Habitat - Indoor :: plastic container...

[wyeung]

i recently bought a Sterilite 100L plastic container. the reason i bought this is because my two baby RES are getting bigger and it seems like they don't have enough space for swimming. anyway, the old tank that i used was a 10 gal. glass tank. my question is would it be ok to use a plastic tank instead of glass for their habitat because those plastic container is much much cheaper than the glass one. also i was thinking of getting an acrylic tank for them but it was way too expensive. is it ok to put my two baby RES into plastic container or acrylic tank? thank you

[STRAYKINGFISHER]

As long as they have all that they require, it shouldn't be a problem using either of those options, I know of some people that use Rubber maid containters for their turtle's home.

[steve]

plastic is fine. no its great. just make make sure lighting and heating are seated properly and securely since the plastic will bend - especially if there is alot of water.

[oboe_kellee]

What would be the appropriate size of a rubbermaid or similar container for a turtle. How do you figure the amount of gallons of water in a rubbermaid. Just wondering, may have to upgrade already and that sounds like a little less expensive way to give my turtle more space.

[marisa]

100 liters is roughly 26 gallons (about 3.785 liters is one gallon). How big are your turtles? They must surely be more than an inch long (shell length) if they're growing and, if so, you should be thinking of upgrading already. (Rough guide for container size is to allow 10 gallons of tank/container per inch of shell length.)

The plastic container is OK for two really small turts, but as they increase in size, you'll want to increase the water depth (how deep is it now?), and the plastic will bow out on the sides. After a cleaning you also may find that suction cups don't stick as well for a while (depends on what the container is made of).

I started out like you with a plastic container about your size. From there I went to a 50 gallon Rubbermaid storage container, which had it's own problems. Finally I started using stock tanks (you can buy them at feed and grain stores and stores like Tractor Supply Company (do a web search to find its homepage). Stock tanks are sturdy, meant to hold water, durable and easy to clean. I recommend them.