RES habitat setup?

Question

In the spring, I purchased an RES and a tank setup. I'm now looking at upgrading the tank setup so that she has plenty of swimming & basking room (ideally, multiple basking stations). However, money is a slight concern (starting my Master's in the spring), so I've been looking at alternative ways to give my RES an indoor, apartment friendly habitat.

Alternative in the sense that I've been combing the local Classifieds pages, Craiglist, ebay and FreeCycle for deals on tanks. I've also considered large (28 gallon) rubbermaid containers from Lowe's. I live in a small town in the Florida Panhandle, so the aforementioned resources didn't have too many listings regarding what I'm looking for.


Does anyone have any other suggestions of where I can look for good deals on tanks?

Answer 1

glass tanks are expensive no matter where you go
the cheapest is those containers you were talking about

Answer 2

Here's an article on the pros and cons of glass tanks vs. rubbermaid containers which you might find helpful.

If healthy and well cared for, an adult RES can become quite large--think "dinner plate" size! Even a baby RES can tolerate a 125 gallon tank, so investing in a large tank with appropriate lighting and heating will save you money in the long run. Buying a series of smaller tanks and accessories (a light for a 30 gallon will not be sufficient for a 75 gallon) will be much more expensive than setting things up correctly right from the beginning.

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Articles/rubbermaidvsaquarium.htm

Answer 3

Okay. You do not want to spend SO MUCH MONEY on a VERY large tank... TOO BIG of a tank... for such a small turtle... if your turtle is small (which I'm just going to assume).

I bought a 10-gallon tank for my 2 baby red-eared sliders at Walmart. That's plenty of room for BABY turtles. That included 2 incandescent light bulbs for heat and a filter. All for only $25!! I bought a basking area at Petsmart and a little hiding place.

You shouldn't invest a lot of money in a new turtle. You don't know if they're already sick, will get sick, etc. Just take it one day at a time and don't expect so much. It's sad, but it's the truth... it's reality. They can be very unpredictable. So just start out small... and throw so much money out the window. I've heard too many stories of people spending so much on turtles that just die the next day... Just be smart about it.

Answer 4

Even though baby turtles are small, they still need room. The general rule is 10 gallons of water per inch of shell. Visit http://www.redearslider.com for more info.

And the person above me always answers red ear slider questions. But she doesn't have a clue what she is talking about. She may own them... but she is giving her turtles HORRIBLE care. And giving other people VERY bad advice...
sorry to say that..