How to Keep Pet Turtles

Turtles are one of the easiest pets to own. Taking care of them can be as complicated as you want it to be. You can keep them in a twenty gallon tank with a place for them to sunbathe. You can invest in a hundred gallon tank with several turtles, fish, a filtering system and a series of toys for the turtles to play with. It is all up to what you want to do, how much you want to spend and how long you think you might keep the Turtle.

Remember turtles can live to be 80-100 years old. If you choose to own a pet turtle, it is a life long commitment. If you want something that may not live quite as long, look into a cat or a dog (10-20 years), or even a mouse or rat (2-5 years). Turtles will become part of the family. Remember them when you go on vacation.

The Red-Eared Slider is a beautiful animal It is known for the red spots on the sides of it's head giving it the name Red-Eared Slider. It grows to be about 10-12 inches and will hibernate during the winter when the temperature drops below 50 degrees.

This turtle is the state turtle of North Carolina. They get to be about 7-8 inches in diameter. They can live to be 80 to 100 years old in captivity. They mostly eat insects so be prepared to buy them plenty of crickets.

This Turtle is probably the best choice for your family. The turtle is a herbivore so you don't have to keep live insects in the house.

If you want to get a Turtle for a pet, you will need to read up on how to care for one. This book has everything you need to know about keeping a turtle at home and how to feed it and how to keep it happy. Check out the book. you can look at the first few pages on amazon.com.

Most are either omnivores or herbivores. If you feed them salad leaves from your refrigerator, they will be happy. Some of the turtles eat insects. If you have a box turtle, insects are just about all it will eat. This is another reason you will need to read about how to care for your turtle. Take a look at the book above this module.

It depends on your Turtle. But I would get the largest tank you can get for your home. Make sure they have a place to get out of the water if they want. They will need filtration and most likely some kind of heater for one side of the tank and a full spectrum UV light. Take a look at the book above for more information.

I have seen people keep land turtles in a deep swimming pool or a wooden enclosure outside. I think most people keep their turtles inside though and bring them out of their tanks every once in a while to play with them.

Turtles are Cold blooded creatures and need to regulate their temperature by laying out in the sunlight or hiding under a log or something that will lower its temperature. When you put your tank together, you will want to have a place for your turtle to lay out above there water to sunbathe. The sun of course will be your UV lamps. Sit them on one side of the tank, that way the turtle can move away from the lamp if it is too hot, or closer to the lamp if it is too cold.

Drain the Dirty Water. Scrape all the algae off the sides of the tank. If you need to, remove the gravel from the bottom of the tank and rinse it out before replacing into the tank. The turtles will love having clean water. You can help keep the tank clean by adding a filter to the tank. If you can keep the filter clean, you will be able to avoid cleaning the tank out completely as often.