aquatic turtles?

Question

my red ear slider is getting bigger and i need to find a better basking area for him. I read reviews about the floating turtles docks that have suction cups but they said the product isn't good if you have a big turtle. what do you guys use as a basking area for your turtle?


and also does anyone know of Semi-submersible water filters, because most of the filters i have seen , have to be fully submerisble in the water and our tank isn't tall enough to fill up water all the water, the turtle wont have a basking area

i want to keep it shallow but changing the water is starting to be more difficult because the turtle is getting so big, he doesnt like being picked up anymore

Answer 1

How big is your tank? I have seen semi-submersible filters that give a sort of "waterfall" effect. If the tutrle is getting that big, maybe you need a bigger tank that you can pile some rocks in for him to bask on, like slate or something.

Here is the filter:

http://www.petco.com/Shop/petco_Product_R_9566_PC_productlist_Nav_222_N_24+112_cp_2_Nao_12_sku_933732_familyID_13868.aspx

it has an intake at the bottom, so you only have to have the bottom in the water a few inches.

Answer 2

My son has a turtle it a slider and we have a fish tank and we have a piece of a counter top on two rock for him to bask on we keep the water filled to the edge of the counter top he get up on it a jumps in the water he is a very good swimmer. And they can set on the bottom of the tank for a long time. My friend has one and a very big tank and she has a log for him to get on. A she has a filer for it in the winter they need a light to keep warm.

Answer 3

i have a turtle too and i think i have the answer to your problem. Just get a bigger tank and as for the cleaning problem, just buy natural turtle waste reducer. You can buy it at any petshop. It's a natural liquid. All you have to do is put a few drops (depending on gallons in the tank) and it will keep the waste from building up. It's like chlorine for a pool but it is all natural and it doesn't harm your turtle in any way.

Answer 4

You need to have a large tank for your turtle's growth, but carefully stacked stone makes an excellent basking surface for your turtle, and it looks great in the tank. My turtles got so big I had to build an outdoor pond for them. I use a large plastic planter (with holes cut in it to allow the air to escape), turned upside down, with a large piece of flat rock sitting on top. Those suction platforms are really a waste of money.

Answer 5

You may need to rethink your care set-up.

Pond turtles do best in big spaces- think about 10 gallons of water per inch of shell. Heat the water to about 75-80, and use strong filters- about 50-100% more than the filter says (that is, if you have a 20 gallon tank, you should have filtration rated for a 30-40 gallon tank.)

I prefer several of the old-fashioned 'submersible corner filters'- easy to clean out, cheap to operate.

Basking sites can be things like piles of rocks, clean (driftwood) branches or logs, 'rafts' of wood suction-cupped to silicone glued to the walls. A fairly new series of basking sites are man-made plastic islands with non-skid stuff on the ramps.

I do pond turtles in a kiddie pool with a few submersable heaters (protected by a wire cage). I don't bother with sand or annything on the bottom.

A big island in the middle is made up of an upside down plastic tub with a cave cut in one side. I siliconed a bunch of rocks together that cover my 'cave' and make the actual climbing out surface.

A big chunk of driftwood makes another basking site, and another tub of potting soil, sand, and leaf mulch is added when I think a turtle is looking for a nesting site. (ramps make it easy to get in and out of).

I use 4 cheapo filters around the pool, and every week I change out at least 20 gallons (4 5 gallon buckets worth) of water using a bottom siphon/vac thing, usually 5 gallons a session. I also have a handful of snails, bottom-feeding fish, and some live plants in the thing to help out. Of course, some of it acts like food, as well!

A simple rig overhead holds a combination of lights:
- first on and last off is some plain fluorescent lighting to get the day started
- after about an hour, some regular incandescant lights kick on, and off again in the evening.
- heat lamps come on about 9-10 and run until about 6-7, and point at some of the basking sites.
- several black-light bulbs turn on for UV from about noon to about 4. The bulbs I use need to be pretty close, so it is a balancing act keeping them close, but not suspectible to a curious turtle or a splash.

The big cave in the middle offers a cooler, shady spot, and a couple of potted plants that stick out of the water offer other shady, cooler spots. At times I have put clean clay pots in there for more caves and basking sites.

I don't bother supplementing or treating the water since I use good food and supplement it with live animals sometimes. When i have a large herd, I feed the more aggressive turtles in a seperate tub, but usually the sheer size of the pool is enough to allow me to ensure that everyone is fed and there is no conflict.

Answer 6

Sounds like a bigger tank would be the first solution. You can find them CHEAP in your local paper, garage sales, or thrift stores. Good Luck!

Answer 7

i dont know what size tank you have but we used bricks stacked up for a platform and we liked the plastic corner box filters for
filtration, altho with large turtles no filter will keep it clean enough

Answer 8

pretty big dilemma, keep it shallow and you will just have to change the water with a gravel vacuum thats what i would do