Minature aquatic turtle

[kristinnandbenn]

I am mainly into tarantula's, but my sister keeps asking me if I can find her a turtle. She said she saw them at a pet store out of state and that she was told they stay smaller than the palm of your hand.

Anyone have any ideas on what sp of turtle this might be?

 

[Philth]

Sounds like she got bad pet store info.
Later, Tom

 

[groovyspider]

I am mainly into tarantula's, but my sister keeps asking me if I can find her a turtle. She said she saw them at a pet store out of state and that she was told they stay smaller than the palm of your hand.

Anyone have any ideas on what sp of turtle this might be?

look into musk turtles they could live in a twenty long full grown just one turtle though they get only bout 5 inches a few diffrent varietys

 

[Bigboy]

A common musk turtle is the only thing that comes to mind as being small and aquatic.

 

[Jezabel]

Reeves Turtle (Chinemys reevesii) : http://www.unc.edu/~dtkirkpa/stuff/Reeves.html

 

[SandDeku]

Umm not trying to put anyone down... but... that's really bad information... A musk turtle is actually pretty active. I own one myself-- have owned several before(Had to move).

I currently own a northern diamondbacked terrapin. The ones ussually sold at any giving store would be the "Basking" turtles. For the most part they need a tank over 75gallons to start with and an extra 30gallons per extra turtle I would say(provided you have an extremely good filtration).

Turtles are alot of work and care. Not even joking. Not to make fun of any spiders or tarantulas. But tarantulas are actually "cheap" to care for in comparison to a turtle. Turtles need STRONG UVB and UVA lighting. "basking" bulbs do not work. Anything that is a long tube should work. I forgot the name of it(i have a bad memory lol). They need a land area that is COMPLETELY BONE DRY. It must have a higher temperature than the water.

Stay away from:
Snapping turtles(obviously way way ridiculously hard and big to care for. snappers need 200+ gallons of water or so.)
Red eared sliders(large and extremely messy--had one as well in my old house. Think of 125gs))
Cooters(basically like a slider but 2x-3x bigger than one---- 160 or 200g of water)
Spotted turtles(small, but extremely fragile and needy)
Most map turtles(extremely needy-- more so than alot of species--- unpredictable. need a strong water flow, need an extremely ridiculously clean water quality enough that one can drink out of it lol. )
-Diamondbacks(Not easy to find a good breeder---- as well as wild caught ones need saline waters, a more so varied diet than other turtles because of the fact that diamondbacks beak grow 2-3x faster than other turtles, they get fungus and other stuff easier too.)

For the most part male turtles tend to stay smaller---- ESPECIALLY on map turtles. males can range from 3.5inches to 6-7inches(map turtles only).

Ones I can "possibly" recommend is:
-Musk turtles(Except chiapas, and giant mexican, and a few others--- just stick to NORTH american aka usa turtles). They need ATLEAST a 40breeder because for these turtles floor space is more important than height. they prefer to waddle around and not have to have a hard time reaching up the surface. They should be fed a variety of foods. Try hikari turtle pellets, reptomin turtle pellets, algea/spirulina waffers(hikari), cultured snails(avoid any wild caught or petstore ones since I found they ussually are pathogens for flukes and other stuff).

Try going to reputable online breeders of fish and such. They "normally" can be kept with fish. Try fish that like "cold" waters(minnows, daces are your best bet or even danios--- don't spend too much on fish as you may find you may end up loosing them, heck even try ghost shrimp if you want). Musk turtles from the upper regions of usa prefer cooler waters of (72-75). While ones from place like texas(that would be say a razorback musk turtle---good beginner but need a bigger tank since they get 5-7inch).

-Eastern painted turtle(5-7inches--- but need atleast a 55g for one turtle, they need alot of swim space and like somewhat deep waters. A "Weak" powerhead would be ideal to keep them in shape. Feed pellets, occassional dusted crickets, and algea waffers. You can mix it up by feeding other stuff too or make your own food by using gelatin suspensions--- ill explain later. water temps should be similar to the "northern" usa musk turtle aka eastern musk turtle say 72-75)

-Southern painted turtles( slightly smaller than eastern painteds but imo still need a 55g for one, feed same as eastern painted with occassional dusted crickets, algea waffers and for all turtles you can "Try" aquatic plants)

Those are the three best starters.

