New turtle owner.. confused..!

[kay_dublove]

hiya guys, i got 3 yellow bellied terripins on sunday night, the man in the shop (clawsandfins.co.uk) gave me lots of infomation but im being told its all wrong.. can you please just advise me on the following and what i can do to improve the life of my new turtles!!

What do i need in my tank to keep them happy..?
at the moment i have:
a peice of cork bark,
a rock from bottem to just above the water level,
a bit of slate in the bottem as the man in the shop advised,
a live plant and
a filter (funel 1 plus),
not sure on the volume of the tank as the man in the shop sold it to us cheap as its what they were already living in it... i think its around 40litres
also the tank does have a lid, i did want one with out a lid but the man said this one would be ideal as it has a lamp in it (normal house hold bulb i believe)


got many questions to ask aswell.. but i will get this bit done first..

1. is it ok to use tap water?.. currently using room temp bottled evian, again as the man in the shop advised!

2. does the water need to be heated? current temp is 22'c in the tank!

3. are they definitly yellow bellied turtles!?

4. why does one like to spend lots of time in the water, and the another lots on the bark!! the 3rd one likes to spend half and half!!

5. does it matter where the tank sits in a room, ie sunlight / tv refelction ect!!

6. how can i tell how old they'r, how quickly do they grow!!?


thanks guys looking forward to your reply!!

here's a couple of pictures! will try and put pictures up of the tank later tonight!!

[kay_dublove]

at the moment the water depth is 5.5", we'r going to clean the tank out tonight and re set it all up ... so any tips!!

[kay_dublove]

i also live in the uk if its any help

[Dave_Sideways]

I can't answer all the questions as I have not owned any of this species.
The water does need to be heated & they should have a basking area where they can get out of the water & sit under a heat lamp of some description...
Also the tank & filter will become far to small pretty quick, you will need a much larger tank & a much larger external filter when they get bigger.
They guy at the pet shop hasn't really done his job properly not telling you what you need & please don't take it the wrong way, but you should have researched the needs of this turtle before even considering buying them. So many get dumped because people take them on without knowing enough about them.
I wish all the best though & hope your happy with your turts.

[Graham]

Yes they are YBS, but a 40 litre tank is far too small for three of them, and a small internal filter is not going to keep the water clean enough.

You don't want a lid on the tank, it needs to be open-topped for maximum ventilation, otherwise it will become very humid which can be seriously bad for them.

Have a read of this caresheet, then if there's anything you don't understand ask more questions The Terrapin Tank • View topic - North American Sliders

[kay_dublove]

so what size tank do you recomend?!

can i use tap water with a water conditioner?

[Graham]

Yes you can use tap water, and you can probably just let it stand overnight in an open topped container for the chlorine to evaporate, you shouldn't really need to use water conditioner. You may need to check with your supplier though to make sure they don't use chloramine, which won't evaporate and will need treating to remove it.

I personally prefer to use clean rainwater (which is in plentiful supply at the moment!) in my tanks, it avoids problems with chlorine/chloramine, and mineral deposits if you live in a hard water area.

What size tank? Well it depends how soon you want to upgrade, sliders grow fast and the smaller the tank the sooner it'll need replacement, for three of them I wouldn't bother with anything less than about 200 litres, which should last them about a year or so.

There's no such thing as too big though, so you may want to look for something considerably bigger to avoid having to upgrade so soon.

[kay_dublove]

so how do you collect the rain water? a water butt?!

[Graham]

Basically yes, in the downpipe from the roof I fitted a diverter valve, after it's been raining for a while (so any dirt has been washed off the roof and flushed from the gutters) I switch the valve over and collect sufficient clean water.

[kay_dublove]

o right ok!! what size ?x?x? tank do you recomend then!? now brousing the internet for a good value for money one!!

are you in the usa by the way!!?