Minature aquatic turtle

[Pssh]

Chillax, he's a baby. He's like 2" maybe. a 20 long is just fine right now as well as live insects. He is only ever offered fish that I breed myself. Not goldfish. We know what we're doing thank you very much.

 

[Kruggar]

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.

Ah well then I stand corrected. We didn't have a clue how to raise the turtle, i was 5 when we first got her. She spend most of her time, uncleaned in a way too small tank. And as you say, was probably extremely unhealthy, I never understood why we bought them in the first place.

They did come from a pet store, i was there when we got them, and they must've had about 100 little quarter sized babes in a massive fishbowl. $0.50 each. They stopped carrying them shortly after we got our two, perhaps because of the salmonella misconception. Thanks for the input in any case.

 

[SandDeku]

Chillax, he's a baby. He's like 2" maybe. a 20 long is just fine right now as well as live insects. He is only ever offered fish that I breed myself. Not goldfish. We know what we're doing thank you very much.

Good. sorry I just worry. Turtles are one of the few animals that can live for years in horrid conditions and not show signs of illness untill its too late and then the people will think it was just a "fluke"(badluck) and will just get another one... And repeat the process. I saw that happen when I worked at a petstore kinda upset me. You see to know what you're doing so yeah a 20 long should be fine for a baby. Try feeding it hard foods everyonce in a while if you can. Like cultivated snails or clams(treated prior feeding for flukes and other parasites). Turtles tend to love those.

---------- Post added at 01:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:08 AM ----------

Ah well then I stand corrected. We didn't have a clue how to raise the turtle, i was 5 when we first got her. She spend most of her time, uncleaned in a way too small tank. And as you say, was probably extremely unhealthy, I never understood why we bought them in the first place.

They did come from a pet store, i was there when we got them, and they must've had about 100 little quarter sized babes in a massive fishbowl. $0.50 each. They stopped carrying them shortly after we got our two, perhaps because of the salmonella misconception. Thanks for the input in any case.

You're welcome. That kinda is horrible though....I guess I'm too attached to them. :x

 

[DawnW]

SandDeku, marry me? Excellent advice :worship:

A small turtle in a pet shop could be a young turtle of any species really. Pics would ID it for sure.

As an aside, I have a 1300L pond in my front room for my big girls...It's a good thing Was going to post a pic but the other forum I use where my pics are is down for maintenance.

Don't think it's been mentioned, but just for info another reason not to feed goldfish is that they are high in thiaminase, and too much of this and you have a serious risk of vitamin B deficiency

 

[SandDeku]

SandDeku, marry me? Excellent advice :worship:

A small turtle in a pet shop could be a young turtle of any species really. Pics would ID it for sure.

As an aside, I have a 1300L pond in my front room for my big girls...It's a good thing Was going to post a pic but the other forum I use where my pics are is down for maintenance.

Don't think it's been mentioned, but just for info another reason not to feed goldfish is that they are high in thiaminase, and too much of this and you have a serious risk of vitamin B deficiency

Sure. ;D Thanks. There's so much good info on turtle out there. But it can also be hard to separate it from the bad stuff too. I just think keeping turtles also has to do with "judgment calls" meaning you sometimes have to use un-orthodox methods. Like if you see a turtle who is healthy, happy but isn't that active I guess it would be "okay" if it was in a smaller tank(no less than 40breeder) but it goes both ways too. If you see a turtle of that same species more active than the other, then that one would do best in a larger tank. If it's going up and down on one side of the tank it means its bored. I kinda picked that up from puffer fish but very well applies to turtles too.

For those who just claim to be "poor" to buy a good large tank then just go another route. You can get a less active turtle and get a big rubbermaid. I'ved seen a 100gallon rubbermaid stock tank for--- 100bucks. lol. But that one was heavy duty. Or just build an outside pond if you live in a place near the tropics. Either make your own food, or cultivate your own food this is the "cheapest" method to keep them well fed and healthy. If you can't buy an expensive UVB/UVA light(talking about the good ones not a cheap crappy one like the one ill post below in a few) then atleast put the turtle outside for atleast 5-6hours a day during summer with some areas for hiding(make sure its in a container that it can't get out and has enough water... Try a kiddy pool for small turtles and a stocktank for larger but try to keep the kiddy pool one side in shade and one in full sunlight with a large flat rock for it to bask on.) Watch for predators though and always make sure it can't escape. Turtles are excellent escape artist and are pretty agile.

For winter if you really can't afford a good light try a system of mirrors? But that will take alot of work. Or put one side of the tank in a window that gets full light. Make sure the window is open though(wether mirrors or not doesn't matter) because the UVB/UVA gets filtered when the light passes through the windows.

For those picky eaters that don't eat veggies or just plain out hate them. Give them algea waffers. That's n ot "enough" but it does do some help. Or do the gel suspension I mentioned in an earlier post. Then just put more veggies in there like 90%veggies and try finding a meat they really like. Then put it in the blend and voila! A nutritious treat that they think it's just more meat but in reality they're consuming their share of plants. Btw. I noticed that turtles that eat plants prefer aquatic plants over stuff like lettuce. I give mine occassionally the anacharis. They're pretty sturdy and my turtle loves them. All turtles I'ved owned has ate them before.

Good to know there's a fellow turtle lover on this forum!

 

[Pssh]

He gets all the extra snails in my tanks. He'll eat anything really. He was trying to eat the fake plants so she had to get some real ones for him! I made sure she did her research!

 

[SandDeku]

He gets all the extra snails in my tanks. He'll eat anything really. He was trying to eat the fake plants so she had to get some real ones for him! I made sure she did her research!

Good. try to avoid using gravel. If substrate use sand(with caution--- filter) or river rocks(gravel but too big to be consumed). Good luck to you both.

 

[Pssh]

She kept them potted in those little aquatic plant containers so it would be easy to clean.

 

[SandDeku]

She kept them potted in those little aquatic plant containers so it would be easy to clean.

Good. aquatic plants have their special needs as well. :O so for a good long lasting plant make sure she researches their needs.

 

[Pssh]

He usually eats them. He really likes duckweed.

 

[SandDeku]

He usually eats them. He really likes duckweed.

duckweed? I tried that and my turtles ate them too. :/ and I got mad cause i love that plant. duckweed is very pretty. I tried lillypads he mauled them over. xD He's a little destructive

 

[kristinnandbenn]

Thanks all for the info. I'll let her know what i've read. If she gets one i'll most likely have to keep it in my room with my spiders and take care of it, so i'll be sure to do plenty of research.

 

[SandDeku]

Thanks all for the info. I'll let her know what i've read. If she gets one i'll most likely have to keep it in my room with my spiders and take care of it, so i'll be sure to do plenty of research.

Good luck!