Hi.

I have decided to go in to the hobby of aquaticturtles!! (But I'am still keeping goldfish of course!!)

So If any of you have Aquatic turtles....Or know how too take care of them please do tell!. I know nothing so whatever you think is important tell me so i can have happy turles that thrive and not just live....I want them to be happy with me.

So i just have a few..ok maybe alot ofquestions..here we go:

Can turtles live in a big rubbermaid tubout side on the porch?
How big of a tank/tub do they need for one turtle?
What do you feed them?

How much filtration do they need?
What about food what do they eat and what kinds of food are best for them?

and what about tempreture...I live in texas and the tempretures here can get pretty HOT sometimes..so what temp do they like to be kept in?
How messy are they...are they any thing like goldfish when it comes to waste?
What about water changes? how often to i do those?

As you can see I'am a newbie when it comes to these guys...But i would LOVE to have one!

So if there is anything elese that I need to know PLEASE DO TELL!!!

You can look at it like this, Ali - a turtle is a goldfish with a shell! They will be just as messy, and big. Depending on what kind you are gonna get anyway. The Florida softshell is one of the biggest one around, with around 1 foot or more in diameter. Western painted, Mississippi maps, spotted, the list is endless....Depends on what appeals to you...

The turtles should be very happy in the Texas weather, nice and lots of sun to bake in, not too cold of a winter. I feed mine (2 Western painted, 1 Mississippi map baby, 3 yello bellied) the Reptomin turtle food as staple diet, but will switch to Mazuri turtle/tortoise food as soon as the container is empty, so much better quality. Then you can supplement it with different stuff - veggies, some turtles prefer a bit meat in between, so go and get some feeder guppies for them to chase down. There is a calcium supplement in powder form that I sprinkle over their food once or twice every week.
One of the Western painted and the biggest of the yellow bellied have become quite tame, and come swimming the moment they see me coming with the food. Just be careful with hand feeding, those guys bite merciless to get their food, and they don't care at times if they reach for your finger instead! When I put the biggest turtle in the pond the other day, I had a wonderfully grown parrot feather in there, creeping along the surface of the water. Weeeell, a few pellets must have been gotten stuck in the leaves, so big Mr. Turtle munched his way straight through the plant to get the pellet. What I found about an hour later were a few dozen strands of parrot feather all over the pond! ....bad, bad turtle....

For some basic stuff on general turtle care, I found that place a wonderