Turtles????

[carolinagirl58]

Here's where my turtles live. This was before I put down the heavy mulch. There is a nesting mound which has a lot of mushroom compost in it. She has laid eggs there twice so far this year! This pond is 4' deep with a bottom drain that goes to the filtration hidden behind the fence.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Quote:
That is a beautiful turtle habitat!

EDITED because I hit submit before I was done typing.

 

[spish]

love your turt habitat

do you just have the one in there? lucky turtle!


got another pic of one of our oldest residents, she sadly died last year but was by far my favourite turtle ive ever had the pleasure of knowing, during her 'free time' out the pond she would follow people around as fast as er little stumpy legs would carry her......

 

[carolinagirl58]

Thanks Splish and Sunny. There are a 10 year old pair of them in there, along with a couple of large koi.

 

[Fawkes]

A lot of turtles get huge, with a shell length of 10-12", like red eared, yellow belly, painted.

Probably your best bet would be a musk turtle. I have a musk, they're great. They only reach 4" and they can be kept in a 40 gallon. You want 10 gallons for every inch of the turtle, so since a musk turtle is 4" you want a 40 gallon. They are very messy so you also want to have a powerful filter and a water change once or twice a week.

 

[spish]

found some more piccies while searching through my photo albums, thought id share them.....

the first one really illustrates the size these turts are if you buy them from the petshop

.on the left is a 3 year old turt (bigger than those little babies you'd see in a pet shop) with 25yr old

petshop size vs true adult size......

 

[Oddyse]

Wonderfull pics everyone. Does anyone know how quick they grow? Do they grow quick and stay big or do they grow a little bit every year?

 

[Oddyse]

Also, does anyone know of a good place (UK) where I can pick up a nice turtle tank?

 

[spish]

Oddyse, i posted a link further back to the 'turtle pub' they also have a buy and sell section with many many members being UK based, perhaps you will see something on there? failing that try ebay? i wouldnt buy one new, they cost waaaaaaay too much! do you have freegle or freecycle in your area?

 

[spish]

Quote:
they grow a little every year, but it also depends on what they are fed....but its best to get the biggest aquarium/pond you can afford from the start, it costs less in the long run

i have various 2,3 and 4 year old turtles still living it out in a 200L aquarium, id use that size tank as bare minimum. i tried it with a 60L tank but had to upgrade after less than a year