Pet Turtle Care : How to Care For Turtles

Pet Turtle Care

A growing number of people worldwide are enjoying the experience of owning a pet reptile. When we typically think of reptiles snakes and lizards come to mind, but there is another unique reptile that is making many pet owners very happy: Turtles. Learning how to care for turtles as pets is a fun and unique experience.

How to Care for Turtles As Pets: Aquarium

Do you have enough space for a big enough aquarium? Turtles require a large area to swim and move around in. A good rule of thumb is 10 gallons for every inch of turtle shell. Keep in mind that the most popular types of pet turtle grow to about 12 inches. Alternatively, you may be able to keep your turtle outside, depending on the weather and the type of turtle. In this case you will need to provide a suitable pen for your turtles.

How to Care for Turtles As Pets: Feeding

Turtles eat almost anything they can fit in their mouths. They've been known to eat the gravel that some owners put in the aquarium. It's important to provide the right diet for your pet turtle, as they are omnivores and have specific requirements for nutrition. Feeding is not difficult, and can be one of the funnest parts of keeping a turtle. Different types of turtles have different nutritional requirements, so you will need to have a guide book or other resource for more specific information for your type of turtle. Turtles can be given a staple of pet store bought turtle food (usually called Turtle Sticks), but they also need some fresh food mixed in their diet every day. This will include various veggies and some meats. Occasionally a feeder fish to hunt is a good idea, this is great exercise for turtles.

How to Care for Turtles As Pets: Get a Guide Book

As a multiple pet owner, I know the value of a good guide book. You simply cannot properly care for a pet without tapping into the vast experience of those who have gone on before. The only real alternative to buying a guide book is to constantly fish around for information on the internet. While there is a lot of information out there, it is difficult to know how reliable it is, and it takes too much time to track down any information in an organized format. A good guide book will typically include pictures and diagrams that cannot be found in articles online.

This article is basically just a primer of the most important things to consider when learning how to care for turtles as pets. If you cannot meet the above requirements, then a pet turtle is probably not for you. However, if you are willing to invest in the aquarium, the feeding efforts, and a good guide book, then a turtle will be a great choice for you.

Unfortunately many pet turtles die in captivity because owners have not learned the simple fundamentals of turtle care. Keeping turtles is not difficult if owners know the basic requirements of turtle health and happiness.

As an experienced aquarium enthusiast, Kevin Bauer strongly recommends the Turtle Guide Book as the complete resource for choosing, housing, feeding, breeding, and training pet turtles.
Click here for more tips on keeping turtles as pets.

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