Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
I am currently looking to aquire a pet turtle, however I do have a few questions. (all questions pretain to #1)

1. What kinds of turtles are good beginner turtles and why?
2. what size do these turtles grow to and what do they eat?
3. Can they be housed with african dwarf frogs or with other frogs of teh same species?

Thank you in advanced

You shouldn't house frogs and turtles together - there's a very high probability that the frogs will be eaten.

Southern, midland, or eastern painted turtles are often considered good starter turtles, due to their size. Males of most basking aquatics stay smaller than females. Red-eared sliders are very hardy, and personable, but males need at least a 55 gallon tank as adults (although larger is better, and some larger males really need a 75 or larger) and a female gets even larger.

The real question is, what are you expecting from a turtle? How much time, energy, money, and space are you willing to use?

Katrina
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1.2 Eastern Muds - Fred, Ethel, Edith
0.1 Iguana - Tiffel
0.1 Bearded Dragon - Foster
Foster turtles: More than I'd like the husband to know about.

Plain old Red-eared sliders are a hardy and rewarding speies, however they are very aggressive turtles (particularly the males) and don't mix particularly well with others. Although they require a fairly warm environment, dull old African Mud turtles (several species available - Pelousious and Pelomedusa)fall into the "can't-kill- them-with-a-stick" category of hardiness. African frogs (and other amphibian species), however, fall into the category of "lunch".

Male RES will rarely exceed 5" in captivity. Females can go over a foot, but rarely grow that fast in captivity. African muds will go up to 8" or more, depending upon the species. The Serrated Mud can get over 12", but it is rarely available. Another moderately small species I like is the American Yellow Mud (Kinosteron flavescens). It is a personable and moderately attractive species (for a mud).

"Male RES will rarely exceed 5" in captivity."

Please tell that to the 6" and 7" males I have for adoption right now. I even received an 8" male once. Perhaps males rarely exceed 5" in the wild?

"Plain old Red-eared sliders are a hardy and rewarding speies, however they are very aggressive turtles (particularly the males) and don't mix particularly well with others."

Just from the animals I've received into rescue, I've found that eastern painteds - or at least the males - are much more agressive. Most of the agression issues (turtle on turtle anyway) I've seen with sliders were the result of too little space for too many turtles.

"Although they require a fairly warm environment, dull old African Mud turtles (several species available - Pelousious and Pelomedusa)fall into the '"can't-kill- them-with-a-stick"' category of hardiness."

The problem with most of those is that older juveniles and adults are usually wild-caught. I received a Pelomedusa that died within a week of shipping from a dealer - it was a 5" WC and had shell, liver, lung, and kidney infections.

Painted turtles, sliders, and some mud/musk turtles are commonly captive bred, making them a better choice for many beginners, depending on how big of a tank one is willing to provide.

Katrina

You are NOT allowed to grow to 7 inches!!!!! Seriously, though, I now stand corrected. I have collected and puchased many male Trachemys scripta, including the tropical subspeices, and I never saw one that big.
However, for reasons totally unknown to me, I have never found Painted turtles to be hardy in captivity for me. They survive brutal conditions in nature, but even with TLC they don't last long with me. RES's (asd other species) have lived over 20 years in my care but not painters.

I had a male red eared slider that was nearly 10 inches long. It was a male, flashed me on several occasions. I gave him to a friend who had room for a bigger tank.

Erico -

You are not alone. My most sensitive turtles seem to be my eastern painteds. I can't get them to overwinter sucessfully outside and they are native species.

Very frustrating.