[PatsyHedrick]

I have a pet turtle and would like to hear from other turtle keepers who are interested in exchanging tips about care and habitat of these sweet creatures.

Patsy Hedrick
patsyhedrick@aol.com
Hillsborough

[JohnN]

What kind of turtle do you have and how big is he/she?

I've got a Black Marsh Turtle that I've had FIFTY-TWO years now, longer than my wife!!
Her shell (yes, it's a she, she laid an egg one year) is about the size of my hand.
Pretty easy to care for obviously, she'll eat anything though her base food is a high quality turtle "kibblel" - and she's happy most anywhere. She'll spend time on the lanai in nice weather to get outside of her aquarium home base.

Black Marsh Turtles are sacred to the Buddhists. In southeast Asia, they are kept in ponds near the temples and have the departed souls of people who drowned trying to save others. Black Marsh Turtles always seem to be smiling.

[JohnN]

Here's a great youtube video of a turtle with a video cam strapped to his back.
It makes you feel like you're Nemo's dad riding on Krush the turtle.

fish whisperer youtube - Yahoo Video Search Results

[PatsyHedrick]

Hi John - 52 YEARS!?!?!? Wow! My Pickle is a Yellow Bellied Slider, 5 years old, 8" long. I got her as a baby, so we've seen some remarkable growth. She lives on our lanai and dips in and out of the pool I made her from a twin bed frame and plastic tarp. The only hard part of keeping a turtle is what to do when we travel. I have an automatic feeder but I use it so seldom that I always have trouble setting it up. Do you have an auto feeder that you recommend?

[JohnN]

Whoa, that sounds like a nice setup for your pet! I asked my wife if we could build a pond for Katie the turtle but she said "NO". LOL. But my wife has been very loving and accommodating over the years, in reality.

I once read of a turtle that got locked in a shoebox with papers, and put in an attic, and survived for 30 years. Apparently the turtle ate the papers and absorbed moisture from the humidity. I can't attest to that article, but when my pet was "young" , she did climb out of her tank and got lost in the house for six months. I'd given up on finding her. Then one night at 3 a.m., my dog was barking loud and long, and the turtle was all sprawled out in the middle of the kitchen floor. What she ate or drank for six months, I don't know.

I feed my turtle about every other day. More in spring and summer when she's more active, less in fall and winter. I have traveled a week and just tossed extra food into her tank. I normally use a small separate feeding tank because turtle's are pretty darn messy when they eat.

I've researched a bit to find a delayed feeding device of some kind, but I've not really had any luck. Since we're here full-time and don't travel extensively for periods, I've pretty much just adopted the week long rule. If I were gone longer than that, I'd ask a neighbor to feed her, I suppose.

My turtle loves to burrow. If I let her loose in the yard, she'll dig into the mulch and bury herself. So what I did for a "toy" is toss an old t-shirt onto the lanai, and she likes to burrow under it.

[JohnN]

If you want a great day trip involving turtles/tortoises, go to Egmont Key off a Tampa Bay. It can be a long day trip, though we like a night at the beach.

Tons of wild gopher tortoises on the protected island, along with a Spanish-American War fort that's interesting. Note, no facilities of any kind (incl. restrooms).

[Viking55]

Patsy -

I have a turtle - red eared slider - that has been with me for 48(!) years. Bought two baby turtles in 1973, back when they were legal to sell, roughly the diameter of a quarter, named them Cheech and Chong (finally, a group seasoned enough to know who know Cheech and Chong were! My younger patients have no clue). Chong died years ago (pneumonia, a common cause), but Cheech is still kicking and is a good 8" in length.

My main recommendation is to make sure the turtle has a way to get out of the water and warm itself. Turtles, like other reptiles, are cold blooded, and need to warm themselves to raise their body temp and help digest food. That's why you see snakes, turtles, alligators hanging out in the sun. Also, keep the water as clean as possible, I use a couple of filters on my 80 gal tank. As far as a feeder, I too have looked and found nothing. When I'm gone, I leave his food in an open container in his dry sunning area. I'm not certain if he comes and gets some food chunks or not, but so far, so good. I used to have fish in the tank with him, but he hunted them all down and ate them. I've learned to get cheap fish (Molly's, guppies). Then again, that's food for him when I'm not there to feed him. I feed him dry dog food. Over the years I found that to be the least messy and the least expensive (I've tried frozen brine shrimp, minnows, night crawlers, hamburger, commercial turtle food, etc), and turtles are omnivores. The dog food soaks in the water getting soft until he can swallow it down.

I plan on bringing Cheech down to TV with me when I move there permanently. Who knows how long he is going to live?

Gary (DeLuna)

[PatsyHedrick]

So far we have a group of 3 turtle families, with a combined turtle age of 105 years. Hopefully our group will grow.

JohnN, what is your turtles' name?

Here's our group so far:
Gary + Cheech, Red Eared Slider, 48 yo
Patsy + Pickle, Yellow Bellied Slider, 5 yo
John + ?? , Black Marsh Turtle, 52 yo

Patsy

[JohnN]

Patsy - My turtle is Katie, after my wife.
The Daily Sun had an article a year or two back about a Villager who had six or so turtles and a huge pond in his backyard.

Gary - good looking turtle there! Here's what I feed my turtle as a base diet, though she will eat most anything and everything. I try to give her a good variety of healthy stuff.

Mazuri Aquatic Turtle Diet
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

[bilcon]

Remember years ago. Are you a Turtle? You bet your A--.