Okay so I have a RES, about 3 years old. Seems like she’s a girl but hard to tell. We have a vet appointment this week because she might have an infection, but there’s also been a lot of changes recently as we got her from a family friend about a month ago and are trying to switch her into a bigger tank. She was found as a baby after being physically traumatized so her shell is a bit off and I’m not sure how that affects her other areas of health or ability to handle stress, hopefully the vet has more answers for us.
But anyway, we got her and moved her in. She had been living in a very small tank with a small basking area and barely able to swim in water. I started doing a lot of research, we were given a 29 gallon tank, but an awful tank stand and no filter so after a lot of research I got a sturdy tank stand and a fluval FX4 (to hopefully last a longgggg time) and am planning to upgrade to a large (to last to her full size eventually) tank in a couple months, just not possible financially at the moment. We set up the bigger tank finally but then she started getting sick and so we’ve been dry docking her with water breaks in a shallow container multiple times a day. It feels like there is infinite factors to consider with her so I’m sorry if its like I’m rambling. But I was turning off her basking light at night because I read about circadian rhythms but then I worried she was getting cold. I did some research and got a zoomed ceramic infrared heat emitter 100w, and a zoomed water heater 100w. ive read some more things now and not sure if these are the best products? i just want her to be in her best conditions especially while shes getting used to a change (literally shes never had this much water to swim in anymore she seemed terrified when we had her try it) and so i want everything to be great for her we just weren’t given enough supplies because her former owner wasn’t doing a lot of these things.
basically to sum up, here’s what she came with from her former owner: a small tank with basking area, no swim room way too small of a filter built in to it, a uva & uvb combined basking bulb and clamp style lamp, some plastic aquatic plants and rocks (only used big rocks, got rid of pebbles), water conditioner (which we’ve used everytime we add tap water as directed by the bottle), pellets and treats like shrimp, a 29 gallon tank (that we’ve just set up, shes never been in)
since getting her, i’ve gotten: a sturdy tank stand, fluval fx4 filter, we built our own basking area, a zoomed ceramic infrared heat emitter 100w, a zoomed turtletherm 100w water heater, and we’ve started feeding her veggies (starting with dandelion greens, she’s getting used to them but boy she loves her shrimp).
i still need to buy another lamp stand for the ceramic heat emitter but im worried thats not even the right product anymore. i would really appreciate some guidance on what i can do for the heat stuff specifically right now because ive read some contradicting things in my research, but open to any guidance on any other part of her care that ive described. i never thought i’d be a turtle owner and i love her! its quite an undertaking though and i want to do the best job!