Shortly after Christmas, I got Snappy a huge 55 gallon tank.



So I had to buy some new things to put in it of course. That included a very large crawfish (Crabby) and some giant tadpoles.







Then I found the cutest little Red Eared "Slider" at the pet store, so now Snappy has friends to share his big home.




Slider loves to bask and isn't shy about doing it in public at all. Snappy the mud turtle likes to be down in the water more, but he's starting to enjoy hanging w/Sly.







Now the funnies thing to watch is Snappy and Crabby fight over the hollow stump you see. Crabby likes to hide in the shadows and so does Snappy...so whenever one comes out of the stump for any reason, the other one goes in immediately. :lol: Then the first one has to wait for them to leave.

See Snappy has one eye on the camera ane one on Crabby?

good place for turtles, and for the others for now. as the turtles get big enough to they may make meals out of everyone else in there. what all do you feed everyone?

The fish are feeders and I think Snappy and the Crabby eat them mostly. I also give pellets and Slider eats those really good. I see Snappy eat pellets but not consistently. I have also seen Crabby take a pellet that was on the bottom of the tank and eat it. The tadpoles are bottom feeders and I have seen them suck the algea off the shells and such. And I figured they probably picking up food that floats to the bottom too. I bought the tads just in case Snappy wanted to eat them. I have seen him snap at them, but at this time they are too big and too fast for him. He loves tadpoles and these were the only ones I could find at this time till spring comes and I can get the little ones out of the puddles. But they look cool in the tank too. B) Any suggestions on other things to feed them are welcome. I had some meal worms and the fish loved them, but they seemed to have gotten really yucky in the can quick, and I threw them out. *Whooo what a stink!

Also wanted to ad, I originally bought 2 crawfish, but on the ride home Crabby took the smaller one's head off in the bag. :blink: So I put the remains in the tank for Snappy and he had several good bites of it. The fish also had a few bites before Crabby carried the remains off for himself. LOL

i usually just feed prepared foods unless i absolutely have to feed live. the only other way i would feed live was if i bred it myself. i am currently breeding platies and convict cichlids, the best looking of each will be sold at my work, the rest will be feeders for my big cichlid, the water turtles, and maybe my bichirs. variety is always the key. there are a variety of frozen foods that could work for you as well, as well as raw shrimp and other foods from the seafood section at your grocery store. red ear sliders can be over a foot, and they eat vegetation, so fresh produce would be good for them. i would be surprised if Robyn doesnt have a list on one of her turtle pages of what you should feed them, and things you should never feed them. a few different sinking pellets for the crayfish would be good, the tadpoles would probably eat them too. the fish look to be neon tetras and i think the one is a blueberry tetra, neither of which are feeders, but they should learn to avoid the crayfish and the turtles. the turtles (not sure about the mud/musk) and the tadpoles may like munching down on some aquarium plants.

I think I see some small rosy red minnows (sold as feeders) in there as well. I am surprised that such tiny turtles can do so well in such deep water and are already eating fish. I am keeping my baby (Tator, an Eastern painted) in shallow water for now. He's in the basement so I can't gravity drain the water via a Python hose so I want to keep things light. I wish I had the space and time to set up another big tank but I'm overtaxed as it is.

I have a list of turtle foods on my site. I'm still working on re-doing all my turtle pages (for over 2 months now!). They will move, be separated, all re-read, more info and pictures added, etc. At that time (I'm hoping a few weeks), I will have a page just on feeding turtles. If any of you with turtles want to contribute short tips, an article or two (of any length) about your tips for turtle care, stories about your turtles, and/or photos of your turtles, now would be a good time while I'm finishing renovations and adding stuff as it is much easier. Over 50 web pages and 70 photos will be altered and moved when I upload it all! If you want your "own" web page on my site (you wouldn't have direct access), you can do that too. I would do the uploading but as long as I basically agree with what you say, I won't alter your stuff (except for spelling and grammar since I'm a stickler about that). There's already such a page on my turtle pages currently at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/turtank2.htm if you want to see what I'm talking about. Just a thought or two.

I'm sure Slidey and Snappy (who's not really a "snappy") will have great fun with all that room and fun animals to play with (or eat as the case may be). I have the same two turtle ramps/logs that you do. I'm not using the log yet though. Tator doesn't use the ramp thing really at all. He's not much of a basker.

Oh, and the tadpoles are bullfrog tadpoles (I'm 95% sure). If they survive being eaten before they morph (which is very likely since they're pretty big, and the turtles are small), you'll have to decide what to do when bullfrogs end up basking on your turtle platforms.

The store that sold you the cute baby RES did so illegally. I think the 4" law is dumb in many regards but it has to be one of the most-oft broken laws around.

