Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: Hi, I'm Joshua

[echopulse]

My name is Joshua, and I'm from texas. I have been working at Many Friends for about three weeks. It's a kiosk at the mall, and we sell RES, Iguanas, Hermit Crabs, and sometimes other turtles. Oh yeah, and geckos. Since I have been working there, I have fallen in love with the turtles, so I finally brought some home on Friday. Of course I went to Petsmart after work, and got them a 10 gallon aquarium with a hood. I got two Sun Glo bulbs, 15 watt for one side, 25 watt for the basking rock. I got river stones, a stick on thermometor for the water, a glass thermometor for the basking area, a fake plant, aquarium background, turtle pellets, and filter. the I found a large rock when I got home for them to bask on. It takes up almost half the aquarium, but it's okay for them, they are baby sliders. Not much more than 1 inch long. The warer is about 4 inches deep. So it's a pretty nice setup I think. I haven't named them yet, since I don't know if they are male or female.

Thanks for having me at turtle talk.

[ellman605]

get bigger tank, you WILL need it. Besides that, welcome aboard.

E.T

[sonyj]

Welcome to the forum. I suggest reading through the main parts of the forum and the stickies(important info) under each section as well as the main site. There's a lot to know about taking care of RES properly. A ten gallon tank might do for the time being, but start looking for a bigger one now. Ten gallons of tank per inch of turtle is the minimum tank size needed to keep your turtles. So if you have more than one now, the 10 gallon is already too small. And four inches of water isn't enough. RES love to swim, even baby RES, so fill it up as high as you can and get a good basking dock with both the heat light and UVB light over it that the RES need.

Don't forget to invest in a good filter and heater as well. And be sure to read the feeding stickies to see what to add to the diet of turtle pellets to insure they get a healthy balanced diet of both pellets and veggies/plant matter.

After reading through some of the forum, if you have any questions just ask. It can all be overwhelming at first. BTW, you won't be able to tell if they are boy or girl until they reach about 4 inches in length, so going with gender neutral names now or names easy to change might be the way to go.

[JessicaTS]

Welcome to Turtle Talk

[echopulse]

I've already read over almost all the info on the main site. In fact I used the knowlege I gained from the site to put together a care sheet to give out to people who buy our turtles. So many people come back to the kiosk complaining that their turtle died, and when I ask how they took care of it, they weren't doing everything they are supposed to. Since it's hard to tell them everything they need to know in just a few minutes, I put together the care sheet with all the essentials. I used my own words of course, because I don't want to infringe on anyone's copyrights! But I have also read many of the topics here, and there's some interesting discussion that I will be partaking in. I think the 10 gallon is enough for them for about a year, and then I will probably upgrade to a 30 gallon. They take a lot of space, so I have to make room for the aquarium. And I am following the rule of thumb, 10 gallons for each inch of shell. I don't think it's nessecary to count the two shells as two inches, since they don't infringe on each other's space. Each turtle doesn't claim half the space, they share. Quite unlike people who share apartments or dorm rooms!

[sonyj]

I've already read over almost all the info on the main site. In fact I used it to put together a care sheet to give out to people who buy our turtles. I used my own words of course, don't want to infringe on anyone's copyrights! But I have also read many of the topics here, and there's some interesting discussion that I will be partaking in. I think the 10 gallon is enough for them for about a year, and then I will probably upgrade to a 30 gallon. They take a lot of space, so I have to make room too.

That's great that you made the care sheet to pass out. So many people are unaware of all that it takes to care for turtles correctly.

Yeah, that's what I thought too about the ten gallon and I have just one turtle. Within four months, I upgraded to a thirty gallon and he's much happier now. If you want healthy, happy turtles their habitat is extremely important.

[steve]

Petco has some free caresheets at their stores and there's a 1-page guide from this site here:
http://www.redearslider.com/res-guide.pdf

I'm not sure about the other reptiles being sold at your kiosk, but it's against the law to sell turtles with shells under 4" in length. I don't know what legal actions may be taken against the kiosk/mall, probably none unless some one gets sick, but you guys may be shut down.

Your turts will quickly outgrow the 10 gallon. I would get a large plastic storage container to start with before I would invest in a larger tank. Harassment will likely arise if one of your turts is a male, but it doesn't start when the are hatchlings. Things may seem chummy at first, but the 10 gallon per inch guideline may mean nothing once harassment becomes aggression.

[echopulse]

Actually, Steve, that law applies only to pet stores. There are are some exceptions to that law, such as if you are a hobbyist, or exibitionist. The law was made only because unsupervised children were putting the turtles in their mouths and getting sick. But I think that is rediculous. Toys with small parts can make babies sick too if they eat them, but nobody outlaws toys! There should just be a rule that parents must be warned about the dangers. Which we do anyways. But thanks for the advice.

[steve]

So are you saying that the kiosk strictly sells to hobbyists and exhibitionists?

This is the 'exception' regarding sales:
"The sale, holding for sale, and distribution of live turtles and viable turtle eggs for bona fide scientific, educational, or exhibitional purposes, other than use as pets.

The sale, holding for sale, and distribution of live turtles and viable turtle eggs not in connection with a business."

I'm at fault for being general earlier, but we have noted that there are ways people use to get around this particular law. Though this law was enacted to prevent salmonella in children it also had the benefit of reducing hatchling sales within the US.

Sorry to turn your introduction into a debate... welcome!

[echopulse]

Hmm, well I guess you may be right though. The part that says "other than for use as pets" and "not in connection with a business" is what scares me. I thought the law just applied to pet stores. We only have one employee besides me, and that is the owner. But I hope we don't get shut down. We try to do everything we can to make sure they are well taken care of though.

[steve]

There has been a huge increase in turtle sales this year, and there are a lot of kiosks doing business that way (especially in Florida area malls).

Most petstores adhere to the rules because they stand to lose more if they are caught. I would think that the turtles were more likely than the other animals you are selling to cause trouble, though your boss may want to check the local laws to make sure what's safe to sell.

Just curious, what are they selling for?

[marisa]

Welcome. How many are "some" turtles? They really need a bigger tank for starters...

[echopulse]

Just two turtles.

[sinbad]

im josh from alaska

[marisa]

You waited until now to introduce yourself? lol Well, a belated welcome to you to, Josh.