Does ANyone else out there have western painted turtles?

[tyryce]

OMG!!! I first started using this forum back in December of 2008 when I was having so much trouble with my bearded dragon. All this time I never knew there was forum discussions past the specifically bearded dragon section! I am so excited that there is a section for turtles!I have two painted turtles I keep in a 55 gallon tank in the living room. I have had the male for about 3 years now and the female (ithink female) for two years. I was just wondering if there is anyone out there that I can discuss enclosure and set up, feeding, lighting and behavior with to make sure I am doing things right. There aren't many people here that I can discuss these issues with . I do not think I have always been correct with them but work on keeping them happy.

I am also housing a baby snapper turtle that I got in September as a new hatchling but he is going to be put back this spring where he was found. He was given to me last September in fear that he would not make it through our very cold fall weather. I did not know much about snapping turltes but he seems to be doing fine and is very aggressive and has grown a fair amount actually. Any suggestions on him would be great too!

Thanks,

Danielle

 

[Spawn]

Hello:
It sounds like you must have things going well because you've had your Painteds for a while. I don't have Western Paints but I do have Eastern Paints and they are great animals.
The main thing to remember about Painteds is that they love to both swim and bask. Keeping them in a 55 gallon tank affords them ample space to do both. As long as you have a basking light over the basking area they should do fine (obviously they are fine).
As far as little "Snappy" goes, they are canivores that will practically eat anything. I raised one from a baby that is now almost 10" and eats pretty much anything I give her.
If you want to talk turtles just post. I'll check back. Even though I like being in the land of "Dragons" (who said they're not real) Turtles are my favorite reptiles.
Have a Great Day!!!

 

[GoFast]

I used to have quite a few but have long since re-released them I lived in Indiana for a few years and there were lot's of ponds and streams where I would find injured ones or ones that had wandered way off the beaten path. I think at one time I had about 11 of them. I am hardly an expert on them though to really give much info on anything about them. I kept them in my basement most of the year in a kiddie pool with a couple of heat lamps and pond'ish decor. I used to feed them turtle pellets, greens and goldfish(feeders).

 

[babyelvissocute]

I just got a baby eastern painted turtle, and he is so cute! I named him Leroy. The only thing Leroy eats though is frozen shrimp brine. Is that normal and ok? I wasnt really planning on getting one, so right now he is only in a 20 gallon tank, I will be getting a bigger one soon. He is only the size of a quater, so its plenty of space. He has a UVB, heat bulb over a flat pice of wood that gets used as a basking spot. He also sits in his artificial plants and rocks. At night he sleeps in a little log, but is it ok for the enclouser to be completly dark at night, or do they need some sort of light for nightime??

Thanks,
~Kaitlyn, Elvis, Spooky, Leroy~

 

[tyryce]

Since I have western painted turtles there may be some differences and I would for sure look up on the internet how to properly care for him. Here are some tips from my side but I I have learned that I have made mistakes in the past with my turtles so for sure do some research.

It is okay for the turtle to be in the dark at night...this way they will get their rest. Mine won't go to sleep when the lights are on in the room or in their tank. Make sure that you have the following for your turtle

Digital probe thermometer to measure temps in the basking spot. Your weather may be different than ours (I'm in Canada) so not sure what your basking temps should be.

Cuttle bone broken into little pieces to place in the water...is a good source of calcium for them and keeps their beaks sharp so they don't over grow (purchase at the pet shop...they are sold for birds).

Depending on temps in your water you may want to get a water heater. I use one so that the water does not get icy cold. I keep the water temp about 73-74 degrees.

The 20gallon tank will be perfect for now. You can upgrade as he gets bigger. Rule of thumb for water depth for the Turtle (but you can use more) is to keep the water depth at LEAST twice the length of the turtle so they can swim around a lot.

You will probably want to get a small water filter to help with water quality....turtles get to be very messy and foul up their water. Something that provides water movement so the water doesn't get stagnant and smelly. Start with something small until he gets bigger because he is really small right now so you don't want to much turbulence in the water until he gets to be a stronger swimmer. You can purchase small underwater repti filters...I have one right now that I used for my hatchling snapping turtle tank.

