RES rescue setup

[auran]

im new to the forums and have recently acquired my first reptile. Me and my girlfriend (another member of the forum) managed to rescue a RES from its previous owner who had kept her in a 10 gal. tank with nothing more than 2-3 inches of water (which had not been cleaned in what looked like forever, not heat source and a simple rock t sit on. I have a few questions toask so I can get things straightened out.

First, i want to ask anyone who might have a clue, how old the turtle looks, i was wondering because i need to adjust the turtles diet appropriately (i will have a picture up later tonight once my digital cam comes back from my sisters prom), because the last owner has had the turtle for at least 3 years for sure, but claims to have had it for 12. It looks much to small to be a 12 year-old, and it seems strangely healthy for the conditions we found it in. There seems to be some discolouration on the shell, but it does not have MBD, the stripes on the ears are still fairly bright, and she doesnt seem injured at all.

But since I do not have the pictures now, these questions will wait till a bit later.

But other than that, i was also wondering if it was normal for the turtle to be really afriad of everything. She always seems to be jetting around underwater bumping into walls, and sometimes spends so much time under the heat lamp that she totally dries out and wont go in the water till the lamp is turned off.

Also, for the past 2 weeks I've been keeping it in a 40 gal. rubbermaid i bought when i got the turtle. I'm buying a 70 gal. ASAP, im trying to find a good price so i dont have to wait till the next expo in september, and i was wondering if anyone knew if fluval is a good company to trust. Im planning to buy a fluval304 this week, but want to make sure its good enough for my turtle.

One more question, would anyone know how to introduce different foods to the turtle well? because she had never eaten anything but pellets, and still wont even though i've tried other types of feed, she doesnt touch any food but the pellets.

if anyone could answer even one of my questions it'd be greatly appriciated by me, and my RES squirt.

and btw, this forum is pretty great for information, and i plan to purchase some other reptiles, but they will all have to wait till i finish highschool and move out. because if i came home with a snake, both me and the snake would probably end up outside lookin for a home

[auran]

heres one pic

[Wu-Gwei]

Great save and you're a good person. Most people would not bother.

Turtles grow at different rates... but from that picture, it is possible it is 12 years old. If you have a picture with a ruler or something to compare it with, I can give you a better estimate. It appears to be female, but if you show a tail, it can be verified.

Actually RES are bulldozers and sadly can take a lot of abuse. It's hard to screw them up even in the poorest conditions. Although the previous set-up sounded bad, but it had one important point: a basking area where it could dry off. If it did not have that, then it would have likely had some fungus on the skin and/or shell.

If the RES was fed pellets, it would explain why the shell is decent. Contrary to popular belief aquatic turts do not NEED UV light and can get viamtin D from the pellets. So, I am not surprised this RES is doing well under the circumstances. What happens more often with rescues is that they have pyramiding (lump shell) caused my overfeeding.

Some turtles are more skittish, but most RES are pretty friendly. I think with time, it will get used to you and its new home. But often captive turtles will dive off the basking area when somebody approaches and push a corner. That is normal and it will get used to humans soon enough that it will be taking food from your hand.

I'd save your money on the 70G. If it is a female, it is not finished growing. If it is a male, it is not finished growing either. If you cann afford it, go for a 100G. Look in various classifieds, pet stores'posting boards and fish groups for used large tanks. They are around, but it takes time to find it. If youhave the room in your basement, you can get a preformed pond. Kiddie pools'plastic are not as good and will likely start wearing after less than one year.

I rescued a male RES that was 7" SCL (straight carapace length and a female that was 10" SCL. These are common sizes for adult RES. 70G would be OK, but will need something bigger down the road.

Skip the 304... too small. If you want Fluval go for their biggest at at 404. But I recommend you get the Filstar XP3, bigger and better filter which WILL be needed. It's a few doallrs more. The cheapest I have priced it is on J & L Aquatics in Vancouver. Do a web search. If you go with a pond route, you'd have to build your own pond filter, since these aquarium canister filters require the water to be higher for the syphoning effect to work efficiently.

Pellets should be the staple, but you need to introduce greens... best greens are aquatics plants or dandelions. Various land lettuces are not as nutritious, but can be feed. You have two options and both involves hunger. Feed it nothing except greens until it accepts it. That is the stubborn way and it can work. Aquatic turtles can go weeks without eating. The other way is to feed the pellets once or twice a week and always leave greens in the tank. I find going out to local ponds and rivers to collect aquatic greens is nice on the wallet; as well as collecting wild dandelions. Just make sure you rince them off clean and get any leeches or snails off of them.

You can feed some live prey, but it is not absolutely necessary. But it's fun to watch I tell you. Do limit the live prey, b/c most of them time, they're not healthy in larger amounts.

Good luck and this is one lucky RES.


Cheers,
JJ

[auran]

first things first, thanks for the reply, it helped tremendously in my efforts to be more informed

about the age, i concluded she is a female after inspecting the tail and foreclaws with the help of a book, but to help your estimate shes been measured, and has a SCL of 5''

also, in its previous habitat, it did not have a basking area, that was just a slight typo, and the fungus you mentioned is what i was worried about, one one of her scutes (i think thats the term) there is a line of white that resembles something like paint scraped off a wall, would that be a type of fungus, or any other problem with the shell? its minute, and only on the outline of the scute, but i might as well be safe, right?

it can be seen in the previous picture on the left hand side, but if you think it might be a problem ill get another pic up

and finally, an upside to working at a grocery store, cheap greens