General Care Discussion :: When I clean the tank....

[butterfly]

Does anyone have any suggestions from experience of the best place to put my RES when I clean her tank? I want to make it as stressless as possible for her.

I was thinking of putting her in a container in a place where she cant see all the activity around her tank. Should I put water in the container or keep her dry? I dont know what she would be more comfortable with.

Im going to use a container like the one I feed her in because she does not mind being taken out of her tank for feeding everyday and she actually perfers small containers. I use a microwave bowl a few inches bigger than her only because when I would tried to feed her in a big sterilite container she wouldnt eat and would struggle to be removed from it.

Since cleaning takes some time though, I dont want her to associate being taken out of her tank and something negative so all suggestions are welcome.

[JessicaTS]

While I clean tanks, I let them roam around in the turtle-safe zone, which is a fenced area in my basement covered with grass carpetting. I let them stretch out their legs and run around while I clean the tanks. I always have someone keep supervision on them.

If the tank you are cleaning won't take longer than 30 minutes, it would be okay for a turtle to be feeding while you are cleaning. I do when I do partial water changes. Also, I wait for them to waste in the feeing container before I place them back, which can take some time for some turtles.

[butterfly]

Thankyou for your reply. Well today is Sunday and it was tank cleaning day. For some reason Ive realized that I cant even let the tank go for two weeks without completely draining it and cleaning it, I have to do it weekly.

Everything went pretty well. I put her away from the commotion in her familiar container and she didnt get upset. It took me awhile to clean the tank though because I put a background and bottom picture on the tank. I also had to tweek the electrical lay out but I put everything back just as it was before I took her out. I didnt rearrange anything. When I put her back in she seemed a little shy, I guess its the background pictures. I hope she gets used to them soon. I hate to stress her, because it just makes me worry. I hope she knows shes still in her same tank.