All is silent in the pond

In case anyone is wondering what is up with the lack of activity on this blog, here’s the Cliff’s Notes version: I’m all out of aquatic friends to blog about. Yes, that’s right, no more turtles, crabs, guppies, goldfish. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

For the benefit of keeping this post within reasonable limits, I’m not going to go into much detail. In the past couple of years, there have been a lot of changes in my life, big changes, the milestone-kind. I moved a few times which led to some downsizing in my aquariums, I’ve spent 2 months in Europe which meant leaving my fish in someone else’s care, and recently I’ve moved again, this time over 4,000 km away. We barely had room to breathe in a car stuffed full of things, so lugging aquariums was not an option.

I must admit, one of the things I miss is the routine of having an aquarium – the regular feedings, the water changes. Or just taking my eyes out of the computer for a few minutes every now and then and watch the fish’s elegant dance, listen to the filter’s soft murmur.

Getting an aquarium now is not a viable option until I know for sure that my situation is stable and I won’t be moving again in the foreseeable future. This is why things are going to be awfully slow around here for a while.

Summer Pictures

It’s actually winter here but I came across some pictures taken last summer when the turtles spent most of their time outside in a kiddy pool.

Best palls... who in reality can't stand each other.

 

Charlie and Charlotte in their new kiddy pool. The silver thing is a platform that they can bask on.

Charlotte and a piece of grape.

I eventually replaced the metal platform with this plastic one and some rocks to keep it from moving.

Creativity saves the day

For a while now Charlotte has been trying to convince me to buy her a new dock – apparently the old dock does not match her feng-shui aquarium. How does she persuade me? By starting to eat it. She had a Zoo Med Floating Turtle Dock which seemed sturdy enough to me, but apparently it’s made of some sort of coated polystyrene that wasn’t strong enough to withstand a turtle’s rage. By the time I took it out of her tank, the dock bore only a slight resemblance to the one I originally bough from the store. The ramp was completely gone and she couldn’t climb on the dock anymore because of it.

I ignored her weird behaviour for a about a week but it got on my nerves because the aquarium soon became filled with tiny floating pieces of dock. I had to scoop them out every few days and,on top of that, my filter got clogged and stopped working. Fortunately it didn’t break, and after cleaning it everything was fine. I decided I had enough and went on the Internet looking for other types of turtle docks, preferable plastic ones that couldn’t be eaten. I found that there only a few turtle docks/platforms commercially available, and only one big and sturdy enough that I could use. It’s the Kordon Turtle Ramp that is made of hard plastic and comes in different sizes. I was ready to buy it when I realized I would be paying almost $40 for a piece of plastic. I decided to take on the challenge of building Charlotte a dock myself which would give me the satisfaction of having built it and also save me a few dollars. I ended up spending $0 because all the materials I used for the project I already had in the house. I used a rectangular lid from a storage container, some thick wire, and a piece of a non-slippery rubber mat. I modified the lid a little to make a slopped side that would act like a ramp, I stapled the rubber mat to the platform and the ramp, attached the wire to the sides and the back of the platform, and hung the platform from the sides of the tank using the wires.This whole project took me about 2 minutes.

I introduced the new platform in Charlotte’s tank 3 days ago and so far she hasn’t basked on it. I’ve seen her get up and walk around on it and soon return in the water. I will give her a few more days before increasing the basking temperature a little to encourage her to come out. During these three days she’s been bitting it almost constantly but so far the dock is still intact.

Update Dec 1: She’s finally using the new dock to bask. After about a week of bitting it, bumping into it, and basically doing her best to destroy it, she concluded that the dock was sturdy enough and gave it a try.

I could only snap one quick picture before she jumped in the water.

And here’s a picture of just the new dock. You can see the large container lid with the rubber mat attached to it, and the wires that hang it from the sides of the tank.

Wriggly Reds

Charlie and Charlotte have recently celebrated their birthdays, he’s 1 year old and she’s 2 years old. To this extent, I’ve decided to go all out and buy them some “presents”. And what would be a better present for a turtle, than FOOD? I purchased one pound of live worms, red wriggler worms to be exact. I shouldn’t even have to mention that they loved them. Charlie is a bit clumsy and often drops them at the bottom of the tank and then can’t find them among the rocks and plants, but Charlotte is the funny one because she eats them like spaghetti. I feed them about 2-3 worms every other day, and on the day when they don’t get worms I feed them very few turtle pellets and a leaf of lettuce (for Charlie, because Charlotte still refuses to eat veggies). At this rate, the worms are probably going to last for…ever.