For filtration remember to ALWAYS use canister filters but don't rely on just one filter since itll get overloaded. Depending on how many turtles and size of tank multiply gallons of water by 5x or so and if you have another turtle add an extra 30-40gallons of filtration. This could be accomplished by say a 100g canister eheim filter(I prefer eheims over fluvals-- my fluvals suck) with something like 2 hang on the back filters(penguin is a good brand) that is rated for 50gallons each and if you want you can add a few powerheads. I do this for my turtle tank that has a diamondback terrapin(its hard b ecause Iam using sand--- he/she likes sand)

For my musk I just use a 100g canister with 1hang on the filter. Spend good on lighting because that's basically what it needs. Buy by wattage as well. I'd say good wattage would be 75wats and up.

Provide a basking area that is completely dry and the turtle can completely haul itself out(to prevent fungal infection). Keep at hand "sulfa" dip. It helps. Always put in some aquarium salt in the tank. It helps with fungus.

-------------------------------------------

Make sure to give it Calcium with D3 in forms of gel suspensions(for best results) or crickets or gutloaded insects.


Gel suspensions are made by...
research the turtles specific diet.

Say a musk turtles diet mainly consists of snails. It also eats crayfish(Crawfish), and very rarely fish(mainly the ones that are dead--- as it is a scavenger).

So a few good ingredients would be:
-Snails(30% of the mix)
-Crayfish(10%)
-Trout or some sort of freshwater fish(Avoid catfish, goldfish, minnows and live fish as these are not healthy to feed. Goldfish and catfish are high in fat. Live fish tend to carry junk in them that you don't want in your turtle. This should be maybe 20% for some good reasons as to these are extremely healthy--- esp. trout.)
-2 to 5tblspn of calcium powder with D3
-2 to 5tblspn of vitamin powders w/out D3
-Insects--- think of crickets, earthworms, pheonix worms, etc.(20%)
-Vegetable matter-- think of tomato, carrots, algea, etc.(20%)

Then you put that in the blender and make it "poureee" but make sure it has some "hard" small chunks. To provide some "grit" and prevent overgrowth in beak.

Then you get out your flavorless, tasteless, gelatin(the one that has nothing else except what makes the gelatin hold and preserved)

Then follow THOSE instructions. Put the batter in there UPON instructions of the instructions of the label of the gelatin.

Put em in SMALL SMALL icecube trays. That way you don't have to cut em up. Put em in the fridge(DO NOT PUT IT IN THE FREEZER) and wait till it settles in and there ya go.

Feeding should be done every day for hatchlings(untill its a few months old) then after that juveniles should be fed every other day(they mature to adults depending on species--- but try looking up the sexual reproduction of the species and go with that) and adults every 2-3days.

Feeding as much as it can eat in an hour. Whatever food is left take it out and such.

No substrait make the tank cleaner. and easier to clean.
50% water change should be done weekly or so. Light should have the 12 lhour light cycle. Provide visual barriers. Turtles are skittish somewhat. like they feel better with atleast some "decor" in the tank for h iding behind.

------------------------------------------------------------------

A turtle can easily run up from 5-600dollars depending on species but one should buy from an online breeder that is "Reputable". As well as don't buy from "turtlesource" or any other "site" that is made to sell just turtles. Try going on kingsnake.com look at the classified sections..

I can really say turtle source is a horrible place to buy a turtle(experience with them was horrible--- died within the week never got replaced. even though they said they would. so yeap.)

uhh turtles live for over 20years(I say 20 because some live like 25yrs or so--- but rarely that short)

Tortoises are alot more difficult and expensive to care for. Box turtles should be avoided since most people can't take care of them properly and certainly do not belong in a tank just like a tortoise which both need a pen in the outside that is well protected and really big(12ft longx7ft widex 5ft deep and 6ft tall and predator proof).

Don't release captive bred turtles--- yatta yatta yatta

Good luck and if anymore questions just pm me.

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lol darn forgot one more thing.
P.s.

Turtles need alot of space and size does not matter. The bigger the better. No turtle can go in a 10gallon. No turtle should go in a tank UNDER a 40gallon or 40breeder tank.

Turtles don't show illness that easily as another animal would. infact they hide it--- so if they get sick you may not even see it untill its too late. But in the norm if its not eating after it settled in(given a week or even more) and its always in just one place its ill.

