Well actually it is my daughter’s turtle. The problem is that we don’t know what kind or how to take care of it.
She received it as a birthday present. The pet store said it was an African white cheek turtle. However if that is true I can find no information about it.
Can anyone help? I will run to the library Monday for more info. But I sure would appreciate any help now.
I will try to post a picture of it.
Thank you
Paul
Maybe you should call the pet store that identified the turtle’s type and ask about general care?
Being a child asthmatic, I had lots of turtles as a kid.
It needs a place to sun itself and also a place to get out of the sun. Both are essential. Without sun, its shell can get soft. With too much sun, it will overheat and die.
Don’t put it on fish gravel. The particles are of the right size that they could get caught in its leg holes and kill it. Sand or rock is better.
It also needs to swim. Maybe set up an aquarium but get the big filter, because they crap a lot. My father built an aquarium with a rock shelf and a tube going to the bottom as a crap intake. If you can’t manage this, clean regularly.
Don’t put it on a table. While tortoises (which I also have) are smart enough to back away from edges, turtles think it’s where the water is and run toward it.
Don’t assume it will be slow. Turtles can run very fast.
Feed it live food. You can get meal worms at the fish store; they are basically caterpillars. Turtles don’t like blood worms much. Hamburger (uncooked) will do in a pinch.
Here’s Melissa Kaplan 's Turtle page. She’s a big name in iguanas, so I hope she knows stuff about turtles, too.
Here’s a page with a bunch of links.
[urlhttp://www.turtletimes.com/caretakers/commonnames.htm]Names and classifications of turtles.
Yahoo search for “turtle caresheet.”
I’ve never heard of a African white cheek turtle, or found it on the internet. Maybe they gave you the wrong name or something.
Just a suggestion, not being mean or anything. Next time, I think you should research the animal before you get one. It saves a lot of stress on you and the animal.
If you ever decide to get a snake, Email me and I’ll help you out, hehe. That’s my area of expertise.
http://www.turtletimes.com/caretakers/commonnames.htm]Names and classifications of turtles.
Stupid non-previewing me.
Names and classifications of turtles.
Sweet zombie jesus.
Please don’t think I’m flaming anyone - but as a biologist, and with invasive species being my major line of work, I wish people would refrain from importing every weird animal they think just might make a cool pet. Some of these are not likely to escape and create a nuisance, but it is hard to predict which ones. Then there are diseases that are imported with the animals, some of them affecting humans. Turtles can carry hepatitus, I understand, although I am no expert in that in particular. There was some really weird disease imported last year along with african naked mole rats that actually killed a couple people. But the real disease danger may be to wild animals, because they can’t pop a bunch of antibiotics. Drop a new disease in and you have the equivalent of white man’s diseases killing off the red man. Snakeheads and swamp eels, and other escaped aquarium fish are causing lots of problems in Florida, where they can overwinter. (Some snakeheads, notably the northern snakehead, could live anywhere in the US or southern canada - thank god the aquarium trade does not prefer that particular species.) Anyway, if you have a pet that doesn’t belong here, please don’t release it when you get tired of it, or let it get away. And next time, at least consider a native animal as a pet. We do have some perfectly cool critters that live here already, and I’d like to keep it that way.
Point well taken, Fishhead.
The Surb, I keep two red-eared slider turtles and I have always trusted Austin’s (http://www.austinsturtlepage.com). Once you get past the circa-1996 design and the fact that it seems to be run by kids, they really know their stuff over there.
Check out the forums – they’ll tell you what kind of turtle you have.
Well I understand the replies of “check it out first” and “don’t import the exotics” but as I stated it was a gift. My daughter must have inherited my interest in herps and told her friends that is what she wanted.
I would not buy a pet first without understanding the involvement of ownership. So rather than flush the animal away, I asked here.
Also, as the pet store did not give me a name that could be identified, I thought that they may not know the best care either. That is another reason why I asked here.
Doesn’t that seem more reasonable than NOT asking?
So thanks, epepke, **Silver Serpentine **, Monkeypants and others for the informative replies and the links. I have set up a semi-aquatic environment until I can make sure that is what it needs.
Paul
I agree with you, Fishhead. Never let your exotic pets go. As a member of the snake community, I get mightily pissed whenever someone gets bored of a Red Tail Boa or Burmese Python. It generally means that reptile laws for everyone are tightened.
But, I can’t really get local species. A lot of state laws prohibit catching wild reptiles and keeping them as pets. Did you know that in New Jersey, yo can’t own a Corn Snake unless you have a piece of paper saying it’s from out of state?
And for those of us who love boas and pythons, there really aren’t any local species, anyway. Pretty much all the US has are Colubrids and rattlers.
I do, however, buy captive bred snakes. Always. Although I have adopted two wild-caughts.
[/hijack]
Back to the OP:
I’ve read that turtles can carry salmonella, so be sure to wash your hands thoroughly after handling the turtle. I believe that’s the reason why turtles under 2" can’t be sold. They’re generally kept until they get bigger, with a sign that says “for educational purposes only.”
Anyone with turtles know if this is true or not? Because I’m not positive about it.