Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have wanted one of these for a long time and am finally in a position to get one. the question is that everything i read says to use no substrate because they could ingest it. now they come from areas that have sand/silt/mud bottoms. wouldn't they be able to figure out how to eat without a mouthful of muck? i would really like to set the tank up with alot of plants to help reduce the stress and to make a really cool Amazon biotope. any thoughts on this would be great.

I have heard people say not to use a substrate, but I am using gravel with my common snapper and haven't had any problems. I would set it up the way that would best represent the turtles' natural environment.