 

[Bigboy]

Umm not trying to put anyone down... but... that's really bad information... A musk turtle is actually pretty active. I own one myself-- have owned several before(Had to move).

The OP was just asking if their were any aquatic turtles that were that small, we were naming ones we thought might be what the pet store was selling.

Sounds like you enjoy keeping turtles.

 

[groovyspider]

:}

Sounds like you enjoy keeping turtles.

kinda got that same vibe

 

[moose35]

Chinemys reevesi are a smaller species also. neat turtles.

moose




on a side note.......
[YOUTUBE]CMNry4PE93Y[/YOUTUBE]

 

[groovyspider]

on a side note.......
[YOUTUBE]CMNry4PE93Y[/YOUTUBE]

tosh.o:}

 

[Kruggar]

one big thing that I didn't like about keeping turtles... we had 2 red eared sliders one died early, but the other one kicked it until about 14, we couldn't make the move to a kiddie pool in the basement...i digress... is the fact that they carry salmonella, and even cleaning the tank with a cut can lead to some serious infections. They aren't the best hands on pets.

do you think we've scared your sister away yet? lol

 

[SandDeku]

The OP was just asking if their were any aquatic turtles that were that small, we were naming ones we thought might be what the pet store was selling.

Sounds like you enjoy keeping turtles.

Yeah but she may have not the knowledge about keeping them. But to answer "that" question--- no. All turtles grow big even the "small ones" get to be about 4inches and even the male map turtles that can stay small "Still" need a big tank because they are more hyper active than others. I do enjoy turtles. I love them--- they're basically my passion. lol. I been dreaming of having my own house with a large 1 thousand gallon pond and having many aquatic turtles in there and maybe a large box turtle pen and such. That'd be grand. but ahh for that to happen is years from now.

and I said all of that because many people want "small" turtles because they think that a small turtle can go in a small tank. That whole rule that goes for fish defenitely never applies to turtles. Turtles are the most active reptile you can possibly keep. Even the mud turtles are active. An inactive turtle is a "sad" turtle imo.

I think for further information there's a forum called "turtletimes" but you may just wanna google it if the OP wants more info on turtles. There are experts in there with wayyy more knowledge than I. lol

---------- Post added at 02:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:32 PM ----------

Chinemys reevesi are a smaller species also. neat turtles.

moose




on a side note.......
[YOUTUBE]CMNry4PE93Y[/YOUTUBE]

Reeve's are a cool species of turtle. But their care is not as easy as its made out to be. Reeve's also need a tank size that's the size requirement atleast 55g. It also has a land preferance tendancy. They tend to wander out far up land more so than other turtles. Often called the aquatic "tortoise". Because its not really a tortoise but likes to be out on land alot. The older they are the more on land they spend.

I have personal mixed feelings about those. Since the water area isn't that important as land area. But still. How will one give 55g of water and a large enough land area? In that case they would do better with an overtank land area.
Which goes like this
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l_________ l
l-----------\--l
l____________l


Sorry if it doesn't look that great. But h ope you guys get it. lol.

---------- Post added at 02:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 PM ----------

one big thing that I didn't like about keeping turtles... we had 2 red eared sliders one died early, but the other one kicked it until about 14, we couldn't make the move to a kiddie pool in the basement...i digress... is the fact that they carry salmonella, and even cleaning the tank with a cut can lead to some serious infections. They aren't the best hands on pets.

do you think we've scared your sister away yet? lol

Ummm on the norm the whole salmonella thing is actually very quite untrue for "captive bred" turtles. If you keep the tank clean by having a strong filter, cleaning the filter and doing large water changes. And heck if you wanna go for an overkill try a "uvb" sterilizer meant for saltwater aquariums. I'm pretty sure that kills all bad bacteria.

Red eared sliders are quite sturdy, they're a very forgiving species but I'm wondering... Did you get it from a reputable source? Like a good breeder or an expo? Or did you get it somewhere like china town? A petstore?

Petstores ussually know nothing about turtles.... I went to one down in ga(a few of them) and went to a few in pa. Went to a few in nyc. Went to some all over the coast. Most of them were very unknowledgable about turtles and gave that schmeal about how its 1 inch of shell per gallon. which is very untrue so that means that a snapper could go in a 40gallon or so. lol. It's actually something more of like 1inch of scute of shell per 10gallons. But in reality that is still very vague. Since some species are more active than others....

