Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My sister has always wanted turtles, and since I plan to upgrade my bearded dragon's cage in the future and will have an empty tank soon, I wanted to help her do some research on turtles.

We haven't started with any research yet, just wanted to narrow things down a bit. She's basically looking for a turtle that can live in a pair or more. The tank that she will be using is 48"x18"x18". What would be a good species for a beginner that fits those two requirements?

Thanks in advance!

BEFORE YOU AQUIRE YOUR MUD/MUSK/COOTER/SLIDER/PAINTER TURTLE MAKE SURE THAT YOU READ ABOUT THEIR CARE.THE CRITTERS LIVE
UP TO FIFTY YEARS IF TAKEN CARE OF.YOUR UVB & HEAT LAMP FIXTURES SHOULD CARRY OVER.
GOOD LUCK & MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL YOU CAN FIRST.

Yup, before we get the turtles, we plan to read all we can on the specific species once we narrow it down a bit. We'll start with the ones that you listed.

You could also look into spotted turtles.
Muds and musks are my personal favorites. That sounds like an awesome tank, is it a 75 gallon?
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

I'm not great with conversions, but I think it's 67.5 gallons.

l x w x h /231=gal

You could get a male aquatic of almost any variety - slider, cooter, painted, ect., or a pair of mud or musk turtles. Spotted turtles need different set-ups than the "traditional" aquatic, and I think a 75 gallon would be too cumbersome for keeping spotteds.

Male painted turtles are very agressive toward females, so unless you have a lot of hiding areas and visual breaks, I wouldn't keep a pair of painteds together, although you could have a female alone. A female slider would grow too large for a 75 gallon.

Have you considered adopting or fostering?

Katrina