Now I have a Pet. Ask me Anything.

[Dan~]

I hope your turtle brings you much happiness.

[Ben JS]

Anyway, turtles quickly learn who is going to feed them, and they will splash and thrash around against the glass to get your attention if they see you in the room. If you feed them every time they beg for food, you'll kill them, so turtle keepers just get used to their antics as they try to get your attention and convince you they are starving.

That's pretty charming.

Anyway, like Dan~ said, hope it all goes well.

[Kriswest]

Ucci, I think the ease of care is perspective. A pet turtle can thrive in an aquarium, a tortoise needs space, a turtle is more carnivorous, tortoises are vegetarian. Turtles require more interaction for health, , a tortoise likes to dig.....it just depends upon the human. I know of a few tortoises that have been passed down from parent to child. The tortoises live in the house and yard enclosures, they do get large if cared for. I have yet to hear of turtles surviving even one generation of human care. I am sure a few have,,maybe. I think perhaps it might be due to environment and or diet.

[Uccisore]

So far so good. He's kind of pissed at me today, I had to handle him a bunch yesterday. He'll get over it.

[Kriswest]

Oh that is definitely a common thing with both turtles and tortoises... attitude .. and people say reptiles have emotions. I knew a rat snake that could get pissy if you moved an object in his tank or fed him dead food. Otherwise he loved it when you held him.

[Uccisore]

Goggle is pretty friendly and engaging as long as you don't take him out of his space. Then he gets very fussy.

[Uccisore]

Holy shit, I just did some more research and discovered my Pelomedusa Subrufa is actually a Pelusios castaneus! I've been living a lie.

[Kriswest]

OH the horrors! But, will you still love the little one?????Can you????? Is it possible????

[Orbie]

Back to the promise to answer anything and everything. My side winder aquatic turtle has been kept in a small container, now that the weather forbids me to take her outside, she is sitting on a rock inside that small container, under a heat lamp, which is turned off during nights. I don't heat the house since I grew up in a cold climate, and california does get nippy but that's about it.

My question is, with a very sedentary life, can she do well, because I was advised not to handle her due to their dislike of touching. Is this lifestyle detrimental toward her longevity? I hear she may live to 40 years, in which case she will outlive me.

[Uccisore]

I still don't know what a side winder aquatic turtle is, I am pretty sure that's not really what it is called.

You should handle her as little as possible, but she should have space to swim around. A very, very crude rule of thumb is 10 gallons of water per inch of turtle, but it seriously just depends on the species and their age.

Most turtles need to have their water heated (depending on the air temperature around the enclosure of course), not just the basking spot.

If you could give me the actual name of your turtle's species (common or latin name, either is fine) or failing that, share a picture of your turtle, I could give you more detailed info. I mean, turtles live in almost all climates- some hibernate under frozen ponds in the winter, some live in the desert and almost never encounter water, some climb trees. I really can't advise you based on 'it's a turtle'.

EDIT: Here is a turtle dealer site that has lots of pictures of common pet species from around the world. If you could find your turtle in this directory, that would be fine too. http://www.theturtlesource.com/p.asp?id ... 9&main=333

[Uccisore]

OH the horrors! But, will you still love the little one?????Can you????? Is it possible????

My heart will go on. I sent the turtle dealer an email letting him know he's got his hatchlings mixed up. Luckily the species are close enough that I don't have to really change how I care for him.

[Duality]

If you feed them every time they beg for food, you'll kill them, so turtle keepers just get used to their antics as they try to get your attention and convince you they are starving.

If this was true, - wouldn't they then be able to kill themselves through overfeeding in the wild?

[Uccisore]

If you feed them every time they beg for food, you'll kill them, so turtle keepers just get used to their antics as they try to get your attention and convince you they are starving.

If this was true, - wouldn't they then be able to kill themselves through overfeeding in the wild?

If it was as easy to get food in the wild as it is to get it by begging from a human being, yeah. I'm sure it happens from time to time. It's not that unusual, you know- animals that do fine in the wild being prone to obesity and other over-feeding problems when they find themselves as pets to well-meaning owners who spoil them.

Another thing to consider is hibernation. Temperate-climate turtles hibernate in the wild (and so, don't eat) for several months out of the year. Most people keeping these species as pets don't hibernate them, and thus feed them all year.

[Kriswest]

Ucci, I am heartened that you are not the kind of person that would return the animal or demand money from the dealer or worse. That kind of egotistical materialistic human is just crap. They claim to be attached, find out the animal is not what they specified it to be and then just toss the poor animal aside.. Thank-you for being a good human, it makes me feel better about humans. Not great, just a degree better.

[Uccisore]

No way. Shipping a tropical turtle to Maine at the end of September was already something I had to think a lot about, I'm certainly not going to ship him again in November. And besides, I really like the little guy regardless of species.

[Kriswest]

Yea, they do grow on you

[Orbie]

I still don't know what a side winder aquatic turtle is, I am pretty sure that's not really what it is called.

You should handle her as little as possible, but she should have space to swim around. A very, very crude rule of thumb is 10 gallons of water per inch of turtle, but it seriously just depends on the species and their age.

Most turtles need to have their water heated (depending on the air temperature around the enclosure of course), not just the basking spot.

If you could give me the actual name of your turtle's species (common or latin name, either is fine) or failing that, share a picture of your turtle, I could give you more detailed info. I mean, turtles live in almost all climates- some hibernate under frozen ponds in the winter, some live in the desert and almost never encounter water, some climb trees. I really can't advise you based on 'it's a turtle'.

