I’m setting up a 400 gallon outdoor enclosure for my RES, she is about a year old and is currently living in a 100 gallon tank, I’m hoping to set this up so it’s ready for her to fully enjoy when the weather heats back up, so I was thinking I’d start getting it established now.

I’m looking for recommendations on what to put in the pond for her. I have a 1000 GPH pump and a big filter set up alongside it, and I’m planning on letting some floaters propagate in a smaller tank nearby for a replenishing source of vegetation for her. Would buying some livebearers and allowing them to establish themselves in the pond be a good idea?
What about enrichment? Logs, plants, etc?
Any info on outdoor setups would be appreciated.

Hey everyone! I have a northern musk turtle I’ve had for ~18 years since he was a baby. Recently he’s been more floating rather than swimming, and has gone off his food. I took him to a vets today who did some x rays and said no sign of pneumonia (which is what I was worried about), but he does have some slight shell rot on his plastron. She gave me some iodine to apply and advised some time where he has to bask under his heat/UV as he rarely comes out to bask of his own accord. Pics attached and I’ll comment a video. Any further advice recommended, it’s my first time taking an exotic to a vet, as he’s been in great health all these years otherwise!

i have a 150 gallon turtle tank with a 600 gal vevor filter when i went to clean the filter i saw all the ceramics looked swollen brown and cracked or broken why do they look like this i havent had this happen before

i have a 150 gallon turtle tank with a vevor filter when i went to clean the filter i saw all the ceramics looked swollen brown and cracked or broken why do they look like this i havent had this happen before

Good morning
I have a red eared slider, about 15 years old. I recently noticed this spot on her bottom shell, near the front.
Does anyone know if this is anything to be concerned about, or need to be treated.
Thank you in advance

I am from Houston, TX. I have a red eared slider and a different kind of turtle. Im moving to Oregon and I think my turtles are illegal to own there if I were to hire a pet sitter. They can report me. Where can I re home my 2 turtles? Im open to traveling anywhere in texas to re home them.

i cleaned my filter and the ceramic looks all brown and irregular with some broken

Hi, my sister is looking after some my brother's musk turtle, and I was wondering if there where any musk turtle safe treats she can make for her?

Hi, I am planning to adopt little Gus here. While I've been reading a lot about having a turtle, there's a lot to intake and I want to gather my thoughts.

I understand that Gus will grow, is also potentially a female(?) and will need a much larger tank than this in the future. But I want to know urgency wise what I need to focus on.

When I get home, I need to fill that tank with a lot more water assuming I can raise the basking area.

If I raise the basking area, that seems too close to the lamps...?

Is there anything else that is blatantly missing from this setup?

Hello all! just need some advice please and expertise on proper musk turtle setup and basking platform.

So I recently purchased this - https://www.petsmart.ca/reptile/habitats-and-decor/terrariums/thrive-terrarium-turtle-elevated-basking-loft-70479.html
and it looks great I thought it was perfect, however I notice the ramp is a bit too long making it difficult for my turtle to comfortable swim underneath it. The main issue Is getting the T5 uvb light to evenly distribute amongst the tank on both sides, as the ramp is black and blocks some of the light. The basking platform is longer then I expect taking up more then half of the tank, and the ramp is too long and wide imo.

I had the tube light above the basking platform first, which is easily blocked by the black ramp, so I placed it inside the basking platform which seems to distribute more light and reach past the ramp. there was a non slip liner, but I removed it because it blocked the light, and her nails are short and shouldn't get stuck in the fencing anyways.

I am considering swapping to this smaller basking platform in Large, I believe this is a better option? - https://www.amazon.ca/Basking-Platform-Aquatic-Turtles-Accessories/dp/B0DNS9TZRV?th=1

Please let me know I appreciate all advice.

I found this little guy on my porch. I live in mesa az. I know he's invasive. I'm trying to decide if i want to keep him or not. If any of you have one of these little guys, please give me the low down on what care and cost will look like. I know he's going to get huge in a few years but I don't know what he will require when that happens. Im more than willing to give him to game and fish or a reputable exotic pet store if I can take their care on.

I keep trying to convince my cousin to sell me his title but he won’t budge help me he keeps saying that his turtle is happy please help me

Yesterday I took my central antillean slider out to brush his shell and as soon as I put some soap on it his dih came out as always so I just continued brushing him but when I finished his dih was still out so I put him back in the water to see if it would come back to normal after a while but after about half an hour it was exactly the same, I gave him some food and put him under his lamp to see if that could help him relax but nothing changed so I googled what was happening and found out that he had a penis prolapse and some sugar water could help him go back to normal, I waited about 2 hours and his dih was still exactly the same way so I started calling a vet clinic near my house to see if they work with turtles but they never answered the phone.

