red ear slider habitat

[WhiteDevil]

What is a good way to keep a aquatic turtle. I got my son a female RES a few weeks back, shes about 4-5" in diameter(she is about to turn 5, yes chinatown find, however I acquired her thru a coworker) I got a 40B for her sunday and am wondering the most efficient lower maintenance route to take.

From name brand down to DIY please toss me some ideas. I dont like having rocks in there cause it hides all the nasty stuff. Is bare bottom ok? what about a land mass?
Lighting? rule of thumb for water changes? how to do water changes?(dump and scrub every time or PWC's?)

Thanks in advance.

 

[Etunes]

A turtle that big would do best in a 55g or 75g. Honestly the best thing to put him in once he is almost fully grown would be a pond. It saves on all sorts of things as you can keep fish in for him to eat to supplement his diet and he will have natural sun. If you live were winter is a problem then you take him in for the winter. The best thing you will find for a land mass is some driftwood. Or you can build your own that stands off the tank leaving the bottom completely free. I would do water changes just like your fish tanks. You could do a DIY pond. I want to make 1 for my little new hatched cooter and you can build it to fit perfectly in your sons bedroom. As for lighting you need a heat and UVB bulb. UVBs can be expensive so how i save money with my herps is buy a all in 1 package.

Here is were i buy from.
Mega-Ray SB 100 watt Self-Ballasted Flood UVB Lamp - ReptileUV

Below is a site of a turtle topper you can build, not hard at all.
Turtle Topper™ Above-Tank Basking Platform - Reptile Miscellaneous
Here is a DIY someone made.
DIY turtle platform. - MonsterFishKeepers.com

OR this is the DIY pond i found. I am gonna do this but a smaller version for my small guy.
140 Gallon Indoor Turtle Pond Build - MonsterFishKeepers.com

 

[WhiteDevil]

the 40B isnt permanent its a growing tank, I do plan on getting her atleast a 100g if not find her a nice pond to reside in, yes winters are bad here.

 

[Etunes]

lol, dont know were you are and dont know where 60118 area code is and i am too lazy to look it up. So cool, looks like you got it figured out. Dont forgot pics.

 

[WhiteDevil]

the 40B makes her look SMALL like itty bitty.

Im NW of chicago. Had some shale and some cichlid stones laying around, got a big chunk of stone this weekend from the river and made a dock out of that, she is happy, has a nice piece of minnesota floating bogwood in there with moss growing on it. She is content, now I just need to upgrade the filter.......oh the possibilities.

 

[Etunes]

Just be careful stacking rocks. I have heard of turtles calapsing them on top of themselves when trying to dig. Just FYI if you can get your hands on some hibiscus plants they LOVE the flowers. There like candy.

 

[WhiteDevil]

Yeah I got a huge one growing out back, planted it when I had my iguana.

The base rocks have a wider footprint then the tops so they are really stable, the shale is pinched in using the big rocks so they dont move. The cichlid stones are there so she has something to knock around. she loves dragging her stones all over the tank.