New Terrapin Keeper

merrypins

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Ive recently taken charge of a pair of terrapins from an their previous owner who kept them as a shop display prop, for a tropical plant shop. The terrapins are 3 years old and are brother and sister. I also inherited their 3 foot something tank, uva+b heat bulb, a water heater, bubble jet and internal filter and a bunch a of problems.

First of all i think ive just about weaned them off shrimp, before they would eat nothing else as the pervious owner used to feed them shrimp as their diet, ive got them onto king british food but their still very fussy only eating the dried shrimp and leaving out the pellets, i also have reptomin a complete food but they dont touch it. i dont know how to get them to eat their pellets they only go for the dried shrimp and seem always hungry. When i refuse to give them anything but pellets they dont eat, i cant let them starve so i give them a pinch of king british, unless i should starve them to get them to eat their good food?

They have flakes of skin hanging of their soft bodies that fall off after a bit is this normal?

They are brother and sister however the male is trying to mount the female and when she refuses he chases her trying to bite her, they also have a strange ritual where they tap each other on their head with the back of their claws reapeted and very quickly for short bursts. Im not equipped to handle eggs if they do, should i get rid of one? and who would i give it to? can they live in a lake if i release them, as ive heard about released captive terrapins breeding in the thames to form new wild populations.

Ive been reading around and ive found quite a bit of advice telling me to get a 6 foot tank, and under-substrate filter tiles with an external pump. I can spend up to 300 on new stuff for them but i am uncertain of what i should be putting it on. A new 6foot tank is expensive and i dont really have the space, i've seen you can get second hand ones for 200- 250. for now ive increased the water volume to give them up and down swimming space and they seem far more active, the platform is a little smaller but they only come up to sun bathe so thats ok i suppose?

i think i have the european box water terrapin as they look exacty like the picture of red eared ones without red ears . Is a 6 foot tank really neccissary if they only grow to a little more or less then 15 cm?

thanks for your answers in advance.
 
Hiya Merry :)

Inbreeding in reptiles does not have such drastic effects as quickly as it does in humans so if they did breed it would not be the end of the world :) (except for morally of course! :D )
If you cannot provide an incubator for the eggs but you know they are fertile simply place them in the freezer over night and then throw them away.

The flakes of skin sound fairly normal really, just make sure your water quality is great ;)

As for the fussy eating! Many reptiles get stuck in bad habits and need a cruel to be kind approach to ween them off it :good: they will not starve if you dont feed them for a few days, fast them and then offer only horrid reptomin or king brit pellets and just maybe then they'll eat them :D
You may also want to try them on live insects such as crickets or worms maybe and also place some elodea in with them as a source of vegetable food :)

And lastly never release non-native animals here in the UK. Yellow bellied sliders and other terrapins can live happily in all kinds of our environments. It is actually illegal to release non-native animals intentionally here in the UK as terrapins especially can do great damage to local habitats and the protected wildlife living there.

hope that helped!
Lotte***
 
i have now the money for a tank upgrade,
i was thinking either a :
rio 400 tank + cabinet for £508

rena tall cherry tank for £530

the rio is 400l with 151L x 62H x 51W cm
the rena is 346l with 121L x H 70.5 x 51Wcm

bearing in mind i have to take atleast 15cm off total tank height for un-climb-over-able basking spot, the total volumes of each decrease by different percentages.
Each cm of height is 6.5l for rio (400/63) and 4.9l for the rena ( 346/70.5).
multiply by 15 and subtract from total volume, real volumes are about :
400l - 97l = 303l
346l - 74l = 272l
with not great liters of difference do turtles like laps or diving? im tempted to for rena because its more compact and has a better look to it, but maybe turtles are more comfortable in rio which is also a bag of gravel and a couple aquatics plants cheaper then the rena.

can you tell me about your terranium setups:
plants you use, filter system, temp and feeding ect.

ive recently put the temp up to 23c and they are much healthier looking and playful, was at 20c before.
i started feeding them in a seperate tub, they like everything except reptomin still, its hard to tell but i think they are both male. they both have long nails, but the smaller one has shorter nails but since females are usually larger i assume he is male.

also there is an infamous ammonia filter that works so well it crashes reef systems, i dont know the name but i think it could be useful for terrapin skins.
 

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