Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone, I noticed how everyone was answering questions thoroughly so I thought I would give this a shot!

I recently got an Eastern Painted Turtle (which I believe is what he is from the little research I have done!). I do believe he is fairly young and I was wondering if the condition I have him (Squirt) in is good. I put live sand in his tank from a river and provided him with 2 rocks (one sticking out a little from the water and the other has a surface to bask on). He also has an area of sand to relax on as well (which I noticed he is trying to bury himself in). I took this hint as it is too chilly for him. I have noticed that he doesn't bask a lot.

Now I know all of you are thinking OH BOY she needs some help! I was wondering what the temperature of the water should be and the temperature in the tank itself overall?
He is also not eating the pellets i bought at the store. I do break them so they arn't so large, and I am going to get him some live small insects tomorrow to see if he likes those!

Thank you for all your help...whoever replies!!!

How big is he...shell length?

Is he in an aquarium and if so how big is it?

Let's start with this info

Linda

He is in a normal size 55 gallon tank that is a little less than half full with water. On one side there is sand and the other side is water with 2 rocks that he can come up on and bask. I did notice that last night he sort of buried himselfin the sand to get warm (my diagnosis) so I defintiely need to know what the temperature should be in there.
Thank you for your response!

Whoops and I forgot to mention that the sand is sort of beach like where he can come up onto it away from the water!

First of all I would stay away from sand. Not only can it irratate the eyes and is not good for them to eat but it is so hard to clean. Get one of those floating turtle docks they work real well. Also what kind of filter are you using and lights etc?

I spent all morning getting him into a better home.
I wanted to go for the natural look of a river bed but it was way to messy like you said. So now I have 2 large rocks with pebble bottom, a whisper filter (a small one, but I think its fine for just 1 turtle), I did buy a heater for the water, but I am not sure if I should use it or not, I also have a jet to keep the water flowing, and also a floating dock like you said. But i'm afraid he'll get stuck in between the glass and the dock. I was a little weary about it so I took it out to fix it so that it won't move side to side. It has brackets and suction cups but it still moves side to side.

I also have a 150w light bulb that gives off plenty of heat, and another bulb for the live plants.

My little guy is about an inch in length. He isn't eating the pellets. I hate to have to spend a ton on food and not have him eat it. I split the pellets into tiny pieces because they were too large for his little mouth. How often do they eat anyway?! Before with the live stuff in there he ate some waterbugs, but I havn't seen him eat since.

A couple of questions. Is the basking light over the sand? Or is it over one of the Rocks?
150 watts is way too much for a 55 gallon aquarium.
He may be burying in the sand to get away from the heat. Check the basking spot temp with a heat gun if you can.
It should be mid 80's to low 90's. I've never heated my water as long as my room temps stayed in the 70's and they had access to
adequate basking sites. They are fairly cold hardy turtles.
Is the bulb for the plants or the basking area specifically designed for reptiles?
If not it would be a good idea to pick one up. If he doesn't like prepared food, try cutting up a small earthworm for him.
Turtles can't seem to resist the movement a worm makes. And keep trying different prepared foods.
He may actually like a different one.

Depending on how small your turtle is right now, 55 gallons may be overkill. I raise mine in 5 or 10 gallon aquariums
until they are ready to move up to bigger homes. It's easier to monitor what they are eating and easier to clean. Every morning,
I just empty them out and refill them. No filter needed. I know it's tempting to want to go naturalistic, but until you establish your turtle
it may be a good idea to have him in a bare bones tank with a bare bottom and a simple basking spot.

Lastly, a trip to the vet may not be a bad idea. Get a fecal done and have the vet examine the turtle to see what he thinks.
Best of luck.

I don't have him in sand anymore its a pebble bottom and it has rocks to bask near the light. The tank is in our basement where its a little chilly so the heat from the light isn't too much. That is why I was wondering about the water because it is a chilly room so I wasn't sure if I should heat the water at night when the light isn't on.
I got 2 guppies to see if he'll eat those. Should I get live mealworms or just get the freeze dried ones? The place I went to had a tin of worms for $7 and I was afraid to get them if he wasn't going to eat them!
Well we had the tank kicking around thats why I put him in there and the water fills it only about one quarter.

