Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi my boyfriend and I are trying to set up a tank for a couple of southern painted turtles that will be arriving next week. We have had a series of unfortunate events with some other SPs being shipped and mishandled which lead to their deaths. We just had a small (1.5 inch) baby survive two days in shipping in the southern heat, eat for a week then suddenly stop eating after it consumed 7 ghost shrimp in 2.5 days, then become lethargic and sadly pass away just last night.

We were told by a friend that his sudden change in behavior could have been caused by stress. We have a 29l tank with an underwater filter. We had only a few plants and no place for the turtle to hide under the water, as well as only 1/3 of the tank containing "quiet water." His basking area was around 90 degrees F while the water bounced between day and night from 81 to 85.

So we revamped the tank and here is a picture...

(my server just went down so this picture may not show, but check back and it should be here later... it BETTER be here later lol)

The tank now has the basking area which is a stack of 6"X9" pavers in front of the filter so the output flow of the filters is slowed. Now the entire tank has a slow quiet nature to it but still enough movement for the filter to do its job. We did this because this model of filter will not let us change the flow. We also added an orange sherbet container in the front corner for a hidey space under the water. We shifted the lamps so the heat lamp hits the basking area and points all excessive light out of the tank. We have one lamp for heating and another with a UBA/UVB florescent bulb in it. Then we have added about A MILLION plants... ok not really. We added enough combomba and anachris so that the babies will be able to hide in it and feel safe. (about 12 bucks worth from Petsmart... if that helps if you can't see the picture)

Now the basking area is around the 90 degree mark.
The air temp is in the mid 80s
The water ranges from 78 to 81 (instead of 85)
The air humidity in the tank is about 55-60%

The tank is covered with a metal screen top and there is a heater in the water to keep the water from dipping below 75ish.

Is this setup great, good, bad, okay, horrible for southern painteds?

Ok other questions:

We haven't been treating the water with any conditions we have been putting straight tap water in the tank, should we be conditioning the water with something?

We WERE feeding the baby that passed away ReptoMin Baby but then he ate all the ghost shrimp (I thought he wouldn't be fast enough to get them) do you think the ghost shrimp feast could have caused problems and then killed him?

I also have a question on cats, I have two cats one long haired and one short haired, a girl at my university said her two snakes passed away from upper respiratory problems induced by cat hair, do my cats pose the same problem to my future turtles?

We appreciate any opinions and help you can give us, we want to make sure the next babies are getting the best care possible.

Thank you for any time you give to these matters,
Pitch

One last note, this tank is setup for small turtles and is not a permanent home by any stretch. We are fully aware a 30 gallon tank will not house two or three full grown southern painteds and have plans to acquire a 60 gallon tank for them in the future (within the next 18 months.)

Your setup seems very nice. A bit improvised in some areas, but it seems okay for any water turtle, even a painted. Foliage seems a bit much. As for water treatment, you 'could' treat it if you like, but tap does fine.

The turtles death is most likely result of stress. Shrimps might be problem. I dunno but I have read somewhere that an entire shrimp diet can be bad, but that seems like it would take much longer. Also painters are by nature eaters of shrimp, crustaceans, worms, and other invertabraes and vegetation. But it is most likely stress played a role

Tank size is okay for now. Turtles won't get bigger than a few inches until they are over 3-4 years old. Unless of course you feed them a lot and often....

Cat hair may or may not pose threat to turtles, but then again their hair is fine not to mention dandruff flies from them.

One more thing, I think you should try another source for turtles. Unless this is the only one that can supply this particular breed, I would go for something else.

Your tank looks fine for a small turtle. I notice that the UVB is in a standard clamp lamp.... is it a fold flourescent? Also, the UVB is rather high up. Usually they're only good for a few inches (check the package for recomended max distance). You've certainly got enough plants! I have fake plants for my eastern painted and she loves to hide in them.

As to why the hatchling that died.... without a necropsy, there's no way to tell. It's possible that the shrimp had parasites that were passed onto the turtle or it could have been coincidence. Hatchlings do tend to be delicate.

Thank you for the information about the UBV light... I had the bassking area on the other side near before my little passed away, I will moved to the other side right other the basking area before the new ones arrive

As far as my plant quantity LOL... well I just know that not all the plants bought will live so I overstocked to allow for a healthy amount once I start weeding out the weaklings and I am sure the turtles will munch some of them as well.

Thank you for your help
Pitch