EDIT: Here is a turtle dealer site that has lots of pictures of common pet species from around the world. If you could find your turtle in this directory, that would be fine too. http://www.theturtlesource.com/p.asp?id ... 9&main=333

It's called a red eared slider. I got the name wrong. Do you know about this breed? Are they hardy? In reference to the above, can you answer some of the points? I suppose some of the requirements for a healthy life for this breed would generally apply to most aquatic turtles? I could not get any info on how well they swim and can I put her in a couple feet of water? I do have a rock upon which she sometimes basks. But she is very shy, and pulls its head into the shell when she sees me: her two other siblings whom I unfortunately lost, did not exhibit this behavior. Thanks,

[Uccisore]

Oh! A red-eared slider. Cool, I have good news and bad news.

Good news is, you probably don't need to heat the water as long as it's room-temperature. They live in all sorts of places, and low 70's is fine for them.

Bad news is, they need a ton of space because they tend to get huge. A healthy adult RES is going to be like 10 inches long and need either a way bigger aquarium than you probably want, or a pond. Part of it is for the exercise, but more important is the fact that they pee in their water, and drink it. The more water you have, the better the pee:water ratio is for your turtle. A strong filter for the water is important too. It shouldn't smell bad if you are doing it right. I can give tips on filtration if you like.

My first turtle was a red eared slider, I know a lot about them. They are very hardy, but very misunderstood. Very good turtle for a starting turtle-keeper provided you have the space for them.

Some stuff for them applies to all aquatic turtles. the main differences between aquatic turtles is how much land space you need, how carnivorous they are, and how well they get along with other turtles.

You can keep her in a couple feet of water easily as long as you have things near the surface that she can cling to to rest, and one area that she can completely climb out of the water to dry her shell. If she's not used to that much water, start with a water depth shallow enough that she can stand on her hind legs and stick her head out, then gradually increase it each day- it may take her a little time to remember how to deal with deep water if she hasn't had it for a while, but RES are extremely good swimmers by nature.

Also, RES are aggressive. Don't put them in an aquarium with any other animal unless you are ok with them trying to kill it. This includes other turtles. They are often ok with turtles of their own species, but not always, and sometimes a bigger one will harass or kill a much smaller one.

Here is some more info from a source I trust:


http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/c ... slider.htm

[MagsJ]

I don't need pets.. I've got my family and boyfriend

You have to be in the right frame of mind to have a pet, so I currently dote over others'

Why a turtle Ucci? that's got me thinking Tortoises are piss easy to look after... they practically do nothing. Hmmm

[Uccisore]

I don't need pets.. I've got my family and boyfriend

You have to be in the right frame of mind to have a pet, so I currently dote over others'

Why a turtle Ucci? that's got me thinking Tortoises are piss easy to look after... they practically do nothing. Hmmm

Why a turtle. I like turtles because they live forever. I hate watching animals die, so a pet I can leave in my will is perfect for me. I like reptiles just in general. I like aquatic turtles because they are the most active reptile pet I have ever seen- they are always swimming around, exploring, digging in the sand, begging for food. Tortoises seem boring to me, and from what I read, they sound harder to care for correctly as well. Now that I am into turtles, they get more and more fascinating all the time, I could list tons of reasons why I like them. But those are the things that got me started.

[Wenren]

Why would you get a turtle instead of a snake?

But all reptiles are cool. I liked unlocking him in Mortal Kombat.

[Uccisore]

I thought about getting a snake. Snakes are really cool in theory, especially if you wrap mythology/stereotypes/legends up in them. But if you peel away all that cool ass fantasy stuff, in reality snakes tend to be

1.) Dumb as hell,
2.) Completely immobile and uninteresting 95% of the time.
3.) Rather short-lived.

I've heard that king cobras have a cat-like level of intelligence, but obviously there's all sorts of additional reasons not to keep one of those, such as the constant risk of sudden and painful death.

[Helandhighwater]

yey thought police eat your heart out I can post on this thread. Not that it matters I could post on any thread any time if I so chose, but moron is as moron does. So anyway enough of my inane ramblings, when you have a pet do you find you are more realxed and centered and that it's nice to have an animal around that is not human, because lts face it most humans are annoying at the best of times, and you probably shouldn't argue and it is Christmas, and it is traditional and so on. And you get the point so, do you find like I do a dog or a cat or whatever is a really welcome calm in a shit storm of human beings who are about as calm as Buddha on PCP and crack with a shot gun and a Conservative/ Tea Party/fundamentalist Jesus freak with a nuke and a badge at Christmas, and a pet is not just for Christmas by the way, it's for catharsis and centering.

There's a question in there somewhere, so long story short why do you have a pet?

1.) Dumb as hell,
2.) Completely immobile and uninteresting 95% of the time.
3.) Rather short-lived.

Like bad moderators: good choice.

[Uccisore]

What?

[Arcturus Descending]

It's fun to watch them swim all around, or beg for food, and so on.

Yep. Isn't it fun to watch an animal beg for food ? It's just a joy.

For fuck's sake..

I don't think he necessarily meant "beg" for food - at least I hope he didn't.
When Yoda is hungry, I give him food without him having to wait I don't tease him but it is rather cute to see his expectant face.

That's an adorable little turtle you have there, Ucci. Could Yoda have him as a pet or a companion please?
Will goggle get lonely?