Hi all, as of yesterday I am the proud owner of two baby false map turtles and wanted some advice about feeding and setup.

Current setup is a 3 foot by 1 foot tank about half full of water, one end is raised with rocks for basking and a heat lamp. I have a heater, filter and a 30 inch uvb bulb inside the tank. There are also some plants and a cuttlefish bone floating around. I think the setup is mainly ok but what water and air temperature is best for baby turtles?

Also one of my turtles is very active and has been tearing into food (so far I've tried lettuce and turtle sticks) but the other seems alot more sluggish and I haven't seen him (well maybe him) eat anything yet. What should I do to get him to eat and what other foods should I get for them?

A 3 x 1 tank is pretty small for two turts of any size and you need to fill it up more, half-full is only about 40 litres which is the recommended amount for a single 1" turt. Fill it as close to the top as you can without them escaping, this may mean finding another way to mount your lamps, how have you got them atm?

I would also take the rocks out and replace them with a corkbark basking shelf wedged across one end, or a floating turtle dock if you prefer.

You don't need to worry about air temp, normal room temp is fine, the surface of the basking area directly below the heat lamp should be 32-35°C and the water 26°C.

Try separating them at feeding time and see if the other one will eat on it's own, you can also try tempting it with bits of fish, raw lean meat, shrimp etc..., but be careful not to overfeed them on protein or they'll grow to fast and suffer health problems. An amount equivalent to the volume of their heads once a day is sufficient, don't feed them any more even if they beg for food!

There's no point feeding lettuce as it's mostly just water, try feeding Kale, Duckweed, Watecress, Dandelions, if they will eat veg these are much better for them, they can have as much veg as they'll eat in addition to their protein ration.

__________________
2.3.0 Southern Painted Turtles
1.0.0 Florida Red Belly
2.1.1 Common Musks
1.0.0 Classic Cornsnake
0.0.2 GALS + infinite babies
0.1.0 Tibetan Spaniel
1.2.0 Brahma Chickens

I'm intending to get them a bigger tank later and use this one for my fish, its kinda a temporary thing. My uvb bulb is under the rim of the tank but the fitting is fully waterproof and only need 15mm clearance from the water and the heat lamp is suspended over the tank with a zoo med clamp lamp and stand so I can fill it up alot more. I also have some cork I can use.

I'll try the other veg and meat. Which part of the dandelion do they eat? And would you just pick that from the garden and wash it?

For separating them would it be best to remove the slower one to another container with some tank water?

Sorry for more questions and thanks for advise so far

You'll still need to raise the UVB otherwise it'll be too close to them, what % output is it?

Just feed them the dandelion leaves, make sure they come from an area that isn't treated with any kind of chemicals and rinse them under the tap first.

To separate them whilst feeding I'd just put a divider of some sort across the middle of the tank.

__________________
2.3.0 Southern Painted Turtles
1.0.0 Florida Red Belly
2.1.1 Common Musks
1.0.0 Classic Cornsnake
0.0.2 GALS + infinite babies
0.1.0 Tibetan Spaniel
1.2.0 Brahma Chickens