Ever owned a turtle?

Question

I'm thinking of getting my kids a turtle for their room. Any past or present turtle owners with advice on what kind, issues with the turtle, etc?? Hopefully one that will not be inside it's shell all the time, can be handled quite a bit. PS are they very smelly? I took care of their old mice and while I cleaned it's cage every couple of days, the whole house pretty much smelled like a mouse house.

Answer 1

I own a box turtle, he can be a little snippy at times, but only if you stick fingers near his mouth (honestly I think they just mistake them for worms)! I found my turtle and he is now like 4 years old, they do supposedly live a long time!

Mine doesn't hibernate, but some do! He stinks to the extent of any reptile or rodent, cleaning the cage often will eliminate that!

I made mine a home in one of those huge Rubbermaid storage containers with the lid cut out some, replaced by chicken wire! Land turtles are pretty easy to care for, they love worms (which you can often get yourself for free, depending on where you are) and romaine lettuce and strawberries!

Good luck!

Answer 2

I am going to be honest with you...they stink. I had a couple different turtles as pets. Sliders are water turtles which are a lot of fun, but the aquarium gets really foul and smelly in only a couple days. If you thought mice were bad, turtles are the same if not a little worse. They do carry the salmonella, so hand washing is very important, as the other person mentioned. I would have to say that a turtle is probably not the pet for your children if you are concerned about the smell, though.

Answer 3

Turtles can be good pets for kids, as long as you supervise, and they wash they're hands. They don't get to smelly if your on top of cleaning the cage as often as needed. It's moreso the cage smelling than the turtle. You need to make sure you can provide a sizeable cage for it though, because they can't live in little aquariums that you can get for cheap. I also would like to add that mice can be very smelly animals. However, what I do for my rodents, is I keep them in my kids bedroom, and I use one of those Glade© Plugin things, and set it on 1 or 2, the lowest settings. It really helps to prevent the rest of the house from smelling like the animals. Also, if you take a little bit more time out of your day, and just scoop some of the bedding that had an excess of feces, and added a little more, than the cages smell much less. I have no problems with Animal smell, and I have two hedgehogs and two guinea pigs, in seperate rooms.

Answer 4

Turtles are great for kids. I suggest a box turtle since they don't bite. They're quite easy to take care of, give them 5 mealworms and a handful of lettuce or other greens each morning, refill the water dish too. Be sure to put the food right in front of it.

All turtles are different, there's not a specific kind that likes being out of its shell that likes people. But box turtles can always be handled, though have them wash their hands after touching it, they can get some nasty stuff if they don't, like diherrea and etc.

Haha, they are smelly if you don't keep a very clean tank.

Answer 5

They are quite smelly, being amphibious. I had a bunch as a kid that I caught at my local lake and kept in a modified old bathtub in my back yard.

They were a lot of fun but my favorite ones were the tiny map turtles which stayed inside in a terrarium. The red eared turtle is a popular pet as well.

There is a lot of work involved keeping their cage/bowl clean and if your kids weren't great with a mouse I wouldn't advise a turtle.

You should look into a tortoise, but be warned they live 150+ years so you'll have to leave them in your will.

Anyway, good luck with whatever you choose to do.

Answer 6

I got a Red Ear Slider turtle for my children which is a water turtle I suggest if you get one buy a tank with lots of filters ( a good filtration system) so that you won't have to clean as often and there is stuff you can put in the water for salmonella and other things they might carry. Also make sure not to over feed that will cause the tank to get dirty faster.They can handle it just good hand washing skills is advised. Good luck if you buy one..

Answer 7

Turtles are acully carriers of Salmenella. So your kids would have to wash thier hands after touching it. And they do smell pretty bad!

Answer 8

I turtle is really low maitence. If you want a little one try to fine a yellowbelly slider baby. They are adorable.

Answer 9

yeah !! when i was little my dad would bring long neck turtles home from the river. and yeah they do stink a little. but they are cute.

Answer 10

They're not really that fun.