See my Turtle

[Aaron4321]

I love Musks! Really want to get one!

They need UV don't they, no care sheets mention it.

[Graham]

Our care sheet mentions it The Terrapin Tank • View topic - Care sheet for 'Bottom Walkers'

[Aaron4321]

Ahh, i forgot to check the forum. Cant wait to get my own!

[Aaron4321]

How many litres is that RUB? I am not sure which one to get. I am getting the Fluval 2, so need to much usre it is big enough to fit it in.

[Christy06]

Originally Posted by Aaron4321

How many litres is that RUB? I am not sure which one to get. I am getting the Fluval 2, so need to much usre it is big enough to fit it in.

Was that addressed to me?? If it was its not massive, thinks its 10 high, 22 long and 15 wide althiugh i have not really measured it. The water is now only 4 inches if that, and after alot of and thinking of killing myself i finally got the Eheim to work, although when the alfrgrog arrives (hopefully 2moro) i will prob be stuck for another load of hours fixing it. I dont have a fluval and dunno what one looks like.

Edit: I got this in Sainsburys for 4.25

If you are thinmking of decor/real plants, i do not reconmend Duckweed or any other tiny floating plants, makes it hard to find the little guy, it multiples quite quick and if your unlucky like me you will find weird cretures i.e snails and leeches in your tank and if like me do a complete tank clean and mess the filter up AGAIN .

I do reconmend Elodea, floats, provides good cover and the turt is able to rest on it, plus it looks nice. To answer your other questions, Yes it is advised that they have a uv and basking light, However i have no uv light and dont plan to get one in the near future, i know im going to get alot of stick and greif about this, but im Skint and i have yet to see the musk out of the water, so i doubt the UV will penetrate the water so i see no need just yet for the UV. I do provide a basking lamp, but again i have never seen him out but he does stick his head out every so often to breath.

I have fed him mealworms, Prawns, Turtle Pellet things, King British i hope arrives 2moro and i have tried him on egg shells, but he never took it. i have ordered frozen Brineshrimp, Bloodworms and Daphia so i hope this will provide a good all round diet. Im thinking of adding a supplement to his food to provide some D3, but im almost positive the water will rince it off, (Although mealworm was gut loaded with nutrobal covered food) would it be a good idea to let the Calcium or nutrobal thing soak into the prawn etc before giving it?

Plz dont crucify me over the Uv thing, im currently skint, and Mum is already complaing about electric as i have the tort ,the turt and the Lizard lights on 12 hours a day. If the Turt dont get out of the water ,i dont see any point in providing a UV bulb, its just going to cost money ,take up more room, add more wires and every 6 months buy a new one for no reason. Once Rafael begins to come out of the water i will immediatly get a UV bulb.

[Graham]

if your unlucky like me you will find weird cretures i.e snails and leeches in your tank

You should consider yourself lucky to have these creatures in your tank, especially the snails as they are part of a wild Musk's staple diet, it's what they evolved those crushing jaws for!

On the subject of the UV, I won't crucify you for not having one but would question your logic. You don't see the point in having one if he doesn't come out of the water, have you thought maybe the reason he doesn't bask is because you don't have a UV?

Would you bother sunbathing if there was no sun?

Vitamin D3 supplements are a possibility, but how would you know how much to give? D3 is a fat soluble vitamin, an excess of which can be stored in body fat and can be toxic.

You should be aiming to give your turt the closest thing to a natural environment as possible, which amongst other things means a light source similar to sunlight, then let the turt decide if it needs to bask or not. Humans trying to second-guess millions of years of evolution is only ever going to end badly.

[Christy06]

Originally Posted by Graham

You should consider yourself lucky to have these creatures in your tank, especially the snails as they are part of a wild Musk's staple diet, it's what they evolved those crushing jaws for!

On the subject of the UV, I won't crucify you for not having one but would question your logic. You don't see the point in having one if he doesn't come out of the water, have you thought maybe the reason he doesn't bask is because you don't have a UV?

Would you bother sunbathing if there was no sun?

Vitamin D3 supplements are a possibility, but how would you know how much to give? D3 is a fat soluble vitamin, an excess of which can be stored in body fat and can be toxic.

You should be aiming to give your turt the closest thing to a natural environment as possible, which amongst other things means a light source similar to sunlight, then let the turt decide if it needs to bask or not. Humans trying to second-guess millions of years of evolution is only ever going to end badly.

i thought the whole point of basking was to get heat and warm up? Which is provided by the basking lamp not UV. Im not second Guessing anything, i was just explaining why i have no UV just yet Reasons being skint at the moment, and that the turt dont come out of water (unless you count sticking his nose out as coming out of water and basking) and in that case i should direct the heat lamp towards the water and not the predesigned basking spot.

And seeing as i have supplements for my Lizard and my Tort, i was going to use some of that for my turt until i get enough money to buy a UV bulb. (I know they dont cost that much, but i work part-time, im a student and Sainsburys messed up my wages for the last 2 months, and when they finally got it sorted i got taxed and National insurnace took of me which was 160 quid hence the reason i is poor)

Edit: The snails was the size of my turtle so was to big forr his small jaws, as for the leeches (if thats what it was) looked nasty.

[Graham]

i thought the whole point of basking was to get heat and warm up?

...and to absorb essential UVB. It's well known that most reptiles can see light in the UV spectrum.

If he's sticking his nose out then he's close enough to the surface to absorb UVB light if you provide it, and of course he may well be leaving the water when you're not around to witness it.

[AnythingWithAShell]

Have to agree with Graham. I know you're skint (me too!) but you should make getting a UVB light a priority. They do need it, and he probably is basking when you're not there to see it. Most turtles will scoot back into the water as soon as they hear someone coming!

[Christy06]

Your are making me feel guilty. I will get one once i can afford it. Tell me this though, if i buy the uv light say of ebay, do i get the connectors with it or will i have to buy it?