anyone like turtles? - Page 3

Tbx · 08-20-2007, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saikyo

I had a wild turtle I found in my backyard at my old place. We had it in a cleaned out plastic barrel cut in half. Surprisingly enough, he only ate lettuce and tomatoes. Long story short, the barrel got knocked in a freak windstorm while we we out for the day and I never sew him again.

BTW, does anyone here live in New Jersey? I'm pretty sure I can't buy them here, but is it illegal to keep them as pets?

If you can't buy it then you probably cant keep it but if you get one who will find out I have kept a piranha which are banned in Texas in my old pond.

cichlidgirl · 09-12-2007, 02:04 PM

My daughter just got a 5-6 inch red ear slider, it is in a 30 gallon tank, with reptile filter and rocks to climb out of water. I was wondering , i keep poultry on my farm and have a extra heat lamp, can i use that for it to bask? What watt light bulb should i get if i cant find the turtle one? should it be red so it can be left on at night? she put it in a three sided bay window with tons of morning and afternon sun so i dont know it would need it as much in the day time. What do you all think? should we feed it lettuce? The shop said it was eating a combination of feeder fish and pellet food. Will it adapt if i change the diet. from what the other posts said should i be trying to teach it to eat and bathroom in a bucket or plastic bin?

Also, we have a outdoor plastic pond and this summer we noticed a baby painted turtle in it. I know it will die if we dont remove it before the snow gets here this winter. If we brought it in would it get along with the bigger store turtle? Is it likely to bring any hanger ons like: parisites or diseases from outdoors and contaminate the store turtle and its tank?

BMueller777 · 09-12-2007, 03:36 PM

I'm from NJ and I think it's illigal to have "baby" turtles (like less then 4'') or something like that. You can't buy them in NJ either... or at least in my area.

cichlidgirl · 09-12-2007, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BMueller777

I'm from NJ and I think it's illigal to have "baby" turtles (like less then 4'') or something like that. You can't buy them in NJ either... or at least in my area.

So, what are we supposed to do when a wild animal takes up residence ? It is in a plastic garden manmade pond that freezes solid in the winter so it will not be able to dig a hibernation hole in the mud. Should i put it in a local creek or lake onterio? Will it have enough time to establish itself before winter sets in? I know it has been eating extremely well, the pond is full of full grown frogs, tadpoles, waterbugs, full of gross green algea and chucked full of lilipads. I would be afraid it could not catch wild fish etc... since it does not have to try hard to catch food in a 3foot deep by 4 foot wide pond with the water about 6 inches lower than the sides. so anything small that is in there with the turtle stays in there with it. Might be radiclly different in the lake or quick flowing stream.

BMueller777 · 09-12-2007, 05:48 PM

I thought it was store brought... If it's wild and just decided to live in your pond I'm sure it's able to fend for itself.... Can you bring it inside for the winter?
Can it even get out of the pond you have?

If it can't make something with rock or w/e so it can and maybe it'll leave...

Do you live near a pond or stream?

cichlidgirl · 09-12-2007, 08:59 PM

My daughter bought a store bought turtle yesterday, it lives in the house . In early summer this year we noticed a baby turtle had taken up residence in my garden pond, about the size of a quarter, tiny little thing, very cute. I live by lake onterio, i suppose i could net it and take it for a drive and release it somewhere else where it could winter like they normally do. If it is that small should it go in with my daughters larger store bought turtle, the store turtle is a red eared slider and the wild baby one outside is a painted or painter turtle.? i read in a book today that red ear sliders should be kept alone, because they get aggressive. I ve never had turtles so i dont know if it is accurate. I would not want the baby wild turtle to give any skin diseases or parasites to the store turtle. I guess i should just release it somewhere good for turtles. Should i do it now or wait since the feed is good right now in my pond. I dont want to take its food away and drop it in a unfamiliar area where it is harder to get food right before the hibernation time begins. Is it like other hibernating animals where it needs to store up alot of fat and bulk up its weight for the hibernation cycle?

missfish · 03-30-2008, 12:25 AM

G day,

I'm new to turtle keeping but i have two murray river short necked turtles. They are about 3cm or 1 inch across. I was wondering if any of the red eared slider keepers that keep their turtles with fish ever notice bites taken out of them? or missing fish. I was hopping to put some yellowbelly fingerlings in with my turtles.

missfish

Spydust · 10-04-2008, 05:32 PM

I'm not sure about your turtles.I have taken over the care of my nephews Red Eared Sliders and yes they eat fish for sure. As many as they can manage to catch. They love the treat!!

Photos Attached

ZeroSystem · 11-20-2008, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawn D

Would it be at all possible to keep a saltwater turtle. That would be awesome

I'm not an expert in Sea Turtles, but I believe they all get incredibly large and live a lot longer than we do. I don't see how someone could keep one unless they had a very large saltwater swimming pool! I think the only time I've seen Sea Turtles in captivity was at the Montery Bay Aquarium.

Freshwater Turtles like Red Ear Sliders diffinetly eat fish when given the opportunity, but it shouldn't be the staple of their diet. Mixing the two (turtles and fish) successfully usually requires a pond and fish that are large enough to not be viewed as a sourse of food (Goldfish, Koi, large Catfish)...