Basic Turtle / Tortoise Care

1. Place to stay
Turtle / tortoise normally requires a lot of space to move around. In preparing for their terrarium, the size of the turtle / tortoise itself can be the best measuring guideline.

Make sure the length of the terrarium are four times more than the actual length of the turtle, and the width should be more than three times of their actual width. As for the height, it should be more than twice the height of the turtle/ tortoise. By these, you will get plenty of room to work out with any platform you may want to incorporate into the terrarium.

Adding live plants into the terrarium could be very much helpful. It not only serves as feasting place, but also benefited them for hiding. Since the turtle are semi-aquatic and they love water, make sure you build a deep enough pool for them to totally submerge.

If you have larger pets in house, make sure the terrarium is well covered. Other pets like cats and dogs can become major threat for the turtles. Covering the terrarium can make them stress free.

Maintain the cleanliness of the water at all time. Change it as often as you can because you don't want them to become sick by drinking the dirty and polluted water Just remember that your pet reptile are now living in an artificial environment and you will have to be sensitive about making it comfortable further.

2. Feeding
Normally, turtles are omnivorous by nature. They can eat either vegetarian or non-vegetarian meals. However, younger turtles tend to be more carnivorous, and started to become herbivorous, as they grow older.

As for their diet, turtles need to be fed mix of flesh, vegetables and fruits, commercial turtle feed, calcium, vitamins. For better diet, add on a variety of life foods like crickets, earthworms, aquatic snail and mosquito fish.

Turtles are normally very mess when eating. To avoid it, feed your animals in a separate plastic tub. It can also prevent broken up food particles from remaining in the tank and fouling up the water. During the feeding put your turtles 30-40 minutes in the separate tub, till it excretes.

3. Common problem with aquatic turtles
Water quality
It determines the quality of turtle's health. If the water is not properly filtered or changed, it can cause diseases and much other health problems. You can add about _ a cup of aquarium salt per 5 gallon of water in order to prevent build up ammonia, nitrite and other chemicals in the water that can cause sickness.

Shell rot
It occurs when the shell color became strange and a little bit spongy. When this happened, the rotted areas must be removed. Consult your reliable veterinarian for advice.

Swollen eyes
In most cases, caused by vitamin deficiency. Provide suitable vitamins and enough sunlight. Should this not solve the problem, seek advice from a reliable reptile veterinarian.

Wounds and cuts
As an immediate first aid tool, wash the wound / cut with a mild saline (salt-water) solution. Then apply Iodin until you are able to send them to a vet.

Refusal to eat
It may be caused by stress (bullying by cage mates, new surroundings) or improper temperature (too cold or too warm). Not eating is usually first sign of turtle sickness. If the condition still continue even when temperature is normal, then consult your vet for help.

Constipation
Soaking them in warm water (not hot), 30 minutes per day can treat this. If there are no sign of any changes, then consult your reliable reptile vet.