Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok i was thinking about getting a turtle, but i thought i would see exactly what i would need and all that other stuff about taking care of them. so im going to ask a few questions, sorry if it gets old. anyway, im only going to ask the simple ones right now.
1. what is the smallest tank i would have to have? i know it depends on the size of the turtle, but...

2. what are the smallest types of turtles, and approx. price

and last (for now)
3. what id the best things to feed them, or what do they eat?

Thanks for any help you can give!
Jenny

1. what is the smallest tank i would have to have? i know it depends on the size of the turtle, but...

This is the wrong question to ask. Turtles actually do better the more room you give them. The best housing is outdoor pens or ponds with loads of room for them to wander and get their exercise in. Indoors, for aquatic turtles, you will need at the barest minimum 10 gallons of water per inch of turtle (shell measurement) to get good water quality and have space for exercise. If you plan on buying a young turtle, you should research the adult size of the species to know what size home to buy for it. They generally grow very quickly at first in captivity, slowing down once the reach a bit over half their adult size. The common "red eared slider" is a cute two inch turtle for a few dollars in the beginning, but if female can come close to a foot in size, requiring 120 gallons of water.
And the water volume is only part of the size tank you need. If you get a ten inch turtle and therefor need 100 gallons of water at minimum, you have to remember that you cannot fill the tank all the way up, but need to lower the water level enough to put in a basking spot. This means buying a tank big enough to hold 100 gallons of water and several inches of air on top of that.

Indoors, turtles are extremely expensive to initially set up with filters, tanks, lighting, etc. After the very large initial investment, they are not very expensive to maintain (food is cheap, occasional vet visits are usually not too expensive and rare if you put your setup together properly in the beginning). Outdoors, things can be much cheaper, since building materials for pens outside can be less expensive, and you can skip the lighting and such.

2. what are the smallest types of turtles, and approx. price

mud and musk turtles, aquatic, from $10-$20
spotted turtles, aquatic (but also need a land area of some size), from $125-$175
Both of these rarely exceed five inches. A mud turtle could do well in a 60 or larger gallon tank, with a suitable basking spot. The spotted turtle should have a large land area to roam as well as a large shallow water area full of plants.

and last (for now)
3. what id the best things to feed them, or what do they eat?

This depends on the species. Of the smaller varieties, a diet with a suitable turtle pellet (nasco turtle brittle, reptomin, etc) and supplimented with fresh fruits and vegetables and some live foods (earthworms, snails, crickets, all kinds of feeder insects) is good for most species.

The most successful turtle keeper will be one who makes a significant investment to start, and is prepared for the adult size of the animal, and the fact that it may outlive them. Good filtration and a good knowledge of aquarium maintenance is very helpful. Not rushing in, and taking the time to purchase and set up a tank and circulate it for several weeks will assure better results. Taking a new turtle to the vet and having it checked up on is an excellent advantage. Some species may seem cheap to buy, so it may seem odd to go to such trouble and expense to house them, but these initial costs (though pretty large) are important and only need to be paid once.

Jenny,
Glad to see you asking in advance, BEFORE buying a turtle. It is true as nathana says turtles do better with more space.
Instead of "ten gallon rule" I use a "one square foot" rule. That is, each inch of turtle should correspond to about one square foot of living space (as a minimum). This doesn't come out so differently from the ten gallon rule but allows you to calaculate space for land turtles as well.