Reptileguy, et al, have you seen your turtles grow at such a pace that it looks like they're coming apart? My 1.5" painted turtle, Tator, has just really started to eat in earnest at about 3-months-old. Now, there's this spongy gap between all his scutes on top and bottom. It looks like he's bursting at the seams. The gaps are a little fuzzy and white too as I think he's finally going to have his first scute and skin shed. I know it's not fungus or anything. His little head and neck are getting fat. Is it dangerous to let him eat as much as he wants or shouldn't I worry? I don't want him to blow up. :D

The reason I have kept live food for Snappy is b/c I found him and I didn't know how well he'd eat pellets coming from the wild. I got the neons and the Tetras b/c I figured they would be fast enough to keep out of the way. But so far the neons are a favorite Snappy snack. *I didn't have the heart to change his name after I found out he really wasn't a Snappy. :P

The turtles really seem to enjoy the deeper water, especially Snappy b/c he likes to be at the bottom and swimming around. Slider spends more time basking, but I've noticed Snappy hanging out more on the log w/him now that he has a pal.

i have had hatchlings do perfectly fine in a foot of water, and i would be surprised if they had any problems in deeper water, maybe up to a point. they are in the same bodies of water in the wild as the big guys, so they kind of have to be able to handle it. i had my peninsula cooter really take off in growth, but all their foods have vitD3 and calcium, so they were getting a lot of each. it sounds like he isnt getting the calcium he needs to put in the new bone he is making. what all do you feed him? even if you dont want to make it his sole diet, if he will eat pellets he would probably highly benefit from having a few high quality pellet foods in his diet. i feed mine 2-4 times a day, but maybe the foods you are feeding are fattier. i think as hatchlings they are supposed to eat whatever they can, so i dont limit their food intake the way some people do in order to keep them from growing "too" fast. the only way they could grow too fast is if they arent getting the nutrients they need to do so, not just a certain rate that shouldnt be exceeded the way i have had some people suggest.

About the tadpoles, my parent have a pretty big fish pond on their property and I figured if I got bull frogs, they could relocate to my parents.

Hey Robyn, does it count if he gave me turtle? The owner of the store is a guy I knew from high school and he didn't charge me for it. *However I was making a sizeable purchase of supplies for the tank. The sign said they were for "Educational purposes" and had some kit to buy w/it. I was ohhh and awweing over the cuteness and he asked if I wanted one for my Snappy to have as a pal and I accepted.

The laws vary state to state. In some states, you can have them for "educational purposes." In my state, MD, it is illegal to possess any turtle under 4" period. They said they "let" educational institutions have them, people can experiment on them for approved projects, and people can eat them if they have a collection permit but there's no legal way here to have one.

Tator just really started eating so I've just been happy with that. I've seen him eat lots of blackworms, a few mealworms, and just recently, he's snapping at the commercial pellets and shrimp treats. How can I force him to injest more calcium? He won't touch kale (which as some calcium) or grapes (a favorite of the painted turtle I had for a few weeks a few years ago) yet. You can't really "dust" blackworms with vitamins. <_<

in the entire U.S. it is illegal to sell or hold for sale any turtle (tortoises included) under 4" as a pet. they can be sold for educational, scientific, or export. i was at a reptile expo in MD when a guy got ticketed for selling turtles under 4" because he didnt have the sign out that said for scientific or educational use only, which leads me to believe if he had the sign he would have been alright, so if that is what you are actually selling them for you should be legal, based on what i knew happened. from what i understand giving them away with turtle setups is also illegal. simply putting up a sign that says "for scientific or educational purposes only" doesnt necessarily get you off the hook either. i have the U.S. law in an email and when i read it i didnt see anything about owning or buying them, just about selling them.

high quality commercial pellets. thats what i think is the best way to get calcium in them, they have enough for my guys. the peninsula cooter started to really take off in growth. you could actually see where it starts in her shell, in the middle of each scute is a pyramided almost brown section, and around that (all the new growth) is much flatter and black. she really started growing after i got her more pellets one time, and i guess the diet they are on now is doing the best for them since they all seem to be growing better and shells are even better than before. my parents were stunned at the size of the snapper last night, my dad is convinced he has doubled in size since a few months ago, when he has really only added about an inch carapace length, but with snappers, shell length doesnt actually let you know their real size, his shell is barely bigger than th eother turtles' shells, but HE is much bigger than either of them. i finally just mixed all their foods together, so its about 11 different types of pellets, plus the nature zone turtle bites that have to stay in the fridge.

Reptileguy, you'll be glad to know that Tator is now actively eating commercial turtle pellets, Repto-Min baby mostly. I also got some cuttlebone and may put in a piece but don't know if it does any good unless he eats it which might hurt him?

i have heard of using cuttlebone, and i think we have discussed it here, but high quality pellets have always been enough for me. i wouldnt use reptomin as more than half the diet, and the less the better. zoo med is good and they now have a baby pellet. the other i like is hagen nutrafin max turtle gammarus pellets, that is small enough for hatchlings. rep-cal has a pellet that is small enough for hatchlings, but im not too crazy about that one, but it is more variety. i have also used hikari gold cichlid pellets, which is a fish food (comes in many sizes for many sized fish), it has calcium and vitamin D3, although they may not be in the levels to greatly benefit a turtle, but again it is more variety.

I actually have some of those. I have four kinds of pellets I think and will start offering more variety in that regards now that he's eating pellets.