Pet Water Turtles

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Lots of people all over the world have pet water turtles, because they are an easy pet to keep and they have quite a long lifespan when you compare them to your usual household pets like dogs, cats and goldfish. Some turtles can live a very long time anywhere from 20 years right up to 40 years. There are many different types of pet turtles, but one of the most popular types is the Red Ear Slider. Since the 1970's though, it as been illegal to sell this type of turtle as a baby under 4 inches long. But lots of folk find them in the wild then bring them home to keep as a pet.

Red ear sliders can grow up to 12 inches in length and they are very interactive and friendly making them the ideal pet water turtles for your household and children. This type of turtle likes to spend the majority of its time swimming in the water. But they also like to spend quite a bit of time out of the water basking. So it will be a good idea to set up an half and half aquarium so that your pet water turtles have the best of both worlds. Basically an half and half aquarium is a set up were half of the aquarium is water and the other half of it is land.

The temperature of the water should be around 75 to 78 degrees fahrenheit with the basking area of the aquarium being around 10 degrees higher than the water temperature. Pet water turtles must also be exposed to UV light , if they don't their health is going to really suffer. The aquarium should be sized based on the size of the turtle, a rough estimate is for every inch of shell length on the turtle you should add 10 gallons to the tank size. The aquarium must also have a good filtration system so that the water is kept as clean as possible to keep your water turtles fit and healthy.

If you plan on keeping more than one pet water turtle in the aquarium, it will be a good idea to always buy turtles that are the same size. Otherwise accidents and injuries might start occurring to the smaller turtles in the aquarium. Most water turtles are omnivores, so they will eat vegetables, aquatic plants, pellet food, fish and insects. It will also be a wise move to feed your pet water turtles plenty of calcium and vitamins to ensure that they are kept as healthy as possible.