My daughter bought a little 1&1/2 inch turtle in NY.We have food. What else do we need? Will it get any bigger

Question

My daughter bought a little 1&1/2 inch turtle in NY.We have food. What else do we need? Will it get any bigger

Answer 1

It doesn't really get any bigger. And PLEASE be careful. If you got that turtle from Chinatown they can spread samonella to young children if hands are not washed after handling.

Answer 2

it depends on the breed if it gets bigger. it deepends on what type of turtle on what it needs. please post what kind or a pic of the belly and ill reply with care for it

Answer 3

yes the turtle will probaly get bigger. and the turlte will need a place out of the water if can rest on and a heating lamp.

Answer 4

it will get a lot bigger.  see care sheet below.

Answer 5

It was actually to small to buy, but what you need are a sunlamp, rocks in tank for him to climb out on and bask and a filter to clean the water. Google red eared sliders and you will definitely find some good sites to help you, as someone said - please make sure your daughter washes her hands after playing with turtle, I like to keep a bottle of hand sanitizer right near all my turtles, as it is easier for children to remember. They make wonderful pets. Good Luck

Answer 6

Slap on the wrist for not finding out about an animal before getting one.  Chances are that it will end up dying before the end of the year.  Also, chances are that the turtle is a red eared slider (RES)...and that the food that came with it is not a good quality.

Contrary to popular belief, hatchlings of aquatic turtle species (like RES) are really good swimmers and should be in deep water as long as there is a basking spot to haul themselves onto.

Turtles will NOT grow to fit the cage. I get p.o.'d when I hear people say that. The only time reptiles even appear to only grow to fit their cage is when they are starved. I remember seeing a 18" American alligator at the local zoo. He was more than 9 years old at the time and had been kept in a 10 gallon tank since it hatched before it was confiscated by animal control. That was a pretty sad sight. So is a 10" red eared slider kept in a 10 gallon tank since it was a hatchling. It was a miracle it had lived so long in such poor conditions and its shell had been badly deformed because it couldn't even really turn around in its tank.

Pretty much all sliders/cooters (especially red eared sliders)  will reach at least a foot in shell length and some females have shells as much as 16-18 inches long.  I have a male RES that turns a year old this month whose shell is already over 6 sinches.

You need 10 gallons of water for each inch of shell.  The 6 inch male I have already needs 60 gallons and he's only a year old.

At every meal a turtle should get enough pellets to equal the volume of the turtle's head (Reptomin is one of the better ones). Turtles under 3" should be eating two meals a day of that size plus whatever veggies you can get them to eat. At about 3-4" in shell length the food pellets should be cut back to one meal a day and at ~6" it should be every other day.  If you truly can't stand to watch it beg, only feed it fruits and veggies outside of the normally spaced meals. Both fruits and veggies are far less concentrated in calories than pellets or live food (never feed a turtle goldfish-they will slowly poison it).

Also, make sure you have a good UVB bulb (it must say that it produces UVB-if it doesn't clearly say so, it doesn't make any) and that you make sure that it is also getting some extra calcium. Cutting up chunks of cuttlebone without the hard shell like layer and that are small enough to fit in the turtle's mouth is good. Most turtles will play with them before eating so it will give them some amusment in addition to the calcium. Once a week should be fine, especially if you're feeding one of the better commercial foods. Eventually you might be able to just give her the full bone and let it chomp on sections whenever she feels like it. Without both adequate UVB and calcium the shell will become soft (metabolic bone disease). Without immediate treatment from a herp vet the MBD will kill the turtle rather painfully. Note: hatchlings naturally have a soft shell and it takes a month or two for the shell to start growing and to harden up. If the scutes show any growth lines at all and the shell is still soft, then it likely has MBD regardless of the turtle's size.  Never put a tank in the sunlight, it heats up too quickly even if there is no top, also, UV light does not pass through glass or plastic.

You also need a good basking light at least 100W, 125-150 often works better though.  Energy efficient bulbs don't give off the heat that is needed.  The basking area needs to be just large enough that the turtle can get completely out of the water and dry off (no other land areas are needed unless you have a female that needs a place to lay her eggs).  The turtle docks are good-just don't put the suction cups on the bottom-turtles get trapped between the tank and the dock and drown.  Place the basking lamp in such a way that the temperature at the basking spot is 90-110 degrees.

Water temperature needs to be 75-85 degrees (on the higher end for hatchlings).  You'll need a water heater that is placed so that the turtle can't come into contact with it.  Turtles will lay on the heater far past the point where they are severely burnt-reptiles can't tell if something is too hot until it's too late (for this reason, never use 'hot rocks' for any reptile).  The Petco here has a special turtle heater that works pretty well and is safe.

You will also need a good filter, preferably rated for at least 3 times the amount of water you have.  A canister filter is best but expensive.  The water should be changed at least 50% every week, even if filtered as turtles are very messy creatures.  Unless you are living in an area with contaminants in the water, you don't need to treat it first, just make sure it is the same temperature as that in the tank.  Chlorine and chloramine do not bother turtles as they do fish.

Answer 7

they can grow up at 12", they are sometimes nasty tempered turtles.

you will need to buy at least for now:

20 gallon long tank

uvb bulb, heat bulb & hood.

screen top (29 gallon tops fit)

basking ramp.

filter - important, keep the water from getting gross.

You will need to clean it at least 2x a month.

they're not cheap pets, they're not throwaway pets. theyre not pets for kids either. you can't play with a turtle. she'll need to wash her hands every time she handles the turtle or the tank or she'll get salmonella sickness. you dont want that. proper care will prevent this. I've had turtles for 5 years, strict on care and i dont get sick.