Hm...exo terra bulbs seem to have short lifespans. Both of my 45W and 70W just blew. So for the weekend and today, Tortue won't have any "direct" light for basking. DAMNIT.

Nice work on the V2 thread and chun turtles/tortoise everyone! (I think my colleague caught my turtle fever. She's getting an RES, me thinks!)

That is huge leh. My turtle hasn't even showed any signs of growth oso. >.< (He's fine and no progress/issues so no updates.)

Tortue won't swallow them at all. Just bite and spit out. I read someone that RES go through two growth spruts a year - if they have heaps of food, they'll grow faster.

Sayasebudak: Why don't you just get a small fish tank (those plastic ones), put some rocks to make the water level slightly different on one end and sun them for like half an hour to an hour with half of the tank in the sun and the other half in the shade during the weekends?

I try and sun Tortue at least once a week, if not I feed him lots of calcium rich stuff. But I still make sure he sees the sun once to twice a week for 45 mins.

This post has been edited by meiteoh: Sep 20 2006, 10:08 AM

No leh. Plastic aquarium is okay mah. I only put half of the aquarium in direct sunlight and the other hand under the shade. Of lately, because of the haze and change in season (earth axis), Tortue's sunbathing sessions are more like cloudy sunbathing sessions. >.<

Mine, I feed once every two days coz I read somewhere that they grow faster if they eat more. I sort of double the amount I feed him so I guess it makes up for him not eating every day.

Eeshhh so lucky your gfs support you. My bf is like "Always talking about your Tortue. Boring nye la." =.=

(My parents still have no idea that I have a turtle at work.)

UPM_Parasite: No leh. Actually all my colleagues come over to my desk to play with Tortue. They say it really helps them to destress and relax. ^^

Tortue is so cute la! He tertidur on the basking rock with one leg stretched out and his head resting on the surface.

Sayasebudak: You have to feed other stuff apart from just pellets to make sure RES grows up with a good strong shell - especially if you don't sun him.

I haven't exactly been sunning Tortue since it's hazy and busy times at work but I make up for it by giving him D3 supplement (dropped into the water) (by Exo Terra) at least once every two weeks and a lot of calcium-rich foods like Sera Raffy-1, shrimp and Sera Raffy Baby. I give him a mix of Tetra Repto-min (has added vits and 3.3% calcium) and Sera Raffy Baby-Gran.

He loves Sera Raffy-1 - I think because they are crunchy - look like shrimp shells. Just this morning I decided to examine the shell to see if it's hard and alright - in better shape than my fingernails, I'd say.

Btw, those with RES, have you noticed some white, nearly transclucent stuff hanging off your RES's face/legs? I suspect Tortue is shedding but I don't know for sure.

ps: Found a pretty good site for RES: http://reslider.free.fr/en/index.html

This post has been edited by meiteoh: Sep 25 2006, 11:13 AM

Uz & Sayasebudak: Will post pics tomorrow. Didn't bring camera today.

I have a quick question - I just tested Tortue's shell to see if it's soft.

It's a little bit like how when you soak your nails in the water and you can push them down more than you can when they are dry...does that mean he has shell softening (the front part of the shell near the head is hard, I was testing around the edge near his tail)?

Uz: Yeah...I was just thinking the same thing. =.=

Uz: Naturally...just that I've been a bit tad sibuk at work plus it's hazy where I am so it's just cloudy on most days. Still sun anyway?

Well, Tortue is active but I'm more concerned about him getting D3. Been very hazy so virtually no sun. At the moment I have him on D3 supplement but I don't think it's enough lor coz I see something weird on his shell (maybe I'm just being paranoid.)

UVB lamps are too expensive especially when you get sunlight for free all year round. Hmm...maybe I ought to take him back home to sun during the weekends. >.<

This post has been edited by meiteoh: Sep 26 2006, 08:38 AM

Sayasebudak: I got no space for tubes. I'm looking for BULBS.

Anyway, I think I'll sun him during lunch and when I balik over the weekends la.

This post has been edited by meiteoh: Sep 26 2006, 09:08 AM

Sayasebudak: I know. RM180 for one bulb. Pengsan la I.

ANYWAY, bless the heavens la coz today finally got bright sunshine. I sunned him next to the window (opened of course so he got pure sunshine instead of filtered sunlight) for about 15 mins...and my colleague is gonna sun him proper for an hour when they go play badminton later. YAY!

I took some pics anyway. Will put them up later for peeps to see.

This post has been edited by meiteoh: Sep 26 2006, 11:29 AM

Damnit. No sun today when my colleague took Tortue out to sun - rain somemore. >.<

Eessshhh...looks like I had better go get that UVB bulb la and take him home on the weekends. >.<

Sayasebudak: Tak boleh oso. I'm using my office table lamp - just substituting the bulb.

Anyway, I forked out RM200 for one UVB bulb (7% UVB), and two basking lights - ExoTerra Basking Spot and ExoTerra Daylight Bulb (one of the is 60W, the other is 50W)...and RM1.50 for filter sponge.

Oh, I took some pics of Tortue, have a look and see if:

(pics are too big so pls click on the link!)

1) Is he shedding skin or what? (look at the face!)
- http://static.flickr.com/114/253219649_50b785cbbf_o.gif
- http://static.flickr.com/79/253219647_d07c730e4b.jpg

2) Is he growing new shutes or suffering from "soft-shell syndrome"? Look carefully around the tail on the left side.
- http://static.flickr.com/84/253219660_afb647f1f7_o.gif
- http://static.flickr.com/88/253219662_ed09d3c957_o.gif
- http://static.flickr.com/112/253219657_2712d68e4b_o.gif (bottom)
- http://static.flickr.com/89/253219652_ae9f8f804b_o.gif (under water and at a certain angle)

This post has been edited by meiteoh: Sep 26 2006, 08:05 PM

Sayasebudak: Just make sure she doesn't kick you out of bed. LOL.

Anyway, no pink parts. I just got him set up with the new lamp and stuff. Hopefully he'll bask coz it kinda looks intimidating with two big ass lamps right on top of the basking platform.

His tank is cleaner too coz I got rid of a lot of gravel/pebbles...just have one big rock log and a handful of small stones plus his four plants - he loves them!