Anyone else here keep turtles?

A couple months ago my wife and son came home from a local street fair with a turtle in a little plastic dish with some food. I knew nothing of turtles. I asked my son what kind of turtle it was and he said it was a boy turtle and his name was blitz.

I immediately started researching turtles and found out he was a Red Ear Slider. I also found out that he was just a hatchling and it was illegal to sell a RES under 4" long, he was about the size of a quarter. I also found out you can't tell the sex until much later on but the boy thinks it's a he so that's what were going with. after finding out what all it took to keep a turtle I told my wife that it was going to be pretty expensive to give him a suitable habitat. She said to keep him, so I threw together something quickly, and cheaply to buy some time. He's healthy and growing so I guess I'm doing a decent job of it so far.

It's recommended that they have about ten gallons of water per inch of shell length. They also require hella big filtration systems to deal with the waste. They require specific temperatures both in the water and their basking areas as well as UVA and UVB lighting. Lot's of information available here. It's been fun but I'm really looking forward to building his bigger habitat.

Anyway this is Blitz and his temporary habitat.

It doesn't look like enough turtle for soup in a pot that large.

Cool, I've always wanted a turtle. Maybe I can get my son to bring one home too.

In reply to bgkast:

Read up on them. A 9" full grown turtle will need at least a 90 gallon tank and a mega filtration system.

I've been doing tons of research on DIY filtration systems and even DIY tanks. Lot's of cool above the tank basking areas too.

I had 2 RES' happily in a 55 gallon tank for over 15 years. They were quite happy and healthy. Massive filtration is required.

I currently have a yellow slider that got dumped with one of our rescues stuffed into a sandwich bag (just a little guy like yours) hes in a 20 long right now, would rather find him a good home as I'm not really wanting to get into turtle keeping again but I had a tank free and he needed a home better than a sandwich bag.

In reply to JThw8:

I think those recommendations are partly to reduce the demands on the filtration system and water changes and such. The smaller tanks need more maintenance. From what I've read turtles are not as sensitive to water conditions as fish but they also make lots of waste that needs to be handled.

Nick_Comstock wrote: In reply to JThw8: I think those recommendations are partly to reduce the demands on the filtration system and water changes and such. The smaller tanks need more maintenance. From what I've read turtles are not as sensitive to water conditions as fish but they also make lots of waste that needs to be handled.

Quite true, the bigger the better on tank size but you can definitely compensate with good filtration. Honestly if I keep this little guy or if I was going to keep turtles again at all I'd probably just go with an indoor pond as long as I can keep my cats out of it.

What Will said.

I had a painted for a while and a neighbor had a terrapin, who became tame and enjoyed the company of people, who decided to take up residence in their pool

In reply to T.J.:

What did Will say?

My sister and her husband (both bets) have an aquatic turtle of some sort in an aquarium. No idea of gallons but he's probably 7" or so. Water seems fairly green and turtle looks happy.

They also have an African tortous. It's more entertaining to watch. Probably 2 feet long and about 50 pounds. Fun to see the dogs play with it.

I have a RES, she is at least 8" long. I started out with a zilla turtle starter set. I've since upped to a 40 reptile tank and a bigger filter, but at this point I need a livestock water tank. Not an easy thing to keep inside.

Nick_Comstock wrote: In reply to T.J.: What did Will say?

https://youtu.be/CMNry4PE93Y

We kept some little turtles when I was a kid. Then some sort of salmonella scare caused certain species to be banned from sale.

Last summer, I was riding my motorcycle on some back roads around here and I stopped to remove a turtle from the road. He was bigger than a dinner plate and weighed as much as a cat. Every once in a while, I'll see a snapping turtle. Those are some impressive beasts.

That's all I got.

In reply to 1988RedT2:

Yep, that's why they are illegal to sell if under 4". The young ones are covered in it. Don't lick them and wash your hands after handling them.

I had a RES just like yours when I was a kid. Escaped it's tank one day a couple months after we acquired it. Never saw it again.

IIRC, The 4" rule is so the turtle is too big for a child to put in its mouth. Not sure if that is true, but is sounds funny, yet believable.

In reply to neon4891:

       Important Legal Issues, the 4” Law

The U.S. laws prohibiting the sale of viable eggs and pet turtles with shells less than 4" in length are directly associated to the rise of salmonella infections. It was incorrectly believed those over 4" survived the disease or were less likely to carry it. These laws introduced in 1975 have been amended several times and have been effective in reducing infections and are still in effect. Despite recent claims and articles, salmonella can still be carried and transmitted by turtles. Although it is easy to avoid transmission, it is still a potential health hazard.