Congratulations on acquiring your new C.g. picturata. We've had ours for 10 years. They are very outgoing and curious turtles. If yours is eating well, you've got most of the problems solved. We have yet to find a canned food ours will eat. Protein is supplied mostly from earthworms dug from our pesticide-free garden and yard. These turtles like to soak in very shallow water, they seem to like high humidity, and they need a fairly good size area to roam around. We have a 36 squre-foot shaded outside enclosure with turtle-safe plants, logs, and water that our C.g. picturata shares with an ornate boxie and a Nicaraguan wood turtle. They all get on fine. All are brought inside at night, since we do have raccoons and opossums in the neighborhood. Our inside setups include two large Vision Cages, each with shredded coconut bark substrate, an overhead ceramic heat emitter in a back corner, a full-spectrum light source, a shallow plastic water dish (I like white trays used for developing photographs), an ultrasonic humidifier for the C.G. picturata and the wood turtle, and various hideouts (like hollow logs). BTW, we keep the cages on the floor with the doors open. Not eveone is this indulgent, but we have hard surface floors, we don't have any small children or other pets, and the turtles are confined to a part of the house exclusive of bedrooms. The only health issue we've had is an auditory canal infection that became apparent soon after we got the C.g. picturata. We found a nearby vet with herp experience, and surgery with follow-on oral anti-bacterial treatment cured the problem. The turtle has been completely health since.

[ Show Entire Thread ]