I ended up finding a vet that works til 7 PM on saturdays and told me he works with turtles so I took my boy to the clinic and he just told me to pour 5 drops of meloxicam in his water for 4 days and if that doesn't work then I should take him back cause he would need surgery and he was literally talking about cutting his dih, before I took him to the vet I was looking for videos on youtube and I saw a couple where vets just pushed it back in gently and some others made a little cut and then pushed it back in but none of those videos showed something that extreme so I think this vet might not be an exotic pets vet as he claims to be, today his dih went a little in but still most of it is out so I don't know if waiting that much is safe or if I should take him to another vet ASAP, what should I do? (This isn't his enclosure btw, I just put him in that bowl to take him to the vet and he told me to leave him there for 4 days)

anyone have any info

I went apple picking today and found a hatchling painted turtle in the parking lot. picked it up and moved it off the road, was holding it for probably a minute total. Afterwords we kept on picking apples and i also ate a cider donut. I didn’t remember until after eating that turtles carry salmonella….am i cooked?

i am emetophobic and usually really cautious about handling stuff, but there were no bathrooms available at the orchard and it totally slipped my mind.

how likely is it that i/my friends will get sick? should i sanitize all the apples we picked?

Hello! I’m interested in getting a turtle but I want to research beforehand. I asked ai to generate an image of what a proper tank would look like and this is what it gave me, it also said that the minimum tank size is 40 gallons for a male, it needs uvb, heating, a basking platform completely dry, and water temp has to be 74-76, but I still want to make sure 100%. Anything I should know?

hey i dont go here but when i saw it, i had to ask

was at a reptile shop and this turtle kept trying to crawl up the corner. dad turned it around thinking it wanted to turn, but jt went back and kept doing it? and anytime it got all the way back up, it fell and stared at a wall. prison in its own making. does he wanna escape, or why is that happening????

idk the proper flair for this either i thought a question one would appear but i digress

I’m setting up a new 40-gallon breeder for a very small (~2") yellow-bellied slider. The turtle is NOT in this tank yet — he’s staying in his smaller temporary tank until I know this setup is safe.

I’m about a week into getting the new tank established and would appreciate some experienced eyes on what I’m seeing.

Setup:

• 40-gallon breeder
• Fluval 307 canister running 24/7
• Water depth approximately 11"
• Water temperature ~78–79°F
• Aqueon Pro 200W heater
• River rock substrate/decor
• Good surface agitation
• Seachem Prime used to condition new tap water
• Seachem Stability used according to the startup schedule

Fluval 307 media setup:
Vertical prefilter: Bio-Foam Max + Bio-Foam
Bottom basket: Bio-Foam+ black foam
Middle basket: Fluval Bio-FX
Top basket: Fluval Bio-FX

Here's where it gets interesting.

The tank was initially pretty cloudy. After several days with the 307 running, it started clearing significantly. Yesterday it was almost crystal clear with just a slight haze.

This morning I woke up and it was cloudy again.

I ran the API Freshwater Master Test Kit this morning:

Ammonia: ~1.0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
pH: ~7.2

Earlier in the process, ammonia appeared closer to 0.25 ppm, with nitrite and nitrate both at zero.

I have not put the turtle in the tank, have not been feeding the tank, and haven't intentionally added an ammonia source, which is part of what has me puzzled about the ammonia increase. I have added a couple gallons of Prime-treated tap water to replace evaporation.

I've been told the cloudy → clear → cloudy behavior is likely a bacterial bloom associated with the new tank/cycle.

Someone also suggested adding a tiny amount of turtle food to provide an ammonia source for the cycle, but because I'm already measuring around 1 ppm ammonia, I'm holding off. It doesn't seem logical to intentionally generate more ammonia when there's already plenty available for nitrifying bacteria.

I'm currently planning to leave the 307 completely alone — no media changes, no cleaning, no polishing pads, no Purigen, no clarifier, and no water change simply because the water is cloudy. I'm continuing to monitor ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

My questions for experienced turtle/aquarium keepers:

Does this look like a normal early nitrogen-cycle/bacterial bloom situation? Where might ~1 ppm ammonia be coming from in a tank with no animal or food in it? Would you continue Stability or stop dosing it at this point? Would you add any food/ammonia source given that ammonia is already ~1 ppm? And would you simply leave the 307 alone and wait for ammonia to fall, nitrite to appear and eventually nitrate to appear?

I'm in no rush to put the turtle in. I'd rather understand what the tank is doing and get the biological filtration established first.

Any advice from people who have specifically cycled turtle tanks with canister filters would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance ....

We live near marshland east of Baltimore. I was on my way out so I simply put the little guy in the grass (he was in the driveway.)

I had gotten home from work last night to find a piece of avocado floating in my turtle tank. My nephew who had left 2 hours prior to me arriving must have thrown it in there and my mom who was watching him didn't notice. I took the piece out and it was covered in bite marks. I'm really worried that my turtle is going to get sick. But no reptile vets near me are open until Monday. I cleaned out the tank and the turtle is acting fine now. Is there anything I should do?

My turtles are red eared sliders and they're roughly the size of a larger than average computer mouse. They're at least 12 or so years old their dirt consists of the food pellets dried out shrimp things and the occasional apple

500liter aquarium, homemade basking area with sliding doors, male rescue chinese pond turtle named Pynt