Going away for a week. Will turtles be ok?

Question

I am going on vacation for a week. I have 2 turtles. Can I leave them home or do I have to take them to a freinds house. My friend can not come here to feed them. If I take them to my friends house to I need the lamp, tank heater and everything. I have an 80 gallon tank but the turtles are really small.

thank you

Answer 1

Minority view: I think that they'll be fine. You can either feed them before you leave and clean and feed when you return or you can leave live food in the tank for them. Turtles go awhile without food in the wild. One week is nothing.

Answer 2

If you have a 20 gal. long you could set up at your friend's, that would be great.  The turtles will still need heat for health and digestion, so it'd be a good idea to carry along your thermometer, water heater and UV/basking light.  

Set the tank up for you friend, to be sure things are right for the turtles.

http://www.redearslider.com/index_habita...

They need to be fed daily, so can't be left unattended for a week.

Enjoy your trip, and good luck.

I hope this has been helpful.

***ADD I have left ADULT turtles untended which don't need to eat as frequently as BABY turtles for a week by loading their large tanks with aquatic plants and live fish.  But, I would not recommend this for babies.  Any young animal should be monitored.

Answer 3

Take your turtles to your friend's house.  They must be fed every day.  So put them in something else.  They will starve if they are not fed.

Answer 4

I have had my 2 slider  girls for 36 yrs. Plus an 8 and 5 yr old and now a 2 yr old adopted from this site.. Been in a pond for almost 7 yrs now. Got them on my 18th birthday!

I have left mine alone for 10 days at a time. When I had a tank for my turtles I always added extra fish. Which is what they eat. If we are talking Sliders, cooters , painted, map, yellow bellied ,mississippi maps,chicken cooters. This is a good solution. If you have been on this site bad things happen to peoples pets when they go to someone elses house. Especially if people have pets and small kids.

You keep enough fish in t here and they will be fine. Put the basking light on a timer for 8 hrs a day. Have your friend come by every other day to toss in som pellets and give some lettuce and they will be good.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29035692@N0...

Your friend needs to know all the basics and what to look for if they get sick or hurt.

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.

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!

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, crickets, flies, crayfish small frogs, dragon flies and  anything that moves 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.

Contact the “www.anapsid.org/societies, for a turtle vet /  rescue in your city and state.

I wish you luck.

Answer 5

well karen h, its says on the bottle of turtle food that they only have to be fed every 2 or 3 days. if u give them a lot of food before you go they will be fine.  also, if you go to your pet store you can get feeder fish and water sprites. you put them in your tank and your turtles will eat them when they are hungary over the week you leave them. they will be fine. i do it all the time. i have three turtles.