Terrapin Talk #1 – Tanks

You have taken on some Terrapins (hopefully via adoption or rescue) and need to consider what your tank set-up will look like. I am speaking from experience when I tell you that going small immediately due to their tiny size will almost one hundred percent come back to bite you, Terrapins when well fed and allowed room to bask sufficiently will grow at an alarming rate, I watched my two armoured younglings go from the size of a fifty pence coin all the way to the size of a small dinner plate, and worryingly I don’t think they are planning on stopping anytime soon. Go for a reasonably sized tank, I would suggest 120L right off the bat, yes it seems excessive and can run up a sizable bill but going by my flawed experiences it will be a better solution than buying a 60L tank and having to replace it within one or two short years.

Now consider how the set-up will operate in terms of functionality. Will you run a filter through the aquarium for cleaning, will you attach the basking lights and platform to the inside of the tank with a closed lid or are you happy for them to be open tanks with a hanging basking light (which I have chosen). When it comes to their homes, it really is not as simple as buying a tank online or in store and having that be the end of it. The set-up alone could take you months to prepare before they are even inside it, even then you could find yourself emptying it and trying again when the Terrapins do not agree with something upsetting them inside the aquarium. Keep all of this in mind when even considering the possibility of rescuing or adopting Terrapins, they are extremely arduous work, and I have two spoiled high maintenance Guinea pigs, I know demanding work when it comes to animals.

Tank

Staring you in the face is potentially your first huge mistake, the tank itself. Buying smaller tanks and scaling up might sound like a financially more secure plan now, but in ten to twelve months when you have a Terrapin that no longer has enough space to swim around, you will find yourself regretting going small. Now that is not to say you need some floor to ceiling monstrosity that would fit inside the London Aquarium, but perhaps looks for tanks in the 120L region first and then if that seems like too large a tank for your home drop to 80-100L (I would never recommend going below 60L if you have more than one Terrapin, space becomes a defendable factor for them quickly).

Gus & Lady (my Terrapins) are both almost fourteen years old and currently sit in two separate tanks capable of taking a terrifying 200L of water when full, they are both around the size of a small plate and need that space to comfortable swim and exercise without bumping into glass constantly. Their tanks are open top and have no filters in place, I will get into that later on, the glass is thick and retains much of the warmth when cleaning them and keeping the water comfortable for them in the winter months. It took plenty of work to get them to a content place and I went through two previous tanks before finally landing on these larger containers that should now last the remainder of their lives, I did admittedly fall into the trap of going small to start and lost hundreds of pounds by doing so. Heed my warning, give them space now to save yourself the hassle and cost.

Basking Dock

I struggled for years with a dock that would be suitable and last for my Terrapins, they both needed different structures for basking and exiting the water due to their different behaviours and dislikes (or likes) to outside noise and light. I tried the advertised suction cup floating platforms you will see online, they will work for a time, but the moment your Terrapin reaches a size with any real weight behind them that dock will sink below the water line and not offer them anywhere near the support they need. What you need to find, or build is a platform that can stay floating just above the water line that can withstand their weight, I have used plastic gridded crates and cut them to size, they now sit snuggly with a fake grassy surface atop secured by the glass lip of the tank itself. Attached to this grid in both tanks is a different slopping piece of walkway for the Terrapin to drag themselves up and onto the dock, Lady has a repurposed floating dock slope that is as wide as she is, we might potentially need to change that if she continues growing but for the time being that is serving as the bridge. Gus has a similar ramp connected to another floating platform that has been modified to use as part of the plastic dock. Both retain a solid amount of heat and serve as a perfect base the Terrapins to get a nice bask going all throughout the day.

Decoration

Onto the actual fun bit of setting up their tank, the decoration. Something you can express a bit more creativity into and as long as you are keeping in mind the elements that cannot be in the tank for the Terrapins then you are free to go mad with it. It is best to have a place secure enough deep in the water in which your scaley friend can hide away when they are scared, it will also be a useful source of collection for any loose waste that happens to be floating around after they have eaten or pooped out what they have just eaten. Keep an eye on the water after the tank is completed, if anything in the water begins to dye the colour, remove it immediately, toxins can leak out and severely damage the animals swimming around inside the tank. 

I got insanely lucky when decorating their new tanks, while taking a walk around Buckhurst Hill in Essex, I stumbled across a big aquarium unit that was being thrown away outside someone’s home, inside it had an assortment of aquarium fake plants that could withstand Terrapin attacks. So, I cleaned them off and left them in boiling water for a few days, now they sit creating a makeshift lake bed for Gus and Lady to get lost in. Keep your eyes peeled for water safe rocks as well, these have kept my two occupied for hours at time as they spin them around or try to knock them over thus keeping them stimulated and staving off any boredom that could affect their health.

Capping Off

To summarise, keep your options open when it comes to constructing the ideal Terrapin set up and do not take shortcuts, it will only hurt you down the road with an animal that grows at an alarming rate. Spring for a larger tank to start and keep your eyes out on eBay, Gumtree, Craigslist or any other second-hand giveaway sites for equipment and aquarium bits. It would be insane of me to claim it is all happy days after you have your set up complete, the challenging work comes with maintaining a clean, safe, and healthy environment for your animals. In my next post I will be touching on the subject of Terrapin diets and health, keep yourself safe and have a wonderful day.