A basking light isn't designed to heat the entire enclosure, just a localized area. You need a temperature gradient in any tank and if it's too hot under the light he may burn himself while basking. If it's too cold in the basement by all means use a heater for the water. These shouldn't be turned on and off however as they can take a fair amount of time to heat a large body of water. Set the temp on them to low to mid 70's and leave it there.

As far as food, try LIVE earthworms. Turtles are attracted by movement and they seem to find them irrisistable. Also try Mazuri and ReptoMin food sticks, feeder fish, Duckweed, veggies, crickets, mealworms etc.

It may take a while and some effort but he should start eating.

Painteds can go a couple of weeks without eating and provided they are active and show no other sign of illness you shouldn't worry.

If all else fails take it to a vet, just don't leavr it too long.

Give him some time to eat he might not eat right away if he is a hatchling. I just got a hatchling painted like a weak ago and I put some romaine lettuce in the tank he started eating it right away. Now he started eating 10 sticks of reptomin a day. Just give it time when he is hungry he will eat. And also my floating dock doesn't have a space between it and the aquarium. Here is a pic of my setup for one baby painted hatchling.

Thank you so much for your input. Yeah the dock would probably be fine. I am just a worry wart!

The poor little guy probably isn't hungry at all and he must think i'm crazy overfeeding him! I'm used to fish that eat whenever the food hits the water!
Do they really only eat once or twice a week? Is that becuase they are so young? I will try a piece of lettuce too. He's in the water most of the time, should I put the lettuce in the water?
My tank setup looks a lot like yours. I am thinking about using my jet to make a waterfall, I think he'll like it only he will miss riding the current!!

Are you putting the pellets in the water because painted turtles only eat in the water. Yes put the lettuce in the water. I feed mine 1-2 times a day and he eats it all.

Yup I did put the pellets in the water. He did eat the guppies too!!! I'm so happy! I will try some romaine lettuce today and I'm going to go get him some worms just to see what he likes. I'm just so happy now that he's eating!

Dont let these people fool you. A 55 gal is just fine for a hatchling painted turtle. These turtles live in PONDS when they are wild hatchlings. Your tank can NEVER be too big. Also they are excellent swimmers. Feel free to fill the tank up all the way. A canopy hood is a good idea. You can mount the lights inside and it will prevent escape if you choose to fill the tank all the way up. My basking spot sits on the lip of the aquarium, so the turtle basks above the top of the aquarium.

Planning for the future, you will want a very powerful filter, and a metal submersible heater (turtles can break the glass ones). As for your live plants, expect them to eventually be uprooted or eaten or both.

Maybe I missed it, but I dont believe I saw you mention how big the turtle is. Measure a straight line from the front of the shell to the back (dont measure the curve).

I would keep the water temp 70-75F, and the basking spot 85-90F.

Also there is a difference in turtle sticks. Most turtles I have kept didnt like Wardley brand, they prefer Reptomin. You may also want to treat your turtle to frozen brine shrimp. I place a cube in a cup of hot water, wait for it to dissolve, then dump it in. If your turtle has a hard time catching fish, you can clip the fish's tail or fins to slow it down.

I don't believe anyone said a 55 gallon was too small for a hatchling. The one gentleman actually suggested it might be too large. For an adult RES, male of female, it is too small a tank though.

I don't believe anyone said a 55 gallon was too small for a hatchling. The one gentleman actually suggested it might be too large. For an adult RES, male of female, it is too small a tank though.

If you will actually read my post you see that I didnt suggest anyone said a 55 was too small.

I know the one gentleman suggested it might be too large, that is the idea that I am challenging.

A 1000 gallon aquarium is NOT too large for a hatchling turtle.

If any of you have ever observed baby RES in the wild, you will see that they dont live in 10 gallon puddles. They live in FULL SIZE ponds and lakes. Sure I have found them in small ditches before, but those ditches are the size of stock tanks and have hundreds or even thousands of gallons of water.

Turtles kept in too shallow of water will eventually "forget" how to swim. Once put in deeper water, they will struggle for a few minutes before remembering that they are actually expert swimmers. Captive care of turtles should more closely resemble natural conditions, unless you are running a turtle prison.

Respectfully, I couldn’t agree less with regards to hatchlings. A smaller tank allows you to more easily monitor the conditions the turtle is kept in. Things such as food intake, and temperatures, etc are all easier to monitor in a smaller tank. You simply cannot recreate the wild in a glass tank. A hatchling turtle in the wild utilizes a specific subset of the larger environment. They look for places that offer shelter from predators and an abundance of food. In most cases this is found along the margins of a large body of water in a marshy or swampy section for instance, not in deep water. These micro habitats are usually teeming with food that a hatchling can easily find and capture.

