Who knows about terrariums/turtles

[dragonfly2k3]

I have 4 read ear sliders, all about 2in. Right now they're in a boring 10 gal tank with some rocks etc. I want to build them a BA place to live. I really dont know much about this, so i have lots of questions.
1. Can i use plywood to build them a dryland section?
2. What kind of glue should i use to hold it together/to the tank?
3. It would need sealed, what kind of sealant?
4. Does any of this pose a long-term saftey hazard to them?
5. What are my other options?
6. How deep should i make the water, right now its only about 1in. Can i go deeper? TIA.

[dres2k]

I've got 2 RES (red ear sliders) that i got in NY like 2 years ago when they were the size of half dollars and now there about 6 inches long or so. I also started off in a 10 gallon tank, but you'll find out soon enough that it won't be big enough. I went from 10g, to 30g, to now 60g! LOL In the beginning, I used floor tiles and broke them in half and stacked them up until they were high enough out of the water for them to bask, but that was kind of stupid of me because I had to restack them everytime I cleaned the water and it was kinda dangerous cuz one time the tiles fell over in the water but the turtles were OK.

As far as building the dryland section out of plywood, I don't really have experience with that since I went to Petsmart shortly after the tiles and picked up the floating dryland section that sticks to the side of the tank..I now have two dryland floating sections in the 60 gallon tank- one that's about 12"x6" and one that sticks in the corner of the tank and the RES have taken to them well. When I turn the basking lamp on, they swim right up on them and chill out. Your idea with the plywood would be cool if you thought it out well, maybe something like a base with pebbles and rocks on it that they can climb out of the water to?

But ya, they like to swim, so give them enough water so they can go under and swim around. Just remember,. they have to have a basking area to keep their body temp up, so a basking lamp is needed as well as D3 light for their shells to stay hard and healthy.

I'd first suggest that you research online or pick up a guide at a pet shop so you can care for them correctly though.

If you got any Q's or wanna see some pics of my tank, just lemme know.

[dragonfly2k3]

I have been doing a considerable amount of research and have picked up the proper lighting. I was thinking having the dry-land section be about 1/3 of the tank and the ramp up about 2/3 of the tank wide, with a shaded cove under-neath the dry-land where they can bring their body temp back down if they feel too warm. I was thinking of just making the dry-land a sit-in piece as in not permenantly attached to the tank but just a snug fit in the tank so it doesnt move around. My only serious concern is I dont want the chemicals in the wood/sealer to cause them any harm. I could pick up aquarium safe silicone adhesive at the pet-store to construct it out of(I really dont feel safe using any type of metal fastener) Or, if i could find out more about the sealer i could use wood-glue and seal over it. What have you been feeding yours on a daily basis?

[dres2k]

aquarium silicone adhesive is probably the only kind of glue i'd be comfortable with if it was me. The 1/3 dry and 2/3 wet sounds good, but the shaded cove-i don't think would be necessary... The easier it is to move the dry-land piece in and out, the better as long as the turtles can get up there too. The water should be around 75-80 degrees F depending on what season it is, and the basking lamp temps are around 90 to 100ish i believe, so if it's too hot, they should just get back in the water and be OK...

I feed the turtles mostly turtle pellets and they seem to be very healthy. Also, brine shrimp when theyre small, and they eat many kinds of worms too, but i'd check up one which ones specifically before feeding them those. They may eat veggies, but usually thats when they get older...

[dragonfly2k3]

I had thought about the fact that the water would be cooler, but it seems like alot of on-line sources say to have a shaded area. Do you typically feed yours in a seperate area? I see that comes highly reccomended. If so, how do they respond to it? I also see that for RES blood worms, tad-poles, small feeder fish, and dark leafy lettuce all come as reccomended appetite supplements. I may see how mine respond to blood worms this weekend still.

[dres2k]

if other sources say its cool, than go for it with sum shade for them... Feeding in a separate area sounds like a good idea, although I've never done it. I just try to feed them a couple times in one sitting, while checking up on them to see if there still eating or not. You can contaminate their water if you leave food floating around a lot quicker than if you were to feed them in a separate tank, so it would be a good idea to start them up on eating in a separate space if you can. I've got the tank in my room so when the water starts smelling sometimes, it really sucks haha Try a whole bunch of different foods so they get variety and different nutrients. theyll be happy turtles

[Nick 95 6sp]

