Hollywood Fish Farm Turtle Care Sheet
Hollywood Fish Farm Turtle Care Sheet. Red Eared Turtles make a fun and interesting pet – Here is some info on keeping Red Eared Turtles:
Aquarium Size:
We recommend that you get the largest aquarium you can either afford or accommodate as turtles can grow quite large and at a fast pace. The minimum size that we would recommend is our 24 x 15 x 15 Turtle tank. This would last one turtle hatchling approximately 1-2 years, two turtle hatchlings would last approximately 6-12 months.
Diet:
It is best to feed a variety of foods to your turtle. One of the types of food we recommend you feed is a specific frozen food for turtles as this contains essential vitamins and minerals including calcium which is needed for the development of a turtle’s shell. You should also include some form of vegetation in their diet like oxygen weed or aquarium plants as well as feeding a dried pellet or shrimp. These foods should be fed on a daily basis at approximately the same time.
Water Conditions:
Temperature – Turtles live in heated water around 23°C – 25°C, they generally slow down or stop eating at approximately 15°C; however they do not fully hibernate until around 10°C. Hibernation can be a very difficult procedure and can be very detrimental to the turtle if not done correctly therefore we advise that turtles be kept at the recommended temperature all year round.
Filtration:
Turtles are very messy creatures and a filter is essential if you want to keep the water clean and reasonably odor free.
Maintenance:
Depending on the type of filtration unit you decide to get most filters need to be cleaned at least once a week. We also recommend that you change 50% – 100% of the water once a week.
Lighting:
Turtles must have a fluorescent light above the aquarium. It is advised to be a specific
reptile tube as these are specially formulated to provide the correct levels of light turtles require to produce vitamin D³, these need to be replaced every 12 months. The light needs to be on for 12 hours a day, no longer, no less. We also recommend that there is no glass lid or plastic light cover stopping the light from directly hitting the turtles shell.
Common Health Problems:- Soft Shell – This can occur by a lack of Vitamin D and/or inadequate lighting. The shell starts to feel soft and the turtle can generally look unhealthy. This can be corrected by increasing the lighting levels and by adding more calcium in their diet. Turtle calcium blocks are available and can be added to the aquarium.
- Pneumonia – Turtles can easily catch a chill which will quickly lead to pneumonia. Most chills arise from the following: taking your turtle outside on a cold day or if your turtles’ aquarium is not heated adequately.
Other information:- Turtles live in captivity for approximately 17 to 25 years
- An adult turtle can produce up to 1litre of urine a day
- Females can grow up to 20-28cm
- Males can grow up to 13-18cm
- The easiest way of sexing turtles is with the claws – the male has much longer claws than the females.
Providing the above instructions are followed it is very unlikely that you will experience any health problems with your turtle and you should both have a happy and long life together!!To see our full range of Reptile Food Click
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