As far as feeding he will eat mostly proteins right now until he gets older probably. I would not use frozen shrimp as a staple because frozen foods will lose some of their vitamins and minerals overtime. Being so young he will need a good start by getting a wide variety of foods for nutrients etc. I would start with Turtle pellets...he will nibble on these and they have a balance of vitamins and minerals in them. For live feeders (my turtles go bananas for anything that squiggles and crawls) being small you can get some pheonix worms, cut them in half for bite size pieces...pheonic worms are high in calcium too. NEVER, Never feed your turtle stuff like frozen or raw hamburger or other raw meats...they will not get the balanced nturition they need. I would also still offer your Turtle greens ( I use the ones I feed my dragon....collard, mustard, dandelion, squash etc.), cut into tiny pieces so that he gets used to being offered them. He sounds like he is probably just a baby yet so he may need to be fed 2-3 times a day to start. The rule of thumb for feeding turtles is to give them as much as will fit in their head for each feeding. As he gets older he will not need to be fed as often but you will have to research this. I stil have trouble deciding how much food my two need. They get fed three times a week, 2 days of greens and 1 day of proteins/feeders/pellets. Be prepared for your Turtle to act starving and always begging for food. THey get into a bad habit of this. I overfed my turtles for the first two years I had them and now my youngest turtle has some shell pyramiding and she is very big for her age. She used to eat so much that she would throw up in the water then eat it all over again :lol: like I said...I still have a lot to learn about how to keep them properly.

Being so young I think he will probably also need multivitamins but not sure how much would be good. I use the same that I use for my dragon... Herptivite. Now getting him a multivitamin will be tricky because they need to be in water. I dust live feeders then offer them to the Turtles using feeding tongs. This way they take the dusted feeder in their mouth out of the water before they submerge their head to eat the food. This way they get some of the supplement. Maybe try a multivitamin 2X a week (please double check this). Not sure if extra calcium should be offered as well....I gave mine powdered calcium when they were young...couple times a week.

What type of UVB source are you using. I am trying to find out what strength I should use because I think the repti-sun I use might be too strong for them. There has been some debate over whether or not a UVB source is needed for aquatic turtles but I still use one regardless just in case. I will send you a link of my set up and turtles in a post to you again. Hope some of this information has helped.

Danielle

 

[babyelvissocute]

I live in Massachusetts. I have a filter, its made exspecially for turtles. I definantly needed to get one. I had a reptisun 10, then read that it is too high for a 20 gallon turtle tank. So I got a R-Zilla T5 Fluorescent bulb 50 microwatts. I tried pellets and a bunch of other things, but he will only eat the shrimp. Any ideas? And its hard to get calcium on that. I was at first just feeding him as much as he could eat, but I am now feeding him once at night, a whole shrimp block and as much of that as he can eat in 15 min. I do the same thing in the morning, before I go to school. I would love to see your aqurium!

Thanks,
~Kaitlyn, Elvis, Leroy~

 

[tyryce]

Hello,

About the feeding thing. I find that turtles can get really funny and picky if they get to only like one type of food but it is important that he learns to eat other things because frozen shrimp alone will not be the best thing for him. My brother in law has a red eared slider for about 20 years now. in the first 5 years of its life he fed it the wrong foods....people food if you can believe it like macaroni and stuff. He found out that he needed to change the turtle's diet but Mort (the turtles name) would not eat anything else. So he did the tough love thing and would only offer pellets everyday. It took Mort about 1 month before he started eating them. It was a battle of wills :lol:

You may have to cut the shrimp out of his diet completely until he starts eating other foods. It takes some patience but he will get hungry enough he will start eating other things. This is what I would do. When feeding him put him in a separate plastic container with enough water for him to eat in. Put some pellets in there and a few cut up greens...for feeders you can try pheonix worms cut up or tiny little crickets. Leave him in there with the food for a bit. He may not cooperate for a while but be persistent and he will finally get the point. But it is important that he learns to eat a good balanced diet. ALso feeding you turtles in a "feeding" dish is a great way to help keep the tank cleaner for longer.

When I got Lucy, she was just a young turtle too. It took her about two weeks before she ate anything. This though I think was stress from being put into a new home. I offered her food and coaxed her every day and finally she first started taking a few nibbles of food. Now 2 years later she is an eating machine. I do not think your turtle will starve if you stop the frozen shrimp. He will get hungry and take what you offer him. I know it will seem tuff to do but don't worry....I think it would be or the best for him.

I have another example for you as well. Just because I know if you try this and he doesn't eat you will be worried that he will starve ( I know I would be too) Friends of mine found some turtle eggs that they decieded to incubate because it was such a cold fall and they thought the hatchlings would never make it. When they hatched and after their yolk sacs disappeared it took a little work to get them to eat. But we took six turtles at a time and put them in a feeding bowl with food. They weren't interested at first but after a couple of weeks they started to eat regularily and turned into fiesty little pirahnna's (there were thirteen of them).