I also use the worms for composting, and now all the vegetable bits that used to be thrown in the garbage go in the worm bin. You wouldn’t believe how much a pound of worms eats. So it’s a win-win situation for me and the turtles. Not so much for the worms that get eaten. 🙂

Bloody situation

It’s been quite a while since my last post. I don’t have many things to report since then except that I’ve learnt my lesson with regards to the turtles sharing one tank together.

This summer, the turtles have spent most of the sunny days outside in a child pool. I think they enjoyed it and the natural UV light was good for them. Due to this, Charlotte shed almost all of her scutes and her shell looks completely different then last year when I got her. It’s so much smoother and the colour is sharper too. She put on some weight though, Charlie as well. Too bad the hot sunny days are starting to get scarce and fall is almost here.

A couple of weeks ago, seeing how well they got along while they were in the pool, I decided to have another shot at the idea of them sharing the same tank. Just like last time I attempted this, everything was fine until the third day when I come home from work and find Charlie on the dock in a pool of blood. My heart stopped and I panicked, not knowing what to do. I got myself together, carefully picked him up while at the same time scolding Charlotte and calling her names that I’m not allowed to mention here. His eyes were bloody, swollen, and closed shut. I tried cleaning him up a little bit and I dry-docked him near a heat source for the night. The next morning, after cleaning away some more dried blood from his face, I noticed that the bleeding had stopped but his eyes still looked bad. It took a couple more days for him to start looking like the usual Charlie again, after which I put him back in his tank.

I’m not trying to put all the blame on Charlotte because, although she’s the one hurting Charlie every time, Charlie’s not a saint either and, from what I’ve seen, he provokes her by waving his nails in front of her face and stalking her around the tank. After all this I made a promise never to try to do this again. It’s a little bit inconvenient having two huge tanks in my room but I knew that that this could be the case when I decided to get Charlotte.

Aggression

A few weeks ago I decided to give cohabitation another chance. I kept a very close eye on Charlie and Charlotte for the first few hours, then the first few days, after which I became confident that they are okay with each other’s presence. There were no signs of aggression – they were eating, basking, and swimming together peacefully.

This was true until a couple of nights ago when I came home from work to discover that Charlotte was chasing Charlie around the tank like a mad-turtle and biting him whenever she got the chance. I cannot say that I was surprised by the turn of events because, as any RES owner could tell you, these types of turtles are known to be aggressive to other tank mates if kept in a relatively small, closed environment. It seemed to me that male red ear sliders are most often the ones who harass the females, but in my case it seems to be the opposite.

Charlie is now in a temporary (rather small) container until I can find the time to set up his tank again. I think Charlotte is the happiest of the two since she got her home all to herself again.

Charlie is the Man!

In the last few weeks, Charlie’s tail has grown quite a lot, confirming my original suspicion (or rather feeling) that he is a boy. He looks a little bit funny now that the tail is as big as his paws and has become the first thing you see when you look at him. No significant growth is evident in his front nails yet but I’m expecting them to start growing soon. I’m guessing that the big tail is the first sign of manhood.

Charlotte was a bad turtle a few days ago. While on a walk around my room, she went underneath my office chair and started scratching her shell against the chair. It is a usual recurrence except that this time the scratching went on for about 15 minutes. I finally stopped her and saw that there were a lot of broken scutes under my chair and that her carapace was bleeding in two small places. Since she’s in the process of shedding, she scratches her shell quite a lot, even in her tank, but she’s never done it this roughly before. I immediately put her in a potassium permanganate solution to disinfect the wound and dry-docked her for a few hours under a heat lamp. I didn’t want to risk an infection by putting her directly back in her tank. The good news is that she’s fine now and both wounds are healed. Hopefully this will be a lesson for her.

Vanished

The title says it all.

