Pet turtle care is not as easy as many believe. Although
it’s really not complicated, you can’t put a turtle under a child’s care if you
want it to live a longer and better quality life. Should your
kids care for a turtle, just make sure to supervise them and teach them
the basics
of pet turtle care. This article will show you some tips on caring for
your turtle.
There should be lots of care given if a turtle is kept in captivity. A lot of
problems can arise if there’s none. Common problems include egg binding, bacterial
infections, fungal infections, shell rot, metabolic bone disease and obesity. Aside from making sure
you give
sufficient care for your pet turtle, you need to consider vet care from time
to time.
Shelter
Ensure that your turtle as enough space to live
in. It should have some dry land, a pool of water nearby,
light and shade. Basic pet turtle care involves providing a flat rock in a
tank surrounded
by enough water, a basking lamp and sufficient amounts of vegetation for both food
and shelter.
Some turtles may hide in some areas of your tank when
attempting to hibernate. Turtles need to hibernate if you plan to breed
them or prevent liver problems. For pet turtle care during hibernation seasons, you simply
have to
leave your turtle alone. Make sure children do not disturb your pet turtle during
these times.
Do not use refrigerators in
attempts to imitate hibernating conditions of turtles in the wild. Refrigerators are
never an ideal shelter even for turtles trying to hibernate. If there is a
power failure,
the immediate rise in temperature can interrupt your pet turtle’s sleep. It can even
be deadly.
Now water is a very important part of pet turtle care. Water should be as
deep as the length of your turtle, but you may use a
variety of depths in some areas for swimming. It’s best to change the water
in the
tank everyday to ensure cleanliness. The water should be as clean as the water
we drink.
If changing water everyday is too cumbersome, use
filters. There are very cheap ones but the larger
ones are usually those that don’t require as much occasional cleaning. Filters
do still need to be cleaned from time to time. If you notice the
water smells
slightly odorous or different in color, it’s time to change the water and clean
those filters.
Diet
Pet turtle care is easy if you know how to feed it.
Simply feed your turtle with a variety of foods. Feeding it the same thing
everyday can make your turtle addicted to those foods,
which is unhealthy. Feed it veggies, fruits, worms, and mollusks, as long
as you keep the diet varied from day to day. A tip would be
to provide
your turtle with a high calcium source to munch on such as boiled eggshells
and cuttlebone.
With proper pet turtle care, your turtle can live up to
60 to 100 years. All you have to do is care for your turtle as you would with
pet dogs and cats. Turtles need just as much care and
attention.
