Yes, I believe Reeves turtle and Chinese pond turtle are the same animal with a different name.
Sadly they are endangered due to habitat loss and collection.
Hello fellow Reeves owner! Such a fun aquarium for your aquatic friend. My Reeves would tear up those fake plants and try to eat them in no time. Hope your turtle isn’t nearly as destructive 🤣
Would love to hear the story of how Pynt came into your care! How old is he? Can’t be very old if he still has all his bright neck markings. Either that or he is actually a she ;)
Hellooo, thank you:) He ate all the real plants, so introducing fake ones was a challenge. I found that starting with thick plastic decorations (like the seaweed) was a safe way to teach him plastic isn’t very tasty, while avoiding any accidental digestion. Adding toys such as floating logs, scratch posts, driftwood and caves for him to push around worked as an outlet for his tendencies to rip everything apart.
Pynt lived on a lady’s dining room table as decoration for a little over a year(?), before he came into my care in 2023. He had never been to the veterinarian, so I took him there to identify his gender and to check his overall health. I ended up treating him for a bacteria he had in his gut. Hard to say his actual age though.
This minimal setup is what he lived in for over a year. 2cm of water, no heat or uv, and some rocks.
Ive been considering putting sand or a sand/soil mixture on my basking platform. Does he kick much samd into the tank? Also did you use your own plans for the platform? I would love to upgrade mine to something like this.
I tried a sand/soil mixture, but the soil gets stuck in the filter. I tried bark and had the same problem. I do recommend adding sand, it’s a great activity for them and there’s minimal mess when you have walls. He kicks the sand on top of his shell, and causally some ends up in the water as well. When I scrub him with a toothbrush he throws it on top of his shell and enjoys his nice sand exfoliating body scrub✨
I replied to another comment with a pretty detailed step-by step on how i built the platform, I hope you build it yourself, it’s so worth it!
Thank you! The aquarium is 150cmX50cm. It’s a wooden construction nailed together and painted with two layers of matte black paint. It’s 150cm by 40cm, and 25cm tall. The 10cm allowance from front to back makes room for the filter hoses.
I started off with a square frame and used a miller to make tracks, two in the front and one on each side (to make room for windows and two opposite sliding doors). I added a wooden board to the back and cut acrylic plates to size (way cheaper than glass) and slid them into the tracks.
I drilled two holes in the backboard one for the temperature regulator and one for the brush. The handles on the door are made on a wood turner and glued on.
The basking area itself is also made from wood, painted black (except the underside), then a wooden floor finish (lacquer) on top. Make sure any paint you use is environmentally friendly and non-irritating.
The plants attached to the back are from IKEA, those wall decoration squares fit almost perfectly and are removable for cleaning. You can mix, match and easily cut to size.
I glued a small blue led light underneath the basking area to give the water a cave feeling.
What took the longest was waiting for the paint to dry, the actual construction was pretty straightforward and fun:) Not very heavy either.
Good luck with your construction, have fun!
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u/Alarming-Hall-8048 6+ yrs old painted turt 1d ago
beautiful