How to Take Care of Mini Pet Turtles

Mini pet turtles can be a fun and interesting addition to any household. As long as you make sure that you are following certain criteria, you can keep mini pet turtles happy and healthy for a long time.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• 40 gallon tank (at least)
• Rocks and water
• Water filtration system
• Heat lamp
• Fresh turtle food

Turtle Environment

1. Where mini pet turtles live is key to whether or not they will be happy and healthy. Be sure that you are providing them with the best environment and the absolute best place for turtles is outside, so that they can hibernate in the winter. However, you can keep mini pet turtles inside and still keep them healthy. Get at least a 40 gallon tank, but remember that you will also need land for the turtles to live on. Mini pet turtles like to swim in water as well as walk on land so about one third of your tank should be a surface, like a large rock, that the mini pet turtles can walk on or sleep on. The rest should be water that should be deep enough for them to swim in.
2. Next, be sure that the water is clean. In order for mini pet turtles to be healthy, they have to have clean water. You need to remove the waste right away, which means cleaning the tank every day. If you don't want to do this, you can buy a water filtration system which will keep the water fresh and clean. This is the best way to have clean water for your turtles.
3. Be sure that they have a proper "day", even if they are living inside. A turtle really needs about 12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of nighttime to be healthy. The best way to do this is to put the turtle tank in an area of your home that doesn't get much change in its light, and then have a lamp for day and night. The lamp should be a heat lamp, and it should be set on a timer--on for 12 hours, and then off for 12 hours. Of course, you can make this schedule similar to your own, so that your day will be the same as the mini pet turtle's day.
4. It is important that mini pet turtles live at the right temperature. The heat lamp should ensure that the tank is at about 80 degrees during the day and about 70 degrees during the night. If it is too cold, your turtles will not be healthy.

Turtle Diet

5. Keep your turtle on a good diet. Remember that they can eat both meats and vegetables. Cooked meats like fish, turkey or chicken are good for them to eat, but don't feed them raw meats. You can also feed them boiled eggs and meal worms, or other types of worms. It is important for turtles to have protein each day.
6. Your turtles will also love vegetables. Green and leafy vegetables, like grape leaves, fig leaves and carrot tops are great for your turtle. Also dandelions, lettuces, and other types of vegetables are good for them.
7. Some turtles might also like fruit, such as mango, strawberry, apples, and kiwis. Be sure to test out several types of fruit and see what your mini pet turtles like the best.
8. There are some things that you should not feed mini pet turtles. Don't feed them milk or dairy products and don't feed them canned or processed food, because that will be too salty and hard on their digestion. Also, if any plants are posionous, such as poison ivy, rhubarb plants and avocado plants, keep them away from your turtles.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep mini pet turtles at the same temperature all day
• Always ensure that the tank is kept clean and healthy for them
• Don't pick up and hold pet turtles. The change in temperature will be harmful to them. Turtles aren't really a pet that you can play with and hold.