Tortoise / terrapin owners??

Rancid

Well, they're certainly not low maintenance "pets" either in the financial or the labour senses!

A really good filter is essential and with FIVE turtles you'll need to pay particular attention to keeping it clean.
If you're feeding them in the tank, scoop out any uneaten food every day, that'll ease the burden on the filter.
Buy your uV lamps online, usually a fair bit cheaper, somewhere like this UK shop:
http://www.livefoods.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=987
For heat a 60 or 80w Flood light is good, you can pick that up in most diy shops here.

If you had a bigger tank/pond, I'd suggest using stones to create a basking area, or find a way to create an above-water platform so that they have max swimming space.
And yes, depth is important, they need space to swim to exercise properly.

I see you've got a tub of Reptomin sticks, they should love that. Give them veggies too, weeds from your garden are the best for them (provided they're not contaminated with pesticides or fertilisers). Of the lettuces, Romaine is the best, most of the other varieties are just water.
It's usually recommended to feed them every second day, but weeds or lettuce they can have every day.
As they grow older, they become almost totally vegetarian.

You should be able to recognise the male by his longer tail and longer finger nails.
I'd *seriously* think twice before considering breeding them, there are literally hundreds of sliders and other turtles being rehomed (as you already know!) because they "grew too big".
They DO grow... an adult female can get to 10 inches.:eek:

Good luck!

amyloneill

i have a horsefield at the moment and im picking up a another one plus a hermanns the weekend . great pets !

macgib

We have two yellow-bellied turtles, ages around 1 year old. We don't know their genders. Does anyone know how to go about adopting them out? We're looking for turtle rescues in Dublin, and can't seem to find anything.

tallus

Lovely photos amyloneill, that tort looks to be in great condition.

dbrock

at the moment ive got 2 marginated and and indian star, and a sulcatta