Hello,
I’m considering getting 1 or 2 pet turtles, and I have some questions PS( I live in Australia so an Australian turtle would help:
And any other information you find helpful.
THANKS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!
-1wheelwonder;)
JC! Seriously? Turtles are poopy. I lost mine then found it at the bottom of the tank. Ew.
what type of turtle did you have?
We just finished reading the Toni Morrison book Beloved in my English Literature course…so my first thought when seeing the thread title was two turtles doin’ it.
A USA turtle story - About 20 years ago I had a turtle that I hatched from an egg. I had the turtle for about 7 years before he (she?) ran away.
Mine was an Eastern Box Turtle, native to North America. They are land turtles. I kept it in a 20 gallon aquarium that was setup with dirt, plants, gravel and a water dish. It would hibernate about 4 months each year. I fed it fruit and bugs and small pieces of chicken hearts. (Heart meat has very little fat in it. Turtles do not digest fat well.) During the summer, sometimes I would put it outside under the bushes in front of my house so it could catch dinner for itself. From time to time I would have trouble finding it and the neighbors could always tell when my turtle was missing because I would be out front crawling around under the bushes. Then one day I could not find it and that was the end of that.
I enjoyed having my turtle even though turtles are not very exciting. You should research about whatever type of turtle you decide on so you can duplicate the natural environment. Turtles are very hearty creatures but you have to keep their home clean. If you don’t keep things clean they can get sick with eye and nasal infections.
that is a very heart warming story. I hope i will have alot of fun with my turtle. did you have a reptile license? And if so how much was it?
I did not have a license. I don’t know if a license/permit was required 20 years ago.
DUDE Turtles rock!! I used to have a pet Tortoise that was house trained, he would scratch on the door to go out and do his thang lol. But yeah he hibernated alot the fatty@!
When I was 2 I murdered my 8 year old brother’s turtles in a petulant fit of toddler rage. I threw one out the window and flushed the other down the toilet. I live with the guilt to this day.
They were named Schmulke and Schlemke (pronounce the "e"s at the end as if spelled, “ie” or “y”). I’d be honored if you named your turtles after them.
Back in the '60s my parents bought me several Slider Turtles, unfortunately they also only got the little decorative turtle dish with the fake island and shallow moat for swimming. All my turtles died. Thankfully for the turtles, the salmonella scare pretty much ended our family’s turtle era.
One of my friends back then did keep a slider alive for many many years, it shared an aquarium with an Angel Fish.
My box turtle was potty trained (sort of). I would feed it once a day. It would eat then crawl into the water dish to drink and do his business. I did not like having to clean the water dish so much but his habit sure helped to keep the cage clean.
i didnt think you could have turtles as pets, my neighbour used to have a tortoise called speedy(ironic name really). i used to climb to the top of my fence and watch it plod around the garden. it was, and still is aincent, but its so cool.
“Its hard when you try to think about things that are around for ever. Turtles, there around for a long time.” - Karl Pilkington
I have no idea about how the turtle trade in Australia works, but here in the US, even though many people believe that pet turtles are farm raised, the vast majority are wild caught. They are treated very badly and the mortality rate from being caught to surviving one year in captivity hovers around 90%. In some areas gathering for the pet trade is decimating wild populations. Many are kept in crates and starved for long periods of time and arrive at the pet shops in really bad condition. Eastern Box turtles along with Wood, Blanding, and too many other species BTW should be off limits because their numbers are so low.
If you have to have a turtle, not a tortoise, and if they are available and wouldn’t pose a problem as an invasive species if he or she escaped in Aussielandia, red eared sliders are a safe bet. They are good natured, rugged, aren’t fussy eaters and thrive in captivity provided you treat them well. Their wild population is so huge that you wouldn’t be causing any harm. Mine is around 25 years old and is a happy and healthy critter.
If you do get a turtle (I’m not a tortoise expert as I’ve only raised sliders, painted turtles, map turtles, and snapping turtles), keep their water clean, if they are kept indoors provide the proper lighting so they can process vitamin D, and provide a good varied diet… Wax worms, liver, mine likes bananas, crawfish or occasional shrimp, worms, spinach, small dead fish… I’ve even flipped dead mice into her pond (yummy).
Great advice. I should have mentioned that in the winter, mine lives in a huge round plastic stock tank that’s over 6 foot in diameter and two feet deep with a ramp for basking (necessary for proper digestion). It also has a powerful filtering system and a lighting system that provides a full spectrum and a heat lamp over her ramp. In the warmer months she lives outside in a pond… She also has a bunch of really big old goldfish to keep her company and to have something to watch. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather get a dog?
Great Site
Red Eared Sliders(Res) are great turtles for beginners. i have 3 myself all in one tank. they all get along. the water (as some people have said) does not get so dirty that you cant see the turtle if you just have a filter and clean the tank once a month. cleaning a tank one a month basically means taking out and replacing 30% of the water, not the whole thing. and sometimes even less with a good filter. they are very low maintenance, feed 'em once or twice a day and you’re all set. just make sure you have a UV light so their shells don’t get soft-this goes for all turtles. you’ll need a basking area-you can buy a floating dock and a heat lamp to hang above the dock to give them a way to heat up. on certain sites they will tell you that you should have 10 gallons for every 1 inch of turtle- i disagree, i have two 3 inch and one 4.5 inch turtles in one 55gallon tank. they have PLENTY of room. of course they will eventually need a larger tank seeing as they grow to be around 11 inches. so for a beginner i would not recommend getting more than one. maybe later when you’re more comfortable get others, but make sure they’re compatible first and wont fight. if you have any more questions feel free to PM
Does anyone in the USA, NYC area want to adopt my red-eared slider?
He’s maybe 3" tops, and comes with a 5 or 10 gallon aquarium, filter, lamp, bridge for sunning itself, gravel, food.
Free.