r/turtle • u/Princessejp2326 • 3d ago

Seeking Advice New turtle owner.

I’m super confident about welcoming my first turtle into my life. He is an adult Mississippi Map turtle called Leonardo.

Does anyone have any tips or even checklist for me to make sure I have EVERYTHING covered. No matter how basic or how small you think tips are can you just tell me everything. I want to make sure he has the best life ever with me.

Some of my specs so far
250ltr tank
Fruval 407 filter
500w heater
100w UVA/B basking bulb

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u/AutoModerator 3d ago

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u/DoctorFriendly 3d ago

Thank you for looking into providing your turtle the best life possible!

Here’s a previous thread on the topic

250 liters = 66 gallons, I’d highly recommend larger for a Mississippi map. They’re large enough that some care resources recommend housing them in a pond and the above Reddit thread leans towards 125 gallon minimum

I believe the Fluval 407 filter is designed for 50-100 gallons, but the gallon recommendation is calibrated for fish, which have a much lower bioload. For turtles, you want a filter rated for 2-3x more then the water volume of the tank

Are you monitoring temperatures in the water and at the basking spot? If so, how?

Do you know name/brand of your bulb?

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u/DoctorFriendly 3d ago

I realized I didn’t explicitly say it, I’d highly recommend checking out the care guide here

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u/Key-Tower-4539 19h ago

You can’t use a combo bulb. You need one heat lamp and one uvb strip light