Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was posting in regards to finding help with getting information about painted turtles, especially hatchlings. Local reptile vets and zoo personell have not had sufficient information about this type of turtle, and I am looking for someone who breeds/owns them and will be able to answer questions I have.
Another question is-how does one obtain the title of wildlife rehabilitator and obtain a lisense to breed/own turtles? Is it dependent upon where a person lives? Thanks for any feedback.

I have owned my Painteds for 5 years now. What questions
are you looking to get answered? Hatchlings can be raised
pretty much like the adults. They require all the same
things such as food, lighting, temps, etc.

Please post your questions.

Thank you for responding! I, too, have raised my painted turtle, from hatchling, for eight years. Last August, I took in four hatchlings that were thriving for the first seven months. After losing one, I realized my lighting was not sufficient. The two sickest visited a reptile vet who made further lighting recommendations. Three remaining turtles live together and one continues to thrive. It is the smaller one. The other two have become extremely lethargic and appear obese. They appear happy to sleep under the basking light (sometimes two days), but still move about the tank independently every one to three days. This is not "typical" behavior for me and they do not flee when I enter the room. Both have stopped eating. The back feet and around neck areas appear obese or swollen. (This was brought to the attention of the rep-vet.) Again, the third turtle in the same environmental conditions is thriving (eating, basking, fleeing) The sickest and largest turtle seems to have perked up after the lighting change, but has not eaten in two-three weeks. The other sick turtle ate recently, but now acts weak. I do not feel it is temperature related because of the third healthy turtle. Calcium/lighting-yes. Will the turtle make it through this without eating if it has over-eaten previously? Their diets for seven months have consisted of small earthworms from the earth and baby crickets with vitamins from a pet store. Daily or every other day. Again, recent light changes seem to have an effect. Appetites went from voracious to not eating. HELP! Thanks--A true turtle lover.

I am sorry to hear you are having problems with them. Many
times these babies have a high mortality rate for unknown
reasons. Few questions:

Are they inside?
What is the room temp?
What is the water temp?
What do you currently have set up for lights?
Do you have a basking area? Temp under the light?
Where did you get them and how long have you had them?

These are simple questions but very important to rule
environmental problems that could be causing illness.
Also, I would switch over to a pellet like Reptomin
as the staple food. I have had very good results with
this.

I will watch for additional posts from you

Linda