re aquaried RES

[peterm15]

i recently re aquared my RES i bought him as a baby when i was about 7 maybe and about 5 years ago my sis took over the care.. i never really knew much about them so i want to learn now.. his health is fine but i dont think he has ener been in optimal conditions.. he is about 7" wide and ill be building a new setup for him..

he has only ever been fed comercial diet and ocasional live feeders (fish)... id like to see some pics of setups to give me some ideas.. as well as some friendly info.. i am reading some care sheets but i want some personal advice to so.. lol

hes in a small pool with 2 semi aquatic ledges and one dry but im not to sure if he can get up to the dry and the only light on him is a floresent... im pretty sure they need a basking and thats why i would like some pics.. to see whats happening..

please dont come down on me for this, i never really knew anything about them and have just got him back ill be giving him optimal conditions asap but thats why i need pics and stuff.. thanks for the time..

[marisa]

O.k.

First. He needs a place to hall out of the water and get dry. A basking site is a MUST for RES. :D I suggest a HOT site...I give my guy a basking spot with temps from around 88-105 degrees. He utilizes this big time. They need time to bask and dry off 100% or skin conditions can happen. He will also need UV light over his basking site.

Adults need minimum 55 gallons as a full time home.

<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/mikey/pond.jpg">

That's my RES summer home for my male RES Mikey. In the winter he lives in a large rubbermaid. In the summer home he doens't have a consistant temp or anything, but the UV he gets makes up for it and generally Ontario summers are overall warm enough to support him.

Marisa

[peterm15]

what strengeth uv should be used.. and how large of a rubbermaid.. right now he is in about a 60-75 gal pond.. one of the ones that you dig a whole for outside

also how do you protect him against racoons

[Wu-Gwei]

I assume the 60-75 gallon pond is indoors. The pond is bigger and better than 50G rubbermaid. A basking light means heat and full spectrum UV light can be flourescent tube or combined with a heat lamp. UV light is good, but not 100% necessary. It's more important he has somewhere he can crawl out to dry off. If he's in a pond, maybe you can use a floating log or floating corkbark. You can teather it as well.

In the summer, you can bring it outside during the day for some UV. Artificial UV is weak and not proven to be totally effective. If you leave a turtle outside in the summer, make sure the pond it at least 2 feet deep and some cover in under water where it can hide.


Cheers,
JJ ;)

[peterm15]

thanks very much.. i never thought of corkbark

[K1LOS]

The effects of uvb haven't been proven for turtles. My turtle does not have that type of lighting, and i see no ill effects. I do however bring him outside pretty often in the summer months. Maybe thats enough? Send us all a pick when your new set-up is finished.

Geoff