took a red-ear and abox turtle from some peopel that didnt want them anymore, the red-ear seems to be in fair shape her jaws have a small space (like an overbite?) i assume thats from the lack of uvb in her last home, she shedding her shell at the moment most of it seems to be doing ok except the top, but it might just lookk weird to me becuase she had alge on her shell so when a peice sheds away its darker in that spot.
she's 8 and a half inches long and i didnt get her weight becuase she bit me when i tryed, that was not fun, but i'll try again tomorrow.
im setting up a 4ft tank i think its a 50-60 gallon right now it has 25 gallons of water in it, should it be filled like half way, 3/4 of the way up?
how much land area does she need? are turlte docks good for them? and if so how large of one would i need for a turtle her size?
filters my first idea was to get two powerful submersible filters and put on on each end of the tank but i was reading a few old posts and thing a canister filter would be better? can a canister filter be setup so the water gets taken out one side of the tank and put in the otehr side so the waters kept moveing?
i would like to move her outside during the summers but im afraid of her escaping. though once i get a kiddy pool im going to try to take her and the box turtle out a few times a week for real sun.
diet
i've read some caresheets that say mostly meat in the diet and others that say mostly greens, i have been feeding her wardley turlte pellets, she got those in her last home and accepts them without a problem, and i gave her a leaf of collard grean which appaers to have been munched on.
how often and what should i be feeding her?
if the 50-60 gallon to small, the only thing i remember concerning turtle tank size is that they should have tan gallons for each inch of turlte and that would put me at around needing a tank 300 gallons bigger
anythign else i should know about keeping a RES?
this is my first turtle since i was little and had the bowl with the plastic palm tree setup

It's usually a good idea to do some research before you get a pet, but at least you're here and asking.
First fill your tank as high as possible without ur turtle being able to climb out, and they are surprising climbers.
Yes turtle docks are good for them. It needs enough space to fully come out of the water and bask. Canister filters are by far the best. If you have enough pipeing you can run it from one side of the tank to the other. If you have something like a fluval, even if both in and out pipes are on the same side, it's out put is strong enough that it will make a circular current in your tank going from one end to the other and back again.
It's not quite time to take your turtal outside for the summer. There is still the possibility of frost and all that. Outdoor turtle ponds can be hard. You have to make sure ur pets can't get out and neighbourhood animals can't get in, and racoons are VERY clever. If you insist, try placing a screen all the way overtop of the kiddy pool and making land in the middle.
As your turtle is 8 1/2 inches it's diet should consist mainly of veggies and greens. It still does need some protein which can be in the form of pellets like Wardly's or insects like crickets and meal worms. All sorts of veggies are good, but stay away from broccolli, spinich, kale, and iceburg lettus. The first three have calcium blocking agents, and the last has no nutritional value. You should provide veggies and greens all the time. Turtles are grazers and every few days some turtle pellets or bugs.
I'm not sure where you got 300 gals from. If your turtle is 8 1/2 inches, you need 85 gals. RES's can get to be 10-12 inches so 100-120 gallons. RES and box turtles DO NOT live together.
You need to provide UVB/UVA light so that it can motabilize calcium, and a basking light reaching about 85-90 degrees F. The water can be about 70-75.

Box turtles have VERY different care and are just as if not more difficult then RES's. They need a lot of space. Many actually keep their box's outside in well designed enclosures. It has been said that box's don't do well without the space an outdoor enclosure provides. This can be remidied by allowing free range of certain rooms in the house. If this is what you insend to do you need to think about what might hurt your box, like it falling, getting into things, being able to get warm enough and find food. They are veggie eaters which can be supplimented with a prepared pellet. This all i know about box's, i would suggest you do some reasearch on them too.

good luck and hope this helps
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- Melanie

2.0.0 cats
0.0.3 crested geckos
1.2.2 leopard geckos
1.0.0 Bernese mountain dog
1.1.1 red ear sliders
0.0.1 emperor scorpion
0.0.1 chilean rose tarantula
1 south american cichlid tank
2 planted tanks with dwarf cichlids and platies

The RES was kind of unexpected, i was taking the box and then the day before i was to pick it up they asked if i would take the RES aswell i was going to say no becuase i didnt think i would gave the space it needed but they were telling me about its tank and i thought even if i cant get it into a perfect sized tank alteast i can get it into something larger, cleaning and with uvb and heat.
I just thought she'd be happier outide becuase i want to put up a pond anyway and she's have more room but yeah the escaping or being eaten woorieds me so if i do get the pond up im going to do alot of preventive work before she goes in,even then i guess it would only be for summer.
soory that was a typo,i didnt mean 300, i ment to say i though my tank was propably around 30 gallons short of what she needed but until i gen get a larger one thats the biggest thing i have
thanx for the food advice, i'll try her on a couple different kinds of good greens to see if theres anything she likes so far she's eaten a few bites of collard greens. ary there any vegitarian turtle pellets to supplement that incase she wont eat enough greens?
i'll stop at the fish store for a turlte dock, and a filter, do you know what the average price is on the canisters filters?
and im keeping the bottom of the tank bare is that ok? i dont want her eating any pebbles.
the Box turtle isnt living with her, he has his own tank.
i would like to put him outside also becuase everyone says its better for them outside but im also worried about him escaping or getting eaten, he's only 2 and 3/4 inches long and suposedly around 9 years old, has a lopsided, peeling shell, no tail, somethign wrong with his legs. they move fine but they look weird,
for now he's going in a twenty long but i've been adviced he needs something around 40 gallons so im getting a rubbermaid type container for him

Collard greens are good, so are dandylion greens. Mine really like green peppers. I don't know of any vegitable pellet for turtles, but u guys in the US have more products then us canadians.
I bought my fluval for $50 CAN, but it was like 65% off. Usually between $100-180 CAN.
Bare bottom tanks are perfectly fine because they can eat the gravel, and that's no good.
2 3/4ths? That seems really small for 9 years. But small living conditions can stunt growth, this may be why his legs move funny. Turtles keep healthy by swimming and being active, if there isn't enough space their muscles might atrophy from lack of use.
Rubbermaid bins work really well and lots of people here use them. At 3 inches 40 gals is a good size, but he will grow and need more space. You may enven see a noticeable difference in size in the next few months. When i upgraded my tank my turtles had growth spurts.
I don't want to discourage you from making a pond, i just want to make sure you know about the possible dangers. Real sunlight is always better than flourecent light, but the turtle won't benifit if it dies.
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- Melanie

2.0.0 cats
0.0.3 crested geckos
1.2.2 leopard geckos
1.0.0 Bernese mountain dog
1.1.1 red ear sliders
0.0.1 emperor scorpion
0.0.1 chilean rose tarantula
1 south american cichlid tank
2 planted tanks with dwarf cichlids and platies