Last night, while having a little chat with Charlotte, I had a feeling that something is was missing from her tank. True, the rocks and decorations had all been moved to one corner, but there was something else that wasn’t in its place. After a minute or two I realized what it was – the goldfish!!! It was gone… I couldn’t believe that Charlotte ate Fin in just a few hours. That also explains why all the rocks and decorations were out or place.

I had a gut feeling that sooner or later this will happen but I was still hoping that it would be later rather than sooner. I really liked Fin. They have been getting along for the past two years or so and now, all of a sudden, Charlotte decided that she had enough of his fishy tail wagging in her tank.

I name you: Charlotte

I’ve finally decided on a name for the new turtle. After about a week of calling her a different name everyday I eventually settled on Charlotte. I really like the name and I think it suits her, but also it is the female version of Charlie’s name so it seems like it’s a nice coincidence.

So, now, a little update on Charlotte. A week after I got her, she finally started basking (she was a little nervous at first) and managed to shed 3 scutes that were retained for a long time. She still has a lot more to shed until she even gets close to having a smooth shell. I tried feeding her vegetables, fruits, especially blueberries because they help with shedding but she doesn`t take to them at all. It`s probably because she wasn`t used to eating something other than pellets and fish so it`s going to take a while before she puts a vegetable or a fruit in her mouth. For sure it is the high in protein diet that she`s had all her life that let to the retention of scutes and a beginning of shell pyramiding.

I feed her every other day about a head-size amount of pellets and offer fruits and/or veggies on the days when she doesn’t get pellets.

I take her on a walk around the house about 3 days a week and, unlike with Charlie, it`s not a stressful time for me since she doesn`t normally try to get into places where she might get stuck and will not be able to get out. I don`t know if it`s the age difference between them, but Charlotte seems to have a totally different personality compared to Charlie. He acts more like a kid (which I guess he is), always tries to get into trouble, goes absolutely crazy when you get close to the tank and thinks you`re going to feed him, and he`s overall a jumpy and energetic turtle but also funny to watch. Charlotte, on the other hand, is more relaxed, mellow, doesn`t mind that much when I pick her up, she has a different attitude when she`s allowed to walk around the house, and I can approach her when she`s on the basking dock without her dashing into the water. I`m glad of this difference in personalities; i guess it makes my life a little more interesting.

Things to know before buying a turtle

If you’re thinking of buying a turtle you might want to consider a few things.

• Turtles are a long-term commitment and most of the time they outlive their owners.
• They are not inexpensive. You need to buy a large aquarium for them (about 80-100 gallons is recommended), good filter, heater, lamps, light bulbs, basking area, food. The cost of a vet should not be ignored as a simple checkup can lighten your wallet by at least $100.
• Turtles can get really large. Females can hit the 12-inch mark and males can usually grow up to 8 inches long. (this information is accurate for Red Ear Sliders)
• Young turtles have a very high mortality rate.

A lot of turtle owners are bored fish owners. I can relate because this was the case in my situation too. You’ve had fish for a period of time, want to “upgrade” to something more interesting but that still doesn’t need to be taken out on walks, and decide to get a turtle instead. How hard can it be, right? Well I can tell you from experience that it’s a little harder that it seems at first.

A lot of beginner turtle hobbyists start with a harchling (baby turtle). You happen to be at the pet store and see these cute little turtles swimming around an overcrowded tank. You ask the sales person what their care involves and what supplies they need. He/she throws a 2 gallon plastic “turtle tank”, some rocks on the bottom, some food, and, if you’re lucky, a light fixture and bulb. You are told that all you need to do is feed the turtle once a day. Another very common and dumb advice  that a lot of pet store employees will give you is that if you keep the turtle in that small container, it will not grow in size and stay small and cute forever. LIES!!! LIES!!! LIES!!!

In one word, turtles are a lifelong commitment. They are not cheap pets so you should consider your budget before taking on this responsibility. I would personally recommend acquiring your turtle from a turtle and/or reptile rescue instead of buying one from your local pet store. (I can recommend a very good turtle rescue in the GTA area, just contact me). Last, but not least, turtles are fun and entertaining animals, and can be your lifelong friends.

This post is not ment to make you change your mind about acquiring a turtle. My intention is merely to help you make an informed decision.