You can’t recreate that, even in a 1000 gallon aquarium and it would be pointless to try. As a tank for an adult turtle, it’s great, but it really doesn’t help with the husbandry requirements for an animal the size of a quarter. How do you insure it finds and eats enough for instance? In a small tank it’s easy enough to see how much they have eaten, but in a larger tank uneaten food just gets lost.

I keep hatchling painted, and other species of turtle, in 5 or 10 gallon tanks with water that’s deep enough for them to reach the surface if they stretch on their hind legs. I’ve done this for years and when moving them to larger tanks as they grow, I’ve never had a turtle forget how to swim.

I think for adults, a large tank is an absolute must, but for a hatchling it’s overkill and counterproductive for taking care of it’s needs.

Perhaps Ive only ended up with intelligent healthy hatchlings so a large tank worked just fine.

Those of you who need a medical tank facility should start with a smaller tank.

(Things such as food intake,)
Ive always been able to monitor eating since I would feed the turtle when I was there, and didnt leave excess food in to cloud the water.
(temperatures,)
Ive always had sufficent current in the tank, so water temperatures were constant throughout.
As for finding food, it seems every turtle I had had an excellent sense of smell. Have you ever smelled inside the can of Reptomin?

Now if you are feeding live food such as fish, I understand its easier to shoot fish in a barrel than in a lake. In that case I would injure the fish to make it easier to catch. Cutting off the tail works good. Also I would hold the fish with a pair of tongs a let the little guy grab it first, then he would be hot on the trail and follow it whereever it wriggled to in the tank.

All this from a turtle the size of a quarter

As for turtles forgetting how to swim, A friend fo mine who had a RES (which I tried so hard to explain proper care) complained that their turtle wasnt eating and they had no one to turn to. I took their turtle, put in my tank. For about a minute it appeared to struggle to swim. My turtle was zooming all around it excited to have a new buddy. Within an hour, the new turtle was expertly maneuvering around the large tank.

I found out that even tho I have given them a 55 gallon tank for their turtle, they were keeping it in inches of water and the poor thing never had a chance to swim. Turtles dont forget how to swim, but it does take them a while to get going when theyve never done it before.

"Perhaps Ive only ended up with intelligent healthy hatchlings so a large tank worked just fine. Those of you who need a medical tank facility should start with a smaller tank."

Nice sarcasm, I like it. Up until this point I thought you may actually know something. I believe you stated a 1000 gallon aquarium wasn't too small for a hatchling. Have you ever done this? Actually scratch that question as I wouldn't believe you if you said you had.

I stand by my contention that it is far easier to successfully raise and monitor a hatchling in a smaller environment, especially if you have as little experience with turtles as this lady obviously has. Biggewr is not better in all situations. As the turtle progresses you can move it to a much larger tank but for hatchlings, smaller works better.

Loved the debate!! Very entertaining and somewhat educational. I would have to agree that my tank is just fine, and no it may not be easy to monitor what he eats, but they are not precious children for crying out loud. I bought a plant for him too to munch on as well as some more guppies. I just don't have the heart to cut off their tails but I may try to hold them in front of him. I have seen some guppy heads floating before so I think he does sort of a crowching tiger and pounces on them when swimming by. HAHAH

Well again, thank you for all the info and unfortunately I have another question....How long should the heat light be on for? I do have it on a timer, and again remember the tank is in a somewhat chilly basement so would I need to compensate? I think he is just fine, but I wouldn't want him to get burned.

Dont worry so much youre love for the baby will help you. First make sure you have a uva uvb light for reptiles and leave it on for about 12 hrs a day also make sure you have the right size basking light and fixture a 5 1/2 in ceramic fixture with a 100watt basking light overs the turtle dock will suffice and make sure the light from the uva uvb light reaches the turtle , it should be no more than 12 in away, a fish water heater will do just fine set to between 70 to 75 degrees youre filter is probably to small for the turtle. Turtles produce alot of waste. Also for fun I hand feed my turtle its very cute I also sometimes throw a cricket or two in his tank wich he seems to play with before he bites its head off! My advice keep researching and asking for advice what im telling might not be the best or only way but works for me and my turtle seems to be very healthy and thriving Good Luck!