I have one res ...he was almost 3" when I got it and most of its life lived in a 20gal Long tank. I just held up a plastic ruler to it and it's shell is over 10" long. I keep 6" to 8" of water depth for it in a 120 gal. tank that I just got recently, tank is 48"L X 24"W X 24"D. I collected a bunch of rocks from a nearby creek to make a sunning spot for it at one end where the overhead light gives it some heat; I set up the rocks so that dirt doesn't easily collect under the rocks, so the water spray bar I have pretty much washes away any dirt laying around for a short while. I also have large roundish gravel over most of the bottom, but just one layer so it doesn't collect dirt. I have a pretty aggressive filter on it since turtles make a lot of dirt, but it stays real clean with this filtration, no smells and sparkling clean water all the time. It pays to invest in aggressive filtration or it will get dirty and smelly. My filter is a large Penn-Plax Cascade canister filter which came with shutoff valves to make it easy to turn off and clean without loosing the suction prime for the pumps, so it's real easy to restart after cleaning. I turn the filter flow to very low while he eats since otherwise it sucks up too much of the food; after a few minutes of eating and it's all gone, I turn it back on high flow. Mine grew very well and was always healthy just feeding it dry prepared turtle foods; I give it Tetra ReptoMin, plus ZooMed Natural Aquatic Turtle Food (which comes in various sized pellets, so now mine is eating the big pellets), plus I add some Hikari Cichlid Gold fish food which he always liked from when he was little and I had cichlids, so I keep giving it to him; I give roughly one third of each; we also catch earthworms for it and it gobbles those down right away; if they're out I catch large cicadas and drop them into the tank when they're still buzzing around and he attacks it and rips it apart and eats it ...these turtles are more aggressive than I realized ...this one is not a member of the Slowsky family seen on Comcast commercials. When he got over 6" I started giving him some romaine lettuce once in a while since the lady at the pet store said he'd like it ...he eats that right up too. I'm convinced that if I fell into the tank, he'd try to eat me too.

[QCs_R4_Girls]

Originally Posted by KoRuPtAzN1

aquarium silicone adhesive is probably the only kind of glue i'd be comfortable with if it was me.

+1 on that. Honestly, if you were going to look into some kind of floating habitat, first look at what they have at the pet stores. I know they're kinda expensive, but at least you know they're safe. I had a fancy floating fake log thing, but my first turtle ended up prefering this floating lilypad thing, which he was too big for.

When I lived back at my parents house, we had this playskool pool in the backyard that I grew out of years ago. Naturally, the turtle (named George) has since claimed it as his own and spends everyday outside in the pool. In the pool, there's bricks and some floating huge leaves. He also has taken a liking to eating the bugs in the pool. We never made the water deeper than the bricks, or past the top of my hand if I put it in the water. Unfortunately, he started out the size of my hand and now has grown to a size in which I can barely fit my fingers around him. He since has moved into a 25 gal tank, so be careful about that.

I've got another one right now (named Homer), and it's about the size of my fist. (My parents wouldn't let me move George into my apt, so I got my own) The thing I noticed the most about these two turtles is that they'll eat anything. I try to vary their diet between pellets and other dry food (I stay away from brine shrimp, they stink up the tank too fast) and people food, like apples, lettuce, asparagus, and beans. The turtles both also are fans of beef jerky, which I found out by accident thanks to a couple of my dumb friends. I feed him once a day, mostly because of my weird work schedule. Before I leave for work, I'll throw a couple of ice cubes in his tank and it keeps him amused for a bit. He'll kick it around, try to hide under it, or climb on top of it. I've got about 2-3 inches of water in there with him, but he's only in a 10 gal tank and I want to try to keep it that way for awhile. I have a small night-light perched in the corner for his sunning spot which I turn on when I'm about to feed him, and he's definitely learned that the light = food.

George - here and here
Homer - here

[noclutch]

I've got a res and a cooter in a 100 gallon tank. I keep it almost full with water so they have alot of room to swim. Probably 4-6 inches from the top at all times. For an island, I used a piece of acrylic from Lowe's, heated and bent it so they can climb up. Then I used aquarium safe epoxy and attached pieces of acrylic to the side of the tank so I could lay the island/ramp on top and epoxied it down. Below the island is water so there's more room to swim.

[Drftpretty]

dude, go to the park with a bucket and fill that ish with anything. Chunks of moss, sand, dirt, grass, go home and do it up.

My pops made one years ago and made like a pier over the water in a 20 gallon tank using plastic 20oz bottles as the pylons (sp?) he filled them with gravel and cut them down to height and then used a board as a walk way covered in moss and dirt.

Next we stocked that thing with crickets, guppies, and crawfish and put it on the window sil. Didnt have to open it up for years. It was BA. the guppies and crickets mated and literally took over the tank, the crawfish ate the guppies and the turtle kept the cricket population under control.

Crickets eat who knows what (plats maybe?)
Plants eat sunlight, sealed tank = rain from evaporating water
Turtle eat crickets.
Guppies ate alge and turtle crap
Crawfish ate guppies and alge

I need to find fome pics.

[dragonfly2k3]

I have picked up clear plexi, cut it to size. I am attaching a flat piece to the side of the tank, and then attaching a ramp to it to allow them to climb up. Fortunately my 10gal tank is only temp until i move off campus, then I plan to pick up a 30 for awhile. I want to be able to keep them in a 30 or smaller for quite some time yet.