How do i take care of my turtle?

Question

I got a turtle yesterday but i have no idea how to take care of it! I have it in a small tank and i feed it lettuce, thin sliced carrots, and sometimes tortia! I let it walk around a bit for exercis but he still seems, board. Another question, hoe do i know if it is a boy or girl? HELP!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

1. We need to know the species to offer the best advice- care ideas for one turtle can be fatal for another.

I am going to assume you have a pond turtle, like a Red-ear slider or Painted turtle- the most common pet turtles.

2. Tank size: Turtles love and need space. A small turtle should be in at least a 10 gallon tank. We usually want to see 5 to 10 gallons per linear inch of shell.

3. Diet: Tortilla is not on any turtle's diet list. If this is a pond turtle, the young only eat bugs, worms, shrimp, etc. Try turtle pellets or live or well-preserved 'fish foods'. Frozen krill is good. When they get bigger they will eat some veggies- mostly dark leafy greens and colorful veggies.

4. Letting it walk around is not needed if it has a big tank with good basking sites.

5. Boy or girl- is really hard to tell until they are sexually mature, about 4" long. Then, you will notice that the boy will have long front claws (if it is a Red-ear slider or some other species), an in-curved belly, and a long, thin tail. The females will have flat or outcurved bellies, and short wide tails.

For more info, try http://www.austinsturtlepage.com

Answer 2

if it is a turtle (not a tortoise) than you should pick up some turtle pellets from your local pet shop. Also you feed it SMALL pieces of cat food or pieces they can swallow. Yes cat food is healthy for them. You dont need to feed it lettuce and sliced carrots. If your feeding it iceburg lettuce then stop...it has the same nutritional value of newspaper. For the male/female thing you can tell by looking at there belly. If it has ridges it is a male, if it is flat it is a female. Or if it is an adult the females are larger than the
male.