For any turtle you will need the following items:

1) a large enclosure....there's no point in buying a smaller one and then having to upgrade to a larger one later. Don't bother buying any tank smaller thatn about 40 gallons. There are no turtles that can really live in any smaller tank for their whole lives. You may also investigate other options...there are lots of keepers who use other items like sand boxes, rubbermaid or sterilte plastic boxes (some of these are HUGE), cement mixing tubs, horse watering troughs, stock tanks (for fish, feed etc) and old furniture to house their turtles. If you get further along and want more info about these ideas, contact me. Expect to spend 40 -150 dollars on a cage

(2) UVB lighting. turtles, like all diurnal reptiles need the ultraviolet part of the sun's light spectrum to help them grow properly. This is a big, important issue. All turtles will require either direct sunlight (not filtered through a window or glass of a fish tank
OR
a light bulb which puts out a large amount of ultra violet light in the "B" part of the UV spectrum. These are sold on the internet and at mnay pet stores. But ask sopmeone here BEFORE you buy one from a pet store where they may not be as knowledgeable as you might think. expect to spend 20 - 30 dollars on this and get a new one every 8 months or so.

(3) Clean water if it is aquatic ....this means investing the best filter(s) you can buy and STILL expecting to chnage the water frequently. Here the price is very variable depending upon how much you know about fish/aquariums and filtration
expect to spend 35- 200 dollars. One piece of advice: every filter is WAY cheaper on te internet than at a pet store.

(4) food. fedding most turtles (not tortoises) is the easy part. Its mostly fun, easy and cheap. many aquatic and semi aquatic turtles will eat mnay different foods (some like crickets, minnows, guppies, earthworms and turtle pelets and fish foods you can get at a pet store) and some (like darke gre vegetables, chicken, fish, seafood) you can get ata grocery store. BUT DIET IS VERY SPECIES SPECIFIC. So once you narrow it down to a few turtles you might like to keep, ask about feeding those particular species at this forum and knowlegdeable people will help, I'm sure.

As far a small
nathana mentioned the little turtles you are likely to be able to get a hold of. There are a few others but these are mostly endangered or hard to come by for other reasons and/or hard to care for.

If i had to recommend a first turtle to anyone, it would either be a stinkpot turtle or a Reeve's turtle. These are both very tolerant and very forgiving species (meaning that if you screw up a little they don't get sick so easily and they recover from imperfect keeping quickly when conditions are made better) They are both persoanable and interesting species as well. they are also both not large or overly demanding with regard to feeing . Look these species up.

My other reccomendation for you is to go to www.chelonia.org
and look at the galleries of turtles photos
find some you like (by looks) and write down their names. Then do a search on the internet for habits, size, availabilty and care sheets for these species (many of thse you will find right on the chelonia.org website but look elsewhere as well).
Some speices that you like may turn out to be unsuitable as they either grow to big, cost too much, are difficult to care for, are protected by law etc...
but make a large list and go through it systematically
when you have narrowed it down to a few species then come back and see what others think of your choice and to get further pointers.
Lastly,
I would caution any new turtle keeper to stay away from
map turtles
box turtles (all species american and asian)
all tortoises
and any of the so caled "Asian Leaf" or Asian Wood" turtles
as these turtles can pose problems for the inexperienced which make turtle-keeping much more of achore than a reward until some time has been put in.
Good Luck with whatever you choose.
Let us know and I am sure we'll be happy to help.

Jenny,
If you are serious about getting a turtle, everything already posted is an absolute must. If your set-up will be indoors, be
prepared to spend upwards of $600 for the initial habitat. For my own 120G set-up I spent over $800. But it's really beautiful and I have 4 very healthy turtles. Be prepared to spend at a minimum, 4 to 6 hours a month cleaning the set-up, water changes which can be messy, and replacing the media in your filters.
It may sound like we are trying to scare you out of keeping turtles, but we all just want it to be a good experience for you. Because turtles can be really cool pets.
If the enviroment is right, the turtles thrive. If it's done slipshod, well I'm sure you get my point.
Best of Luck and keep us posted.
Bob from Philadelphia. mcnacks1@msn.com
P.S. I bought every piece of my equipment on line, everything but the water! I easily saved $200 plus over pet shop prices.

i just want to thanks you guys for all your help. i still want to get a turtle and am going to go look up different species like you advised me to. i think im am going to save up money this summer to buy a big tank, maybe before school starts back, whenever i have any more questions i will come back here and ask. thankx again for all your help.
Jenny