Pet Turtles? Does anyone have any experience with small pet turtles who can offer advice? ?

Question

How hard are they to care for and also how expensive is it to get started?

Answer 1

I just bought a baby red eared slider last week so I can tell you from experience that they are expensive. You need to get a UVB light, water heater, turtle dock, cuttlebone, a good filter, and a very big tank. You should have a minimum of 10 gallons per inch of the turtle. So if you have a turtle that's 2 inches you should have a minimum of a 20 gallon tank. Males get to be 6 to 8 inches and females get to be 10 to 12 inches if you get a red eared slider. Then you have to worry about feeding them a balanced diet which includes various types of bugs like mealworms and crickets and feeder fish. They also need veggies like romaine lettuce. These little guys are a huge commitment because they can like for 20+ years. Once you get past the initial set up they aren't difficult to care for other then cleaning out their tank often because they p**p a lot!! You should get a filter 3 times what you would use for a fish. So if you have a 10 gallon tank you need a filter that is meant for a 30 gallon tank. You could expect to spend about 200 on the initial setup for your little guy. I also suggest staring out in a bigger tank that way when your turtle grows you won't need to upgrade the tank size and spend more money. I hope I helped and best of luck if you chose to get a little turtle! They can be tons of fun!

Answer 2

i have 8 turtles ranging in size from a dinner plate to a 50 cent piece. I built an outside turtle pond for the larger 6. The 2 smallest live in the house in a ten gallon tank untill they grow larger. there not hard to take care of. you make a water tank with some sunning are out of the water. Get a heat lamp with a bulb. put some snad or rocks at the bottom of the tank. But yourself a little turtle or 2 and some pellit turtle food. you can feed them 2-6 pellits aday when there small. As they grow  larger you can feed them bugs and worms. a tasty treat for them. anyway there relativly easy oh yea and you may want a small filter to keep your water clean in between changing water. change your water every 2-3 weeks and your all set to be a turtle owner

Answer 3

they are very high maintenence and hard to take care of.first read all of this and see if you have this setup, it costs at least $300, and is a regular setup. All the stuff is expensive!- Really, you have to be very responsible to own a pet turtle, because they are a huge responsibility. You have to be a loving, caring person who is willing to care for a turtle every single day! Really it is a big job for some people, but if you are willing to accept the challenge then go for it.

************ This is a setup for a red eared slider the most common type of turtle, they get up to 12 inches, but you will see them as babies at a store commonly, so know that they will grow very big**************

You will need to get a 50 gallon starter tank and upgrade to a 75 gallon later on when your turtle is over 6 inches...If you can not get that big of a tank right now then for now you can use a huge rubbermaid container filled up with clean warm water 5/6 of the way. The water should be 75-82F, that can be achieved by buying a water heater at the petstore, along with a water filter. Water filters that are best are canister filters, like the Rena xp3 filter which costs $200, but filters very well. Do buy a filter please, even a cheap one at $25, is better then none at all, since turtles are extremely messy and p**p-ful (haha). The bottom of the tank should be bare, no gravel because they could choke on that mistaking it for food. On top of the water you need 3 things, 1. a basking dock ( buy a large size zoomed basking dock). 2. you 100% need to buy a basking lamp+bulb, you buy them separatly, then s***w the bulb in ( 50 watts) and shine it on the basking dock over a mesh hood( cut a hole out of it and place the light there!). 3. This is very important, you need a uvb light. It is a long thin light, you need to get the actual lamp+ the long skinny bulb. Reptosun 5.0 is the best bulb( together costs $55). Shine that onto the basking dock as well. Turtles need these together because they use the uva for heat, so they stay warm ( the basking site should be 90-95F, not colder) and they need the uvb rays to metabolize calcium and vitamin d3 for a stronger shell ( like you need it for your bones!) The diet for the turtle should be reptomin pellets ( and other nutricuos pellets!) crickets, mealworms, bloodworms, shrimp, and krill. All of this is found dead at the petstore!;) They also need vegetation, get kale, mustard greens, romaine lettuce, and collard greens. Drop all of the food in the tank once a day, and remove any leftover bits after a few hours. By the way ALL of the protien food ( dead food, that was alive once) should be dusted with a calcium supplement ( powder) and you need to get a cuttlebone found in the bird aisle of the petstore and drop it in the water for him to knaw on, keep it there for a while (month) until she eats all of it, then get another. Once all of these things are done your turtle will be pretty happy!