Hi guys.. I have a eastern painted turtle named Bob. I saved him(her) from certain doom at the hands, or mouth, of a large bass. (he was about the size of a quarter) I just today figured out that bob is in fact a female. Oh Well. I have a question for you guys. I'm not sure of his(her) age, but his(her)shell is about 3 inches across and about 3 1/2-4 inches long at this point so any help with age would be great. Anyways, my question is this. I have 2 seperate filters running, an underwater filter and a regular filter that clamps on the side made for 20gal tanks, a 20gal tank, and i'm CONSTANTLY changing his water.. anywhere from 2-4 days... is there something i can do to help keep his water cleaner for longer? I don't want the poor guy(girl) to have to be drinkin that stuff..

I also have another question. How much am i supposed to be feedin this lil dude? I can feed him what i think is a pretty good ammount of food, he'll eat it all, and 2hrs, he's beggin for more food... yes, for those of you who don't know, turtles CAN learn to beg for food. I don't want to overfeed him or anything. Or underfeed him for that matter..

any help would be great at this point.. i love that turtle, and the chicks dig him(her).. who woulda thought a turtle would be a babe magnet.. lol

p.s. I can also hand feed him.. guess he likes me...

Bob (or maybe Bobbie) was probably born the Fall of 2005 but possibly Spring 2006 if you found her after then.

My turtle is 16 months old and 5" long (a red-bellied turtle which grows faster than a painted turtle). I change all his water once a week but it gets pretty dirty, pretty fast from his waste and leftover foods. I add Turtle Clean which has good bacteria. That helps keep the water clear (if not really clean). I just have a Duetto filter in the 20 gallon tank. I change all its parts out every 2 weeks; they're super filthy. One way to keep the water clean would be to feed the turtle in another tank or container. Just put the turtle in a few inches of water with the food once or twice a day for about 10 minutes, and then put him back in the main tank. If the water is warm, it may also enduce him to defecate in there instead of the main tank. Aside from that, stronger and more filters, more water changes, and bigger tanks are the only way to reduce the mess.

My turtle begs for food every time I'm there. I have to learn to ignore it. I put in enough food for him to be eating for about 5-10 minutes twice a day. The 10 minutes is for fruits and veggies. When it's bugs and pellets, just 5 minutes, and he's done and begging for more. It would be hard to underfeed your turtle if she's eating at least a few minutes a day.