Here you can learn all about what it takes to properly care for turtles in this complete owners guide. It’s a guide intended to provide beginners and novice Chelonian owners (turtles and tortoises) all the basic information they will need to get started as well as trouble shooting problems that might come up. On this site we cover advice on caring for the following Chelonians:
It’s important to know what type of breed you have so you can get the correct information on caring for it. Since not every turtle is from the same geographical location, no two species will have exactly the same care requirements. In fact, turtles are found on almost every continent in dry hot deserts to warm humid climates year around to even areas that have cold harsh winters. All the turtles found around the world have adapted and evolved to survive in their given natural habitat.
Things to Consider
- What temperatures do your turtle or tortoise need to stay healthy?
- How humid or dry does your turtle or tortoise prefer?
- Does it require an additional source of water to live in?
- What types of food needs to be included in their diet?
- How large of a living space is required to ensure a happy pet?
Care Topics Covered
Now that you know the questions you need to ask, find the answers to them in the following sections.
Setting Up a Proper Habitat
You have several options for housing your turtles. Depending on where you live in the country and what type of turtle you have, you can create an outdoor pen or even a turtle pond if you have the space in the yard. If outside isn’t an option or you would like to house your pets inside during a cold winter, you can build an inside table or even house them permanently in a large aquarium if they are small growing species.
- Read more on Turtle Tanks, Pens and Ponds…
What to Feed Your Turtle
Every turtle and tortoise has a specialized diet that you need to adhere to. Some turtles are strictly vegetarians that only eat greens and veggies while others are mainly carnivores and require proteins or live meals. Simply throwing in a head of iceberg lettuce is no meal for most turtle; they won’t get the adequate vitamins or minerals they need to stay healthy. Find out what you should be feeding your turtles.
- Read more on Tortoise and Turtle Food…
How to Treat and Prevent Illness
Turtles like all animals are susceptible to a number of diseases, illnesses or injuries. For starters, the best way to avoid getting a sick turtle is to avoid purchasing one that isn’t healthy in the first place. Furthermore, you can help prevent illness by keeping your turtle’s living space at the most optimal parameters for its breed as well as feeding it an appropriate diet. Sometime disease and infection are inevitable and unavoidable.
- Read how to diagnose and treat Turtle Health Problems…
Have More Question?
If you have additional questions about your turtle or tortoise, feel free to leave a comment on the page that best describes the type of questions you might have and we will try to answer it to the best of our knowledge.
Photos by: poplinre, eroggenburg, 50562790@N00, pamramsey, mcouper
My turtle won’t eat anything and I’m worried. What do i do?
Is this a new pet turtle or have you had it for awhile? If you just brought it home and you are first trying to feed it, it might just be that you are not feeding it what it was used to eating at the breeders/pet store. Try mixing up the diet and make it look appetizing. See this post on how to feed turtles. You might also want to look at this post on when turtle won’t eat. It could be that it’s too cold in your turtle’s tank. If your turtle doesn’t eat for over a week or so after trying to fix any of these issue, you should consult a vet.
I just bought a box turtle and need to know how to take care of it! I’m glad I came across this site. Can I keep it in an 20 gallon aquarium or should I make it a cage or something?
I would suggest building a turtle table instead. Glass aquariums used for box turtles can heat up too much and also, the box turtles will get confused with the glass walls. They might keep trying to walk through the glass. This becomes rather stressful for them. A 20 gallon aquarium is usually okay for your aquatic turtles though but they too might have difficulty with the see through glass sides. If it becomes a problem, you might be able to add some solid material so they can’t see out.