Today we were due to go to stourhead for the behind closed doors tour but we popped into Acres aquatics to have Kaiyo’s water checked because I was having problems keeping it clear and was having to completely empty and refill every days and doing part changes through the day so thought the filter was on the blink.

anyway the results came back and it was lethal so we brought a new filter gathered some new advice from the turtle expert and we were advised to offer him or possibly her hot dog to help kaiyo put on some much needed weight.

So we brought a new filter and headed home to give him a complete clean out and water change, we had to use the hose as the problems with the water was due to our water filtration system and there is only two taps that aren’t covered by the salt part of the system and thats the garden hose and our drinking tap (that is very very slow) so we used the hose to clean it all out and to refill it then we filled the kettle to bring up the temperature to a safe temp as the water out of the hose was very very cold.

Once all of that was done and while the filter was working its way through the new water Jessica recorded a video for her blog and Thomas started to write a script for a video blog but we then headed to subway where he put more to it.

by time we got back home again he changed his mind and didn’t want to post it anymore or record it so I am posting what he did write here instead.

“Introduction:

Welcome to attacker vlog, I am Thomas brown and today we are here to talk about turtles.

Today we are going to look at Kaiyo, his tank and how to look after him,

This is Kaiyo he is a musk turtle, he’s come to us after a rough start which has left him in a bad condition, he is malnourished and his shell and skin are effected because of this. If you would like to know more about his story then you will find it in the description below.

Because he is my first turtle, I have sought advice on not only his day to day care but also helping him recover and that’s what we are here today to share with you, I hope to keep you updated on his progress and that this maybe helpful to an others who find themselves with a rescue turtle.

So lets start with his habitat, Kaiyo is a musk turtle and lives here in this tank, as you can see in his tank he has, lots of different things and I’m going to start with the most important.

Probably the first thing we should thing we should talk about is the actual tank itself, ours came with Kaiyo and is suitable for a single turtle, it measures (insert) , I wont lie we will be replacing it purely because musk turtles are social creatures and we want to get Kaiyo a friend but more details on that once we are ready for that stage hopefully in a week or two first we have to get his weight up.

This is the filter, this filters the water removing all waste from the water ensuring the water stays clean, Kaiyo has (Insert filter make) this is an internal filter and will need to be cleaned probably weekly we will find out for sure and add to description should that change because as I have said we are learning as we go along.

Next is his heater this helps keep his water keep to optimum temperature in Kaiyo’s case that’s around 25 degrees C (around 77 in Fahrenheit for those overseas) which was actually warmer than my bath this morning after mum forgot to put the hot water on!

So now we are moving onto his shelf and lamp this allows him chance to get out of the water and bask I cant tell you much about this other than I have been told its important for their shell and for them to get out of the water, if anyone out there knows more then feel free to post it below otherwise when I see the expert at our local aquatics Center next I will ask and post more in the description or an other vlog.

Everything else is actually personal taste you can make it natural or not we were told the best substrate is no substrate but because I would like black sand eventually he has told me to feed Kaiyo with long tweezers (important because a bite could easily chop off your finger! Scary stuff and I quite like my fingers!) this is so the food isn’t being eaten from the floor of the tank and reducing the chances of him eating the substrate along with the food, but for now he has stones this is what he had when we were given him.”

They did really really well and it was a brilliant day they all worked really well not only sorting Kaiyo out but also asking questions and on the two blogs.