Adopted turtles... don't know what they are, can anybody help?

We adopted 2 turtles from a friend in dire straits. I don't know much about turtles so if you can tell me what these turtles are, I can figure out what I'm supposed to do for them. They don't like posing for pictures, so I only caught half of the turtle. Thanks!

http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/l...07/Speedy2.jpg

The whole set-up:
http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/l...turtletank.jpg

There's a basking lamp and a compact flourescent lamp on the hood of the tank. It's on a timer so it only turns on from 7am to 7pm.

I appreciate any help I can get.

Well, they are definitely not an Amphibian!

I'm honestly not sure what they are, I would need better pictures. But you need to get rid of the compact bulb, because it will end up killing him. And depending on what they are, I think you are going to need a much bigger tank. The rule for most turtles is for every inch long they are, you need ten gallons of water. For two turtles that means you need a huge tank.

Moved to the proper forum for ya....but the only turtles I can recognize at a glance are sliders...so the only helpful thing I can offer is that those aren't sliders. :P

I can offer this bit of advice, though. My sister has a red-ear slider that she's had for years...since it was the size of a quarter. She learned that feeding them in their own tank just makes a HUGE mess and gunks up the filters awfully fast. She has a simple plastic tub that she puts a couple inches of water in...places the turtle in the tub...and feeds it in there. When it's done eating, she simply plops it back into its tank and cleans up. The water in the tank stays clean and balanced for a very long time this way.

They look like map turtles.

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

But you need to get rid of the compact bulb, because it will end up killing him. And depending on what they are, I think you are going to need a much bigger tank. The rule for most turtles is for every inch long they are, you need ten gallons of water. For two turtles that means you need a huge tank.

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I have read some articles on compact fluorescents being potentially blinding, but have used them successfully for years with my bearded dragons, turtles, and tortoises. I do agree however on the size of the tank. Looks like they're in a 20 gallon long? An upgrade will be needed soon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MarkieJ

They look like map turtles.



I have read some articles on compact fluorescents being potentially blinding, but have used them successfully for years with my bearded dragons, turtles, and tortoises. I do agree however on the size of the tank. Looks like they're in a 20 gallon long? An upgrade will be needed soon.

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Ive successfully been adopting sick, compact exposed reptiles and bringing them back to health for years ;)

That one in the first picture looks like a false map turtle or a common map turtle.

I've never used compact UVB bulbs because I've read a lot bad studies about them. Stick with the long tube kind. A lot of studied show animals only basking under them with their eyes closed, which potentially means something is bad about the bulbs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

But you need to get rid of the compact bulb, because it will end up killing him.

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That doesn't make any sense to me at all. Why would there be any difference at all between a compact fluorescent and a long tube fluorescent? They're the same thing except one is more compact.

Whoa. They came to me in the 10gal tank they've been living in. I moved them to the 20L thinking they need more room. I didn't realize they're going to be big. I have a 55 gal... I guess that won't be big enough either. Hmmm...

Yeah, what's up with the compact fluorescent...

From the pics my guess would be map turtle

The compact bulbs have been known to cause problems, many tests have been done to show that they produce too high intensity of a beam and can harm reptiles. While we think UVB is great, too much of it too directly, can be very harmful. They ARE different then the long tube flourescent bulbs.