I have a baby painted turtle in a 10 gallon tank with an area to bask-how much water should I have in the tank for him & can I put sand in the bottom of the the tank? I know they drink the water they swim in, so I was wondering if sand is a bad idea? I had aquarium stones in it, but the tank just got so dirty, so I took them out. I just ordered a filter too,so maybe I can put the rocks back in?
2007-06-13 09:12:53 · 3 answers · asked by Soon to be Mrs. Eaton 1 in Pets ➔ Reptiles
A good rule of thumb is to have 10 gallons of water per square inch of shell. Sand is a bad idea as it can be ingested and cause problems with the digestive tract. A filter is a great idea, but if it's not a turtle filter make sure it can do at least 3 times the water you have in the tank as turtles are way mesier than fish. The aquarium rocks are a good idea as long as they are rocks and not gravel. Gravel is small and can be swallowed easily but is usually had to digest which causes digestive and eating problems. I'd recomend using large river rocks as these cause no concern for their health.
2007-06-13 10:29:08 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
We had one for about 6 years. We never put sand in it but we had big rocks in it. They need to be able to get out of the water, so they need a rock or something they can climb on like a ramp. We had our 10 gallon tank about 3/4 full and the turtles had plenty room to swim. They will get rather big in time. When ours got bigger, we would get some minnows and put them in there and they would eat them.
2007-06-13 16:26:17 · answer #2 · answered by Introuble 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
enough water that the turtle can swim a bit, but slope the sand or whatever you put on the bottom so it can crawl out of the water.
2007-06-13 16:16:45 · answer #3 · answered by wendy_da_goodlil_witch 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