I am going to tell you about my first turtle...don't want to worry you but it is sad. I got a baby RES from a petstore (the baby could have been sick to begin with because they were not kept in great conditions). I didn't know much about turtles and I couldn't get mine to eat anything so I tried raw hamburger. He ate that. I would always offer different foods first but he would always wait out for the raw hamburger. He basically wasn't getting the nutritition he needed to grow. I noticed also that he was not growing either. Then he started pooping white stringy stuff....it looked like sausage casing. After he passed away I read that poop like this wasn't a good sign and meant he had serious nutrient deficiencies. He did pass away. It was so upset.

So be persistent and patient and it will work out for you. As far as getting him the supplements you may have to first try to get him to eat pellets or feeders. You could try this two ways. The first is with feeding tongs or if he starts eating pellets you could lightly dust the pellets and place them on his land area. He maybe would come up to grab the food in his mouth then take it to the water to swallow it down. But make sure you get cuttle bone to leave in the water because this works great for them getting their calcium. Mine always chew and nibble on it. Because he is small you will have to break it up into tiny chunks. He may not use it right away but will eventually. For example...I put one in with the baby snapping turtle I am raising and he didn't use it for about 4 months. I notice now that it is chewed up so he has been using it.

As far as the UVB light I am not familar with that one. I am not totally sure if I am using the right strength one either. The last one I have been using was the Reptisun 5 which I was told was too strong for the turtles during the winter months and I should have been using a 2.0. When I posted on here I was hoping that someone would be able to clarify the UVB source for aquatic turltes for me because i am still not sure which is the best light and strength for them. you see, painteds are native to the province I live in and I am thinking that their UVB source may not need to be as high.

Anyway if I find out I will let you know. If you have anymore questions please ask. I still plan on posting some video and some pics for you but it will have to be when I get the opportunity.

Danielle

 

[babyelvissocute]

Hi,
I went to the pet store today and got the cuttle bone and pellets. He ate a few pellets but he also had shrimp this morning. I put about 3.5-4 inches of water in his tank, and I came home from soccer practice and noticed his platform got loose and he was stuck behind it. He didnt move for a couple minuets, and I thought he was dead! So I improved the setup and he is now doing fine.
If he eats other things, can he still have shrimp, or should that just be a treat?
At the pet store, the cuttle bones came in grape, vanilla, orange, and original flavor. I got original. Does it matter what kind I get?
I will post pics of Leroy and my tank soon also.

Thanks.
Kaitlyn, Leroy, Elvis

 

[babyelvissocute]

I finally have some time to update pics!!


This is Leroy's tank ...

And this is Leroy ...

**Sorry bout the crappy pics I have to do it from my cell phone I lost the cord thing for my camera**

 

[tyryce]

Hey! Great pics!!! Thanks for sharing. He is sooo cute! He must be very young. He looks like the hatchlings that my friends had back last September. Your set up looks pretty good. As he gets bigger and stronger you will be able to add more water in the tank for him. What are his basking temps at? Make sure it is warm enough in his basking area so that he can properly digest his food. I don't want to be a pain in the neck but I want to ask you about your lighting because I only see one light source in the pic. Is it for UVB or is it a heat source. With the UVB source I have been told that the turtle has to be within 12" of it to benefit from the UVB.

It is great that he is trying other foods. I would probably use the frozen food as a treat just because it is not nutritionally balanced. The best thing for him will be to feed him a good varied diet so that he gets the nutrition he needs. Pellets will do this but you also want to mix it up with other things as well. can you get pheonix worms at the pet store? He would probably love this. They re high in calcium and if they are too big for him they can easily be cut into 2-3 peices using scissors. Don't worry this isn't that gross because they aren't squishy or anything. I would also try feeding him some greens chopped up fine (you can use scissors). the original cuttle bone is good. I have never heard of the flavored ones! With the cuttle bone you will notice that the back side has a thin layer that can be peeled off. You can peel this stuff off if you want because it can be quite sharp and jagged. Even if you half the cuttle bone and put it in there he will have an extra flotation device to hang out on! Eventually he will start nibbling on the cuttle bone but it may take a little while.

