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Information on Three Keeled Turtle

Posted By:

EbonayiasGirl

In Relation To:

"Tank"

I would like to have quite a bit more knowledge under my belt about turtles in general as well as on the Three Keeled Turtle. It's to my understanding they need a UVA/UVB light source, a basking srouce, a landing area for them to come up out of the water etc. My questions are:

-What kind of vegitation should/could I feed mine?
-If his food has a calcium dust coating the food is he ok without a UV source?
-What should the temperature be in the water and in the basking area?
-How big of an aquarium should he be in? (he's about the size of a childs palm, maybe a bit bigger)
-Do they eat fish? If so what kind are ok?
-Are mealworms, crickets, etc ok for them?
-How often can/should I handle him?
-How do I tell if he is really a he?
-Who are some good reputable breeders I could talk to more?
-What happens if his shell get's a hole in it?
-Does their skin "shed"?
-Does their shell shed?

I can't think of any other questions right now but anything you can come up with would be awesome. I appreciate the feedback. I have had the little guy for a couple months now and he's doings ok but he's starting to get a couple of deteriorations in his shell. So I want to make sure it's something I can reverse myself instead of take him to the vet. I don't have a UVA/UVB light source because the breeder said the calcium supplement his food is dusted with will provide enough for him that he wont need one. I scratched my head but figured I would see how he does. Also I just hate how bare his tank is now...seeing as he ate all the darn plants lol...I knew it was going to happen. I just want to make sure he's happy, healthy, and growing right and at the right speed. Please don't criticize. I'm very new to turtles but I would like to know about them because they're actually quite fascinating plus I love to learn about new animals and species. Thank you.


Points:	100
Topics:	General Health , Knowledge Base
Tags:	Caging, Care, Diet, General, Information, Lighting, Temperature
Species:	Turtles and Tortoises > Turtles > Chinemys reevesii
Administrative:	Show/Hide

Member Comment

5/7/2010 1:42:04 AM

kfethe

In general, shelled animals like turtles and tortoises absolutely need heat and high quality uv lights. If you feed him in tank then the calcium dust will just wash off. I am by no means an expert but in my experience most turtles are omnivorous to some degree, so insects should be ok and probably fish as well. If you opt to go for a quality mercury vapor light, that would provide excellent heat and uv, with megaray being a good brand that is also reasonably priced. Like I said though im no turtle guy and im not even sure what part of the country these guys come from, so I could be way off. In the future, please please do yourself a favor and research before you buy.

Author Comment

5/7/2010 1:44:42 AM

EbonayiasGirl

Oh I know. He was kind of an impulse buy but with that I want to learn all that I can and give him the proper habitat. He originates from China. I am horrible at finding good resources for any type of species even snakes so that's why I am asking on here.

Member Comment

5/7/2010 1:55:41 AM

kfethe

Oh. For some reason I was thinking reeves were american. Anyway heres some caresheets. http://www.chelonia.org/articles/creevesiicare.htm
http://www.unc.edu/~dtkirkpa/stuff/Reeves.html

http://redtailboa.net/forums/turtle-terrapin/27509-reeves-turtle.html

Author Comment

5/7/2010 1:56:32 AM

EbonayiasGirl

ooo thank you :) I will check those out. I appreciate it.

Accepted Answer

5/7/2010 9:28:59 AM

amarilrose

I am not a turtle person, but the reason you give Calcium supplements is so that the animal has a better chance of using the available Calcium in its diet (more available). Metabolically, the reason turtles and lizards need UV lighting is so that they can synthesize vitamin D, which allows them to use the Calcium in their diet. They still need to have Calcium supplemented because synthetic UV lighting isn't quite as good as natural sunlight, and heck, when we have animals in captivity, we want to give them the best chance to succeed, so supplemented Calcium is just generally a good idea. All the supplemental Calcium in the world will NOT make up for a lack of UV lighting though!

So the short answer is, yes, he needs both Calcium supplementation and UV lighting! :)

Member Comment

5/7/2010 9:30:03 AM

amarilrose

incidentally, Megan, can you ask any of these questions from the person or company you bought him from?

Member Comment

5/7/2010 1:10:58 PM

treetrunkchris

you can buy elodia from wildside for like $2 a piece. its a water plant that will grow in the tank. when i was working there we fed alot of that to the red ear sliders and they went crazy. also fed them lobsters(once a week) other than that it was goldfish and pellets. they do need heat and uvb. doesnt matter what your feeding it i would keep the uvb on them. i hate to say this but ken has alot of water turtles and i would ask him.

Member Comment

5/7/2010 1:14:22 PM

kfethe

If you want you can throw a cuttlebone in the water and he can get extra calcium that way.

Member Comment

5/7/2010 1:15:33 PM

treetrunkchris

there skin sheds too, but i dont think ive ever seen a shell shed, although that would be pretty cool if it did. if it gets a hole in the shell it means that its not getting the proper lighting and nutrition. if he is the size of a childs palm i wouldnt worry about having a tank bigger than a 40 gallon. they sell water heaters at wildside also that are set to the perfect water temp, so you dont have to worry about the water getting too cold or too hot. it regulates itself. we never fed insects to the ones at wildeside, so idk about the whole bugs thing, i dont see why not, but i would ask someone else lol hope this helps!

Author Comment

5/8/2010 12:47:53 AM

EbonayiasGirl

I went to the guy's webiste that i bought him from rebecca but I can't find a contact link. So when I get more time I'm gona try and find the brochure I grabbed. When he told me I didn't need a UV bulb like I said earlier I shook my head knowing that lizards need them and I am pretty sure they have UV on the turtles at the pet shops. I use a 60w basking bulb and my apartment is about 75 so I'm pretty sure I don't need a thermometer for the water, IF I do I have 3-4 floating around here somewhere because of the fish craze we went through lol. Yeah their shell does shed. I looked up on the guys website. Their shell's come off in sections they're not supposed to look brittle and flake off, they're supposed to come off in one solid shed. and the person that supplied me with the info websites which by the way thank you! (i might actually have one saved to my favorites because one of them was the same that I found when I first got him) said they have a HUGE diet spread. Anything from crickets and mealworms to F/T fish to monkey chow and vegitation. So I am gona start making a list of things to slowly get. I have him in a 10 gallon tank for now, but just cleaned out my 30 gallon long and will hopefully be moving him over the weekend. OH even better question...What range of UVB exposure should he be getting? I didn't want to buy one with too high or too low of emition. My best guess is a 5.0 but idk. They had 2.0, 5.0 and 10.0 at petco. Then they had the long one it's a T8 or something like that...Ugh I'm horrible at this stuff.

Member Comment

5/8/2010 1:27:34 AM

kfethe

I don't know what kind of thermometers you have, but use a digital one and not one of the regular stick thermometers with the mercury bulb. As for uv lights, I would say go with the 5.0 or 10.0 if you're going to go with the tube fluorescent. Or you can spend 50 bucks and get a megaray mercury vapor that will last 2 years. With the fluorescent you replace twice a year. Do your research and decide what is best for him. Google helps a lot, thats where I found those links.

Member Comment

1/24/2011 7:04:50 AM

abi21491

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