Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I hope someone can help me. A pet shop owner offered me a soft shell turtle, cause she knows how much my son likes animals. of course she told me "very easy to take care of." (it was a reptile pet shop) i go to another pet shop where the girl sold me a 5 gallon tank, no sand, (she let my son pick rocks for the bottom), no mention that the poor turtle needs a place to come out of the water. In other words it seems that after reading some of the information on this site, she knew absolutely nothing about taking care of this turtle. The care of these turtles seems quite costly and time consuming. Am I correct? Could anyone give me arundown of what it will take to care for this little guy. My son has allready named him algae, because of the way he smelled in the container he was in.

Similar story...my daughter and husband found one in a pet store and he was not taken care of.....We found out the hard way.....they need lots of space as they can be very dirty....a good filtration system......a basking ramp and uv light for health and keeping disease away....good food source such as small worms or blood worms etc....mine eats Nature Zone aquatic turtle bites also...we have him in a 55 gallon tank with two filtrations systems....sand on the bottom and fake plants for hiding....he loves the ramp...got it at Petsmart or Petco...they have a good floating one....they are expensive and lots of work but soooooooooooooooooooo worth it...he has been with us over 7 years and has survived lots of diseases...they need many water changes and you need to know how to do that so as not to disrupt the balance of the tank......they are wonderful pets....need to be alone...not too friendly but he is a kick to watch and very worth it....good luck