P.s. salmonella can occur on any reptile, amphibian or even invert. Only reason why people say turtles get salmonella is because they end up keeping them in pigsty's and give them poor care. A turtle can "look" healthy and STILL be quite ill. Turtles are a master of deception. It's a defense mechanism. Turtles tend to be very "paranoid" imo. lol. Not really shy of humans or anything. But paranoid in the sense they take "Defense" to a whole new level. They tolerate their owners.

Anywho--- if you get a turtle from the wild, probably could carry some junk--- not all the time tbh. If you get a turtle from a shady place like china town, a food market, a raffle, fair, etc. Or even a petstore... It's probably ill to begin with, but not all the times. Red eared sliders are one of the more sturdier turtles. I seen people give them HORRIBLE care and STILL the little fellas' survive. Like soldiers I guess.

And the land area that is completely dry should keep bad bacteria down as well as fungal growth. Because you're putting uvb/uva light over it that also produces heat which is good because it helps kill bad bacteria or most of it.

Plus I'ved even put my hands in while I had cuts and bruises(literary almost fresh cuts-- not bleeding) and I never get any infections. Maybe I have a strong immunity--- but I get sick very easily from stuff like colds so that may not be that true. Only way you'd get salmonella is if you basically don't clean the tank weekly and the tank isn't kept clean via filters, and such and then to top it off you put the turtle in your mouth or you drink the dirty tank water. That's obviously going to give you something.








---------------------------
@ the original poster:

If you're sibling wants a turtle really badly--- make her look information up on them and also tell her they're really a big responsibility. Which she may end up getting bored with the turts. As well as may end up getting frustrated having a very deep hole in her moolah pocket as well as having to constantly clean out a very large aqua-terrarium. Plus remembering routines and such. Turtles are animals of routines imo. When you feed them in one place constantly they know where they're going to be fed(experience of dealing with them). That may not apply to some that are bottom dweallers.
Keeping a turtle also basically puts a big hole in your wallet in the sense of energy bill, water bill, etc. Food bill(maybe not as much).

Commercial foods if properly stored should only last 6months. After that it looses its nutritional value. So if I were you--- go for the small food packets. Don't just buy a huge food container because in the end you may end up having to throw it out. Still sometimes you may end up throwing some food out.

Take the turtle 2x year

 

[Pssh]

My cousin bought herself a little musk turtle who she absolutely loves! His name is Tank. He has great character and plops into the water to be fed whenever she walks by. He's not very big yet but his 20 long is already starting to look small for him since he swims around so much. He has a few small fish in with him that had originally been meant as food for him but they were too fast. Now they just hang out together. She uses one of those platforms to maximize space for him.

 

[SandDeku]

My cousin bought herself a little musk turtle who she absolutely loves! His name is Tank. He has great character and plops into the water to be fed whenever she walks by. He's not very big yet but his 20 long is already starting to look small for him since he swims around so much. He has a few small fish in with him that had originally been meant as food for him but they were too fast. Now they just hang out together. She uses one of those platforms to maximize space for him.

try to avoid feeding fish... well live fish. If they're goldfish--- goldfish are too high in fat and ussually lack nutritional value as well are ussual pathogens for disease and parasites due to the conditions they are kept in and overcrowding on the petstores behalf.. A 20long is small for a musk turtle. They're more active than the mud turtle. Mud turtles are more "calm" in comparison to a musk turtle. A musk turtle would do better in a bigger tank. Try opting for a 40breeder. It should be "enough" for him they're more aquatic than the mud turtle. Infact they may not be as good swimmers as a map turtle(thats for sure-- those things are speedy), or a disk shaped turtle. But they're good enough at swimming they can do "okay" in slightly deeper tanks than a mud turtle would. Mud turtles are "true" bottom dwellers(more so than the musks). Weird thing is--- musks are more aquatic than muds and muds prefer to have a larger dry land for walking around. Both are flighty but not as flighty as other turtles because they're good at "Blending" in. I noticed this with both muds and musks in the wild while fishing. They just stay there because they look like a rock and unless they're moving or you have some super god eyes or whatever you won't easily spot them. lol

As for food try sticking to hikari turtle pellets or even reptomin. If you wanna feed " live" foods or she does. Try culturing apple snails--- try to treat the snails for parasites and bacterias. Especially flukes, and such. That's basically what they eat the most as well as clams. But I think clams reproduce via laying eggs in fish? I forgot what I read a long time ago. lol So not sure on that to be honest. As for apple snails make sure they have "half" tank full because they lay their eggs in a "foam" nest style. above the water.

