New red belly turtles

My girl friend's been nagging me to set her up with a turtle tank, so this weekend I got her a pair of southern red belly turtles with a 30g aquarium, then I made a light hood and a filter over the last couple of days. Just thought I'd share since they are pretty cool.

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Hood (the stain is still drying)

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...9941ce1378.jpg

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...928bd02b57.jpg

I'll add some update pics once the hood is dry and I get it on the tank. It's got 4 sockets hardwired to an on/off switch with a single cord, then I'm using 4x 13w bright white CF bulbs. Once I monitor the temperature I'll be changing 1 - 2 of the bulbs to provide a proper basking spot, if it doesn't get hot enough with these.

Damn dude thats actually really really nice.

Thanks Pat. I thought it all turned out good.

That is a nice set up. My only comment (and I'm no expert here) is that they could probably use deeper water to swim. There seems to be a myth that deeper water is a drowning risk but the turtle forum I consulted when i got my cooter told me to go for as deep as I could. Also i would lose the gravel as apparently they can eat it and get impacted (fatally or to the point of needing surgery), get some bigger river pebbles or slate etc. That's another second hand piece of advice form the same forum:
http://www.turtletimes.com

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Originally Posted by kurgan

That is a nice set up. My only comment (and I'm no expert here) is that they could probably use deeper water to swim. There seems to be a myth that deeper water is a drowning risk but the turtle forum I consulted when i got my cooter told me to go for as deep as I could. Also i would lose the gravel as apparently they can eat it and get impacted (fatally or to the point of needing surgery), get some bigger river pebbles or slate etc. That's another second hand piece of advice form the same forum:
http://www.turtletimes.com

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Thanks for the tips and the link. I plan to raise the basking rock up so I can raise the water level. I know they won't drown. Right now, the water is about 6" deep so they have plenty of area and depth to swim. I also bought the larger pebbles to prevent them from swallowing it. The pebbles are at least as large as their heads, but I will be replacing it with a custom foam display insert for my ease of cleaning.

I bought and read a turtle book a couple of weeks ago, and have been reading on the internet about which species we liked and how to care for them, but this was sort of an impulse purchase as I usually have the display set up and ready for the animals before I buy them. I got a great deal on the aquarium, and the turtles were at the same show so I bought it all together. I scrambled to get this temporary setup for them, but I am planning to do a lot with this, including deeper water, the foam substrate, more hides, some fake plants and an additional basking spot.

It looks like it turned out GREAT :gj::gj: Cute little turtles too ;)

Nice work! What are you going to use to heat the water?

Nice! What uvb are you using?

Looks good Jake. I was very close to getting a turtle setup going(I love turtles) just not sure if I have enough room between all the snakes and beardie stuff. I may set one up in the greenhouse one day, we shall see.

I would put a Mercury Vapor bulb in one of the sockets over the basking rock for a high UV basking area.

What kind of filter are you going with? I did alot of research on turtle forums and they mostly reccomend using a filter that is double the capacity of the tank since turtles are so messy, especially of you feed in the same tank. They are so friggin cute!

Tell Briana we said Hi:bye:

Looking great!

Any updated shots to share?

Nice turtles they're always fun to watch especially when they're young. Those are Florida Red Bellied Cooters, not southern red bellies. THe grow up to 13" so you guys better be ready to build them a huge enclosure in the future. Here's a caresheet for you to read up on if you haven't already. http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-flredbelly.htm

I just saw that there were replies to this thread.

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

Looks good Jake. I was very close to getting a turtle setup going(I love turtles) just not sure if I have enough room between all the snakes and beardie stuff. I may set one up in the greenhouse one day, we shall see.

I would put a Mercury Vapor bulb in one of the sockets over the basking rock for a high UV basking area.

What kind of filter are you going with? I did alot of research on turtle forums and they mostly reccomend using a filter that is double the capacity of the tank since turtles are so messy, especially of you feed in the same tank. They are so friggin cute!

Tell Briana we said Hi:bye:

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Thanks Raul, I built a 3 stage filter for them out of PVC. Here's what it looks like: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=75751
It's overkill and works great with the turtles. The nitrogen levels stay perfect after about a month of water changes, and it's always crystal clear. I can't believe how messy they are, but the filter keeps up. I need to put some kind of UV bulbs in there, but I'll have to cut some exhaust vents and add a couple 40mm fans so I don't cook the little guys.

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Originally Posted by RichardA

Looking great!

Any updated shots to share?

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Yep. I've been meaning to post some updates. They've grown like weeds since my first post, and I've added a couple of plecos and a pair of bettas. I tried a couple of fresh water angels and a group of neon tetras and the turtles didn't rest until they ate every last one of them. I don't know why they don't mess with the bettas. :confused:

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Originally Posted by Boneyman

Nice turtles they're always fun to watch especially when they're young. Those are Florida Red Bellied Cooters, not southern red bellies. THe grow up to 13" so you guys better be ready to build them a huge enclosure in the future. Here's a caresheet for you to read up on if you haven't already. http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-flredbelly.htm

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Thanks for the info. I have a 90 gal? long aquarium waiting for me to pick up at a relative's house, but I was hoping I'd be out of my condo and into a house before I set it up for them. I got a book about care for the North American species before I picked these out, but I'll check out the caresheet, too.

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...0e3cfdb557.jpg
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Cute turtles and nice cage