Guest Andrea Posted April 14, 2006 Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 Just wondering if anyone has or had turtles. My son found a baby turtle that had just hatched and was covered with ants. He brought it home and we have it in a 10 gal . tank with water and sand and a basking light. He likes to bite the turtle "stick" food we bought but he doesn't seem to be swallowing it. He's about the size of a nickel!!!! He's some kind of snapper, but not sure which. I know for sure that he is not an alligator snapper. Any tips? ( I know about the salmonella thing, so we are washing our hands) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exturkinator Posted April 15, 2006 Report Share Posted April 15, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? I think there is a veterinarian member of the forum who might be able to advise??? A nickel-sized turtle is kinda small! Good luck with the little guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hangunnr Posted April 15, 2006 Report Share Posted April 15, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? I've had a ton of turtles over the years. If you have a baby snapper you can give it small chunks of earth worm. It should accept that. hangunnr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Schmeck Posted April 15, 2006 Report Share Posted April 15, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? I raised one over my head one time and it peed on me..................................................................so I don't do that anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted April 15, 2006 Report Share Posted April 15, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? [ QUOTE ] check out our website: www.turtlefarms.com the turtle is not going to eat much if he is that small. you might want to try the small flakes of fish food that you can buy at any store. also, make sure that he has a place in his bowl that he can crawl up on and get completly out of the water. [/ QUOTE ] According to your website....we have a river cooter or a common musk. I can't really tell because at this stage he's resembles an adult river cooter. His belly is orange. But he is colored more like a common musk too. Oh well, I dunno. He has a bowl of water sunk down into the sand that he prefers to stay in . We take him out every now and then to feed. He can get in and out of the water. Think I am gonna go to the pet store tomorrow and get a bigger tank and other stuff he's gonna need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrelhunter91 Posted April 15, 2006 Report Share Posted April 15, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? Hey Andrea, how about this pic... did you see this one? FLORIDA RED BELLY PASTEL: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M00N Posted April 15, 2006 Report Share Posted April 15, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? I've owned young turtles rescued from the wild before about his size. Sometimes they'll eat just fine, some just never really get the hang of eating while in a tank and will actually start to starve themselves instead. If he doesn't start eating I'd take it back out to a nearby pond and set him free again. Make sure he has a dry rock that he can get out of the water on and a sunlamp that shines on it out of his reach. If he stays too moist he'll get a nasty fungus on his body and shell so he definately needs a sunning spot in his tank. If you setup a bigger tank for him and make it correctly where you can house fish and turtles try throwing some guppies in with him. He'll chase them around and eat them. But, also supply him with the floating turtle pellet food daily. Some turtles take awhile to eat while being watched. Sometimes you have to just put the pellets to float ontop the water and make everyone leave his tank alone for awhile until he eats. Once he gets used to eating more he'll eat infront of you (and will become a real hog about it). Good luck with your turtle and like you said make sure you wash your hands if you touch him. Lots of diseases you can catch from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckee Posted April 15, 2006 Report Share Posted April 15, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? I had lots of turtles when I was young, but that was a long time ago ..LOL Here's a good site http://www.turtlehomes.org/usa/snappingturtles.shtml interesting reading, and tells you all you need to know about feeding and taking good care of them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowJoe Posted April 15, 2006 Report Share Posted April 15, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? My buddy found a turtle about 7 years ago and is was the size of a quarter. He put it in a tank and then fed it red wigglers. He had that thing for almost 5 yrs and then a couple years back we took "Tom" out to the local fishing hole and let him go. Man, he took off like a rocket and never looked back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whttlbucksteve Posted April 15, 2006 Report Share Posted April 15, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? My friend had a couple and they grew really fast so he let them go back were they were found Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebeilgard Posted April 15, 2006 Report Share Posted April 15, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? i've eaten turtle, but that's about all i know about them.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted April 16, 2006 Report Share Posted April 16, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? He looks a lot like this guy: AND a little like this one: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted April 16, 2006 Report Share Posted April 16, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? I'm almost positive what you have there is a Florida redbelly turtle, Pseudemys nelsoni ... Also known as a cooter turtle... The diet of one these turtles consist of mostly aquatic vegetation, that is found in it's normal habitat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted April 17, 2006 Report Share Posted April 17, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? Well, after this weekend.....I am now the proud owner of 1 red eared slider ( purchased at pet store), 1 musk turtle ( original turtle my son found) and 1 Florida Red Belly Turtle ( my husband found). I'll take some pics this afternoon after work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rifleman25 Posted April 17, 2006 Report Share Posted April 17, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? I have a very good friend that raises turtles for a living. Here is a link to their web page. http://www.turtlefarms.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted April 17, 2006 Report Share Posted April 17, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? [ QUOTE ] I have a very good friend that raises turtles for a living. Here is a link to their web page. http://www.turtlefarms.com/ [/ QUOTE ] Yeah, he already showed me. That's a really neat place!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggs Posted April 17, 2006 Report Share Posted April 17, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? cute little guys aren't they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted April 17, 2006 Report Share Posted April 17, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? [ QUOTE ] cute little guys aren't they? [/ QUOTE ] Not much in the personality department, but definitely cute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted April 18, 2006 Report Share Posted April 18, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? Okay, took some pics this morning. Here they are: THEO Red Eared Slider.... a little shy. [image][/image] SPECK Musk Turtle [image][/image] TODD River cooter [image][/image] Speck in the tank.[image][/image] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo Posted April 18, 2006 Report Share Posted April 18, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? Make sure they have an area in the tank they can get out of the water and dry out. Turtles need to sun or algae grows on them and makes them sick. In a pinch, they like raw hamburger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted April 18, 2006 Report Share Posted April 18, 2006 Re: Anyone raise turtles? They've got a place to get out of the water. I made sure. The gravel slopes down into the water. And the basking light is placed above the spot where they get out of the water. Can't get them to eat yet. I've tried the turtle food. Tried fish flakes. Tried a piece of vienna sausage on a toothpick. The little musk turtle will eat the sausage, but spits most of it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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