You can also "power" feed snails by giving them some turtle pellets or even putting highly nutritious veggies. You can breed other snails like ramhorns snails or even the trapdoors. Even if they're smaller they're basically morsels. It helps keep their "beak" from overgrowing. They need to eat hard foods. You can put some calcium powder in the water. It's not really necessary but I do this with my turtles and they seem to be doing fine--- infact if not better. They got a pretty sturdy and nice shell. What this basically does is--- well the water they're drinking will have some calcium in it. Just like how some crustaceans need water with high calcium when moulting this helps the turtle as well. Since calcium is what they need the most and I'm pretty sure you can't really "over" do it with calcium. But try only giving enough calcium as you would sprinkle over crickets. Or even just giving dusted crickets would be okay.

As long as they get their calcium.

Anywho good luck to your cousin. Turtles are one of my favorite little critters out there.

 

[LeilaNami]

SandDeku knows turtles. :clap::clap::worship: Certainly refreshing to hear. I don't know how many times I had to spend half an hour convincing someone that my 12" red eared slider male can't go in a 20L.

I've had experience with painted turtles and they're fantastic. They're hilarious. When I worked at PetSmart, we had that side open tank for turtles. Pain in the butt to clean but I always enjoyed my painted turtle (yes I claimed him) scrambling out the door and into my lap.

 

[SandDeku]

SandDeku knows turtles. :clap::clap::worship: Certainly refreshing to hear. I don't know how many times I had to spend half an hour convincing someone that my 12" red eared slider male can't go in a 20L.

I've had experience with painted turtles and they're fantastic. They're hilarious. When I worked at PetSmart, we had that side open tank for turtles. Pain in the butt to clean but I always enjoyed my painted turtle (yes I claimed him) scrambling out the door and into my lap.

Thanks. One note I noted is that turtles do infact have specific temperaments. And the "general" temperament may not always apply.

A red eared slider should really go in a tank that's above 75gallons(males COULD probably go in a 75g.) and a female would be 125g. Bigger is better though. And it's almost impossible to sex a turtle under sexual maturity under regular circumstances and it takes a long time(years) to reach that maturity.

I went to a petsmart down in georgia. Someone told me a russian tortoise could go in a 40breeder. Really? a 40breeder? That is the most idiotic thing anyone could say to me. xD

Then the other co-worker said that red eared sliders(fully grown) can go into a 10gallon tank. This happens in alot of the stores. Sure some employees are good. But on the norm not many are.

Painteds are skittish at first but once they get to know you're no threat they stop being shy.

 

[Ziltoid]

Don't buy a red ear slider......most....no all big pet stores will tell you they don't get very large. its a lie, they are pretty needy pets. I wanted Turtles for year but I came to realize I don't have the time to care for them properly. I went with 2 redfoot tortoises, I'm not saying they don't require responsibly, but they are much less difficult to care for.






I LIKE THURTLES..........

 

[SandDeku]

Don't buy a red ear slider......most....no all big pet stores will tell you they don't get very large. its a lie, they are pretty needy pets. I wanted Turtles for year but I came to realize I don't have the time to care for them properly. I went with 2 redfoot tortoises, I'm not saying they don't require responsibly, but they are much less difficult to care for.






I LIKE THURTLES..........

I kinda just stated that already.... read my posts. :x kinda was trying to passively help him/her choose another species if they really want a turtle. RES are extremely messy. messier than other turtles and get extremely big. Sometimes cooters can be sold as sliders and people wont know... But cooters grow 2x-3x bigger than a slider.............

 

[Bigboy]

I kinda just stated that already.... read my posts. :x kinda was trying to passively help him/her choose another species if they really want a turtle. RES are extremely messy. messier than other turtles and get extremely big. Sometimes cooters can be sold as sliders and people wont know... But cooters grow 2x-3x bigger than a slider.............

Be pleased that someone else agrees with your opinion then, no need to tell someone "I already said that". One response from anyone isn't the end all be all to a question, especially on a message board.

 

[SandDeku]

Be pleased that someone else agrees with your opinion then, no need to tell someone "I already said that". One response from anyone isn't the end all be all to a question, especially on a message board.

Mk. I didn't mean it out of disrespect.