How to Care for a Pet Water Turtle

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By mfahrney
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Care for a Pet Water Turtle

How to properly care for a water turtle, during the summer and winter months.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Turtle
Fish tank
Screen for fish tank
Clean slate/granite
UV light
Heat light and bulb
Plastic shoe box

Step 1

First thing you need to do is RESEARCH. Figure out what type of turtle you want. Some turtles get very large. Some like to live in sand, or mud. Some like brackish-water. (slightly salty water) Always research first!! Next purchase a fish tank that will fit your turtle's needs. Turtles are not fast growers but why buy more tanks then you need. I would purchase at least a 40 long or 55 gallon tank first. This way you can decorate it and imitate the turtle's natural surrounding. That is the most important thing you can do for a healthy, happy, turtle. You will need a thermometer, fish tank light with a UV bulb, heat lamp and red heat bulb. You can NOT sit a tank by a window for SUNLIGHT. Your turtle needs the suns UV rays, they do not pass through glass. The only thing you will do is cook your turtle by magnifying the heat through all that glass.
Step 2

If you are buying your turtle from a pet store you will want to make sure it is healthy. Check out the turtles eyes, make sure they are clear and not puffy. Also turn the turtle over and check the bottom of the shell, if it has red shady marks on it or red stripes DO NOT BUY IT. This is a bacterial infection and it can be hard to treat. Tell the store employee what you see, in case they were not trained properly. Check the upper part of the shell look for cracks or a lot of missing scales, and check to see if the shell is soft. If you come across any of these things don't buy the turtle. When you find the turtle you want purchase it, but before you come home, stop off at a Walmart or a dollar store and pick up a large plastic container (like a shoe box) that can hold your turtle and water. This is what you feed your turtle in. This will save you a lot of time, instead of cleaning your large tank, all you do is dump out this container and clean it out.
Step 3

Hopefully you have already set-up in your tank, like your pieces of slate/granite to make a rocky ledge area for your turtle to come up on to sun bathe. The water should not cover the rocks. Your turtle does need to DRY out occasionally or he will get shell rot. You will also need a screen for the top of your fish tank to put your "red" heat light on it. You use red because reptiles can not see red, it does not stress them by leaving it on 24/7 during the winter months. Keep the tank a nice 76 degrees on the side where the rocks are. Turtles love to stretch out their legs and "get a sun tan". So don't panic if you see them doing that. :) Put the fish tank light with the UV bulb on top of the screen and plug it in, this stays on approximately 10 hours a day to imitate sunlight. Feed your turtle a variety of foods, pellets, earthworms, and feeder fish (occasionally). *Remember to feed in the plastic container.

Comments

prazebe said

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on 11/5/2009 Yes, it was helpful. Now I have a better idea of how to take care of a turtle inside. Now I just need to ID the turtle my son found.

betme said

on 7/5/2009 I just caught a huge red eared slider in my neighbors flower bed and was wondering if it will survive if I release it in the nearby river...we are in ohio

on 2/15/2009 Great article! It's so true that the turtles are easy to overfeed, my red eared slider apparently is ALWAYS hungry. He gets so excited for meal times that he nearly jumps out of the water.