I just set up a new freshwater tank. The tank has sand lined on the bottom. Can this be an issue for the turtles or can they live comfortably with the sand?
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RES Turtles
lazuras16
Jun 21, 2003 05:02 PM
Replies (3)
Beth123
Jun 21, 2003 09:18 PM
I've alway heard that sand and turtles don't mix because the turtles can, and probably will, ingest the sand. Just like small gravel, sand isn't good for them to ingest, it can mess up their digestive tract. Plus, if you have turtles in a tank with sand, that makes for some pretty heavy duty cleaning.
lazuras16
Jun 21, 2003 09:51 PM
My turtles are only about 1-2 inch long. So there isnt that much maintance and there are fish in the same tank as well.
lunamoon
Jun 22, 2003 11:12 AM
I know that there are some turtles like the softshell that require sand, so I don't know that ingestion would be a problem but it very well maybe. However, I do know that sand can be really hard on your filter because the turtles will be kicking it up and that because turtles produce so much waste that cleaning the sand would be virtually impossible and really tedious.
In my opinion I would go for a larger sized gravel that is smaller than the size of your turles head. This with prevent your turtles from swallowing it.
Melissa
