Common Musk Turtle

www.turtleforum.com

This is the BEST turtle site.

 

Muds, Musk and Snappers are really good to start...I keep some of them at work and they are very simple to care for.

 

They are a pretty little turtle IMO. Much nicer to look at than the mud turtles. Snappers are a good choice too but like to be able to get out of the water and roam a bit on land.

 

I've kept them before, the babies are funny looking to me just because they are so little. I just kept them in a 10 gal, they walked on the bottom pretty often. Don't know how much UV they need, I didn't check out that site.

 

Snappers rarely come out on land typically it is only to lay eggs. And most snappers get very very large. I would recommend reeves, european pond turtles, asian box turtles(sometimes called golden thread) are semi to mostly aquatic. If you want to do snapper, florida snapping turtles stay relatively small compared to their cousins. painted turtles have lots of color and top out around 8 inches. Also one of my favorites of all time, Heosemys spinosa. AKA spiny turtle AKA cogwheel turtle. These are amazing, kinda rare and just an all round good turtle. If you can find one that isn't freshly imported thats the way to go even though it will be more pricey. The fresh imports have a higher mortality and are typically loaded with parasites. There are also many different species of mud and musk turtles that are mostly aquatic and do not get large.

 

You also asked about other species. Your set up sounds sufficient for a single adult musk turtle. (A baby would have a lot of room for a couple of years.) However the larger the tank the easier it will be to maintain. A 20 gal you'll likely have to change out weekly, and 20 long would be preferable to 20 high, you want more floor space because they aren't powerful swimmers so the water shouldn't fill the whole tank and they should have rocks and things to help them move about. 30long or 55 gal would need cleaned maybe once or twice a month. I like submersible fluval filters for my turtles, they work great and are easy to clean. Again the bigger the better. Some of my turtles only need cleaned once every 6 to 8 weeks because they have lots of water and more than ample filtration. Also Mazuri is the best turtle food I've found. Its zoo formula and can be obtained at any feed store or any purina dealer can order it. The air pump and stone are completely usless for turtles and will just be loud and burn up electricity. I don't even use airstones in my fish tanks anymore unless they are way overcrowded or it is the only form of filtration(mostly used for raising baby fish and salamanders). They just aren't worth the trouble.

 

Actually snappers are very bad beginners turtles, and to top it off they ACTUALLY do like to bask.

 

i got a baby snapper i found in my front yard
but ive caught some big uns and yes they are aggressive and i wouldnt vote them to be a beginner species

 

have you looked into loggerhead musk turtles? there my personal favorit. i have a loggerhead, 2 three striped muds and use to have a white throat musk..

all of them are way cool and allot of fun to keep.. snappers arnt a good starter turtle.

FYI
muds and musks actually dont require UV lighting like most turtles. as long as they have a healthy well rounded diet your good to go without it.

however most turtles and tourtoises do require UV

 

Muds and Musks=yes.

Snappers=nonononononononononononono. A turtle capable of exceeding 75 pounds is not a walk in the park in terms of pet care.

 

I've always liked Sternotherus minor minor ... the Loggerhead musk turtle, they don't get very big http://www.chelonia.org/SminorminorBP3.jpg (hatchling photo) http://www.chelonia.org/SminorminorBP4.jpg (another hatchling photo).

 

Florida snappers DO make good starter turtles. They are much smaller than their two cousins like I mentioned before and they are practically bullet proof! Yes, they can bite hard. So can many other turtles. They are very very hardy and relatively low on maintinance. I would qualify them as a good starter species. Now alligator and common snappers on the other hand get MASSIVE and I would not recommend them to most turtle keepers even with experience.

 

Since I live in the northeast, I'm more accustomed to studying common snappers than looking up stuff on Florida snappers, though I thought I've read that they're only slightly smaller than their common cousins.