I meant to mention this before, but yes it was good he didn't get pinned down because turtles can drown if they get pinned down really good and can't get free. Maybe try and secure the log so that it can't move and pin him down anywhere. When he gets bigger (if the log is lightweight) it won't be a problem but being that he is so small he is not strong enough to push himself free of anything. Watch out when they get bigger though they like to destroy the tank...you will get things all nice how you want it then they totally re decorate the place :roll: They dig holes in the substrate, pull there fake decore everywhere and always dislodge their filter because they use it for a scratchpost on the backs of their shells.

Thank you so much for sharing pics of Leroy. When I get a chance I will post some for you. I will send you a link to a video to show you how horrible my turtles beg for food :lol:

Danielle

 

[babyelvissocute]

Haha thanks, I'm glad he didnt get stuck to. That light is a heat light, and the basking temp is 87, water 78 degrees F. He has a UVB but I took it out for now because I'm getting a new one, I had one that wasnt that good, so Im going back today to get a differant one. As far as the UVB, should I get a coil, flouresent, or compact? I know their was a problem going on with coils and compacts, but are they safe now? And the only worms that the petstore has is wax worms, super worms, and meal worms. Can he have wax worms? Or they also have flightless fruitflies?

Thanks for the help,

Kaitlyn, Leroy and Elvis

 

[bubadeven98]

hey sorry this is a bit late to type for, but i just read that leroy ate the pellets!!! yayz!!! kate and i no each other. i have a stinkpot named deven. he's a hatchling, too. but i think it's great that he ate a couple of the pellets. keep trying. deven wouldnt eat at all when i first got him. but leroy eats shrimp ( and cuz of leroy deven thinks shrimp eats him- inside joke), so that's fine to. see, ALL deven will eat now is pellets, and that's ok with me! kate, how do you put pics on, and by any chance, may i have elvis's or leroy's old cage when either of them get a new one? thnx! srry that deven isn't a painted turtle and i wrote on here if that's not a good thing. bye!

 

[tyryce]

As far as UVB I would go with the Flourescent tube. If coil bulbs cause Eye problems in BD's then I would imagine they would in other reptiles to. Just make sure that he can get close enough to the bulb and remember that a screen top will filter out UVB. I cut the screen out of my top where the UVB light fixture is.

As far as fruit flies for a feeder I have no experience with them. I would do some reseach on them to see if they would be good to use or maybe someone else on this forum might know?? If you use supers or mealworms they will need to be cut up into tiny little bite size pieces for him. I used to use mealworms for my turtles to put their powder supplements on but I stopped using them and decided on a more nutritional feeder, butterworms which I also give to my beardie. The turtles go crazy for the butterworms (these wroms may be too large for him right now though). They will grab a worm then frantically swim away to the corner of the tank to escape with their worm (they mustn't want the other turtle stealing their worm) :lol: I have also not tried waxworms. I heard that these are fattening and turtles can get fat easily so maybe only feed these as a treat. If you want to try other feeders you can try ordering the pheonix worms from the internet. You can buy them in quantities of 50 or 100 so they would last a while with him being so small.

How is Leroy doing? I don't know what the temps are outside where you are right now but if it is warm enough you can take him outside for a supervised walk so he can get some natural sunlight. Be careful not to lose him though!

Hello buddadeven!

You have a stink pot turtle? I have never seen one. Hope you can post pics. You said he is a hatchling? He must be pretty small. I will get pics up when I get a chance.

Danielle

 

[babyelvissocute]

flouresnt tube--ok I use them with Elvis (my beardie) I put Leroy in a seperate container during feeding times, that way I can see what he eats, how much he eats and it will keep his tank cleaner. I took him out side last week, but its been pretty rainy this week. When I brought him out last time, I took him to my softball game, and everyone thought he was so cute and decided to make him our mascot!! :lol: And we ended up making a big comeback that game, we were losing 10-1 and in the last 2 innings ended up tying the game 10-10!! He was good luck for me cause I smacked the ball into right field and cleared everyone else off the bases to get the 9th and 10th runs.

Hi Sophia! Hows Devon?? That was so funny, when they were eating the shrimp!! Yes you can probily have the cage Leroy is in now once we get Elvis a new tank, and Leroy will go into Elvis's tank. Hope you can figure out how to post pics of the lil cutey Devon.

~Kaitlyn, Elvis, Leroy~

 

[babyelvissocute]

Hi!!
Sorry, but I have another question. I was just wondering if turtkes shed? Because I noticed a little thing falling of the back of his tail, and Im trying to figure out if its a piece of food or if hes shedding?

Thanks,

~Kaitlyn, Elvis, Leroy~