Changing my turtle's water?

Question

Ok so i don't like to pick up my turtle because he wiggles a lot. So when I change his tank i scoop out all the dirty water.and if there is a little bit of dirty water left I add clean water to try to get as much dirty water out. And I also scrub the sides of the tank with warm water and put clean water in the tank again to washout the dirty water and stuff and I repeat,my brother says i need to scoop my turtle out and just clean the tank fully he says if i don't want to touch the turtle I need to give him away but I love my turtle. but i thought turtles needed a little bacteria in their tank..I've done this many times and my turtle has been fine is this really that bad to do?...any other ways i can clean his tank without taking him out..i seen this thing you hook up to your faucet and it it sucks out dirty water and adds clean water through a tube..i don't know how to use it though.

Answer 1

Well, for my turtles i take then out quickly and put them into a small thing of water while i clean the tank. You should be taking the turtle out because there is really no point in cleaning the tank if your still keeping dirty water in it ( which also isnt good for turtle illnesses etc that are also assosiated with dirty tanks) but if you dont want to touch the turtle you could probably find a way to section him off in one small part of the tank while you wash out the rest. My advice to you is to try to take the turtle out very fast before he has a chance to move around. If your getting most of the dirt out as you can, it shouldnt be any harm to your turtle. Goodluck!

Answer 2

put he in the sink and clean his tank or he will get sick.  

Answer 3

I clean the same way you do. Just siphon out all the goop you can and let the filter do the rest. I've had my turtle since 1965 and he hasn't complained yet.

Answer 4

If your tank is large and you have a filter you should be cleaning every 6 months. Rinsing the filter pads once a week.

Dirty water will get you sick turtles real quick.

If you want to give him away try this site..Contact the “www.anapsid.org/societies, for a turtle vet /  rescue in your city and state.

The bigger the environment the bigger the healthier the turtle. Remember 10 gallons for every inch of turtle. I have used kiddy pools and plastic pond liners from most nurseries and worked great.

Did you know that they need to bask under a reptile light UVA/UVB for 8 to 10 hrs a day for the vitamin D that they need to grow. So that means getting a turtle dock also.

Leave the heater on 75 to 78 degrees always. These turtles in captivity do not hibernate their eating may slow down some but they will not hibernate.

Their water needs to be clean otherwise they get sick easily from dirty water cause they p**p allot.

Total Body length: 5-8" average, up to 12 inches max. Life span: 15-25+ years

Males have the longer front nails and are used in mating. And are considered mature at about 5 yrs old. You can’t start sexing till about  3” across.

You need a good filter system! Gravel larger than they can swallow.

You need to feed them feeder guppies, goldfish or minnows for protein and calcium daily drop 20 or so in the tanks and watch them disappear in a few days! When I got these two 36 yrs ago all we had in back then  were goldfish to feed , so after 36 yrs and still going strong. They can eat goldfish! I spend about 175.00 a month on fish ,goldfish and minnows. An Extra  75.00 on leafy greens and dried cubed tubiflex worms.

This way when they swim for their dinner they get exercise also!

They sleep at the bottom of rivers, streams. lakes or ponds or your tank to avoid predators like coyotes,  foxes, owls, hawks, possums, raccoons and even some wide mouth bass.

TOSS in a bird cuttle bone in the water for calcium. it will dissolve real slow and if they eat it that’s fine!!

They can have garden worms, meal worms, snails, crickets, flies, crayfish small frogs, dragon flies and  anything that moves, but only as a treat.

They need leafy greens Romaine, Butter lettuce. (Iceberg and cabbage are bad for them, any other leafy greens will do) for vitamin A that they need at least 3 to 4 times a week.

You probably already know that they get sick easily, shell rot, respiratory sickness, lopsided swimming, coughing, blowing bubbles from their nose.

**Swollen cloudy eyes means lacking in Vitamin A. Which we all need for good eyes. Google ‘vegetables with Vitamin A.

I wish you luck.

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