Baby Turtle!

[Greenteam4]

so, today is 1.5 years I've been with my girlfriend. And for my present, she got me a little baby turtle! (demutated ofcourse). I shall try to get a picture of little Mikey (how could I resist?) up soon for anyone who would like to see him.

...I really want to stick a turtle toddler or something in the tank with him....

[discordiatookie]

..I really want to stick a turtle toddler or something in the tank with him....

in my dwarf hamster's cage (whom i named Master Splinter) i stuck a small michelangelo figure (which i got free with a DVD) in with him...

master splinter ate michelangelo's face off! some sensei!!

[Buslady]

so, today is 1.5 years I've been with my girlfriend. And for my present, she got me a little baby turtle! (demutated ofcourse). I shall try to get a picture of little Mikey (how could I resist?) up soon for anyone who would like to see him.

...I really want to stick a turtle toddler or something in the tank with him....

I am a turtle keeper, 7 turtles and a tortoise. I have 4 red ears, I'll bet yours is one also. if you have questions, ask me; I'll let you know it all. For now, here's my advice:

[turtle keeper mode]

I am hoping you purchased the proper turtle keeping equipment before buying the turtle. If this guy is a red ear slider, which is a popular green turtle with bold red patches (sometimes orange or yellowish) on the head.
You will need, for a hatchling turtle:

20 gallon "long" (not high) aquarium, filled about 75-80%, these babies swim.
turtle basking ramp
UVB light & hood
Heat light & hood
rocks on the tank bottom, medium smooth river rock is perfect(home depot has them). nothing small that he can ingest. any decorations are up to you. They like to explore their surroundings, it keeps their brains working and stimulated. I do not advise putting a turtle figure in the tank, he could nibble and chew on it if he wants and if he ingests bits, he could get blocked up and you won't' have him anymore.
proper food, pellets don't cut it 100%. do no feed "turtle treats" they are nothing more than dried shrimp, too much keratin. feed 3-4 pellets 3x week, supplement with dark greens such as romaine lettuce, red or green leaf. turtles will ALWAYS beg for food, do not be a sucker. over feeding turns into shell and health issues. The goal is slow growth.
Besides the UVB light, the other most important item is a good filter.
buy the biggest you can afford rated 2-3x higher than what the tank size is. turtles poop and often. they are messy. if you have a 20g tank, you want something like a power filter rated for a 60 gallon tank.
you will have to use a siphon to suck out crud on the bottom. (many keepers dont have gravel for this reason, its easier to suck the crud out)

once your hatchling is about 4" or so, you should be able to tall if it's a boy or girl. if it's a girl, she will grow to about 12" long, a male about 8"(this measurement is taken from one end of the carapace to the other)
Red Ears are not the most friendly, or tame..they are an aggressive species and being as much, is their secret to survival. Whatever you do, never ever let him go into a waterway,lake,river, pond,whatever. Because of us humans dumping non-native Red ears, they've pushed out the natives and destroyed a natural habitat which they of course thrive in.
If you find you cannot care for him in the future, look up a turtle rescue in your area. do not take him to an animal shelter, many dont know what to do with turtles.[/end turtle geek mode]

[TheShowstoppa]

Wow... I really did learn a lot from that post. Thanks for summing that up Buslady! I've been wanting to get a few new hatchlings for quite some time now. I plan to do so once I get my own apartment. (So, basically, I plan to get a turtle within the next 2 months.) I'm definitely going to have to look this post up again when I get them.

How do the turtles co-exsist with one another, and is it a good idea to get a male and a female if I want to have more turtles? I plan on raising quite a few turtles - Four originally (how could I not?).

I've already had 2 rats. They both sadly passed away about 2 weeks ago. I didn't name either of them splinter for the fact that they were both girls. Lola and Chrissy were their names. They were cute! However, if you ever decide to get rats, let this be known: You must play with your rats at least once a day for 15 minutes a day to keep them domesticated. If you keep them in their cages too long with play time, they can become mean and keep to themselves. Rats almost never bite contrary to popular belief. The reasons they would bite is if they are no longer domesticated, you hurt them, or you disturb them while they are feeding. Playing with them keeps them domesticated and they generally never bite the hand that feeds. You also never want to feed them people food because when you go back to feeding them rat food, they will not take to it. They are also extremely messy and their urine is extremely potent to smell. You must clean out the cages at least once a week or the smell will get to you. NEVER use cage linings because they tend to chew them up and it just creates more of a mess. Line the bottom of the cage with plain printer paper and use a paper shredder to cut the paper up. Preferably use paper that's not inked on because the rats will chew it and move it. Ink can poison some rats depending on the ink. Never put a spinning wheel in the cage like you would a hamster. Rat's backs are extremely fragile and they can be injured easily. The way they arch their backs when running in these can cause serious spinal damage. However, round hamster balls when you clean out your cages can be good since rats like to climb and can jump far distances. These balls will be your savior when it comes to it. Also, be careful if you get a two story cage. Even though rats climb a lot, they can still hurt their backs on these cages.

Okay... Now I've ended my geekdom mode, I need to just sit by patiently and wait for the next post.

[Buslady]

Wow... I really did learn a lot from that post. Thanks for summing that up Buslady! I've been wanting to get a few new hatchlings for quite some time now. I plan to do so once I get my own apartment. (So, basically, I plan to get a turtle within the next 2 months.) I'm definitely going to have to look this post up again when I get them.

How do the turtles co-exsist with one another, and is it a good idea to get a male and a female if I want to have more turtles? I plan on raising quite a few turtles - Four originally (how could I not?).



Keep in mind, one red ear slider(aka RES) male should live in a minimum of an 100 gallon tank. times that by 4.
if you seriously want to keep a turtle, look into something OTHER than a red ear slider. There are species smaller and just as cute, actually some cuter IMO...and less aggressive than a RES...mud and musk turtles.
You can keep an adult Musk nice in a 55 gallon tank that's half full (they're shallow species) and you can fix it up like a natural enviroment. You'll still need all the fancy filters and junk though. They stay small and will eat live and pellet foods. The smallest you can get is a little 3-stripe mud, no more than 4", never buy hatchlings though, they die easy.
Whatever you do, buy only captive bred turtles.
Nothing that is "WC"(wild caught) ; if you see something that is LTC (long term captive) that's okay, it's been in the human world and adapted to survive but can always still have endoparasites and as any animal, should go to the vets as soon as they come home.



I've had rats too, they were cool. Always bedded on Aspen, never pine or the other junk. I gave mine alot of Aspen so they can make nests and curl up. Never had a wheel, lots of whole walnuts to dig the teeth into and keep them trimmed, fresh veggies along with their staple rat blocks. They were spoiled. That was years ago. The hubby won't let me have rats. The cats would have a field day bothering them if i had some. So none of them anymore. Just turtles and a snake...fish too...