Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:42 pm
For two "baby" turtles, you'll want at least a 20 gallon tank, and immediately start looking for an upgrade. As for their swimming, turtles are natural swimmers. If you are too worried, you can increase the water level about an inch every few days until you've reached near the top of the tank. The more water, the healthier the turtles will be, the fewer water changes you'll need.
When I first had my turtle, I kept her in about 2 inches of water (as per the care sheet I was given). I found this website, got a proper tank set up for her, filled it up all the way, dropped her in (not thinking about the whole remembering to swim thing). She sank to the bottom, started straining her neck upwards to find the air to breath, couldn't find it, started to panic. I was just about to rescue her when she swam promptly to the top (quite a struggle too), and from then, she's been a great swimmer. The longer you wait to introduce them to deeper water, the harder it will be. Mine was in the 2 inches of water for over 3 months.
4 days without eating is pretty average. Don't worry too much right now. You can try a different brand of pellet, my turtle wouldn't touch the first brand I bought, but loved the ReptoMin pellets. Every turtle is different. If they haven't eaten in a few more days, you can feed them "treats", like the krill, canned/pouched tuna, boiled chicken/egg whites, etc. You don't want to feed the treats for too long, or they will become picky, but for a few days, it won't kill them.
JAX
- - -
Baby Boy - January 9th, 2011! (3 months old)
1 RES - 7" long - Umi (3.5 years old)
1 black lab/hound mix - Josie (1.5 year old)
2 cats - Mysti and Molly (6.5 years old)
They are from China town. I didn't know you weren't supposed to get them there, but now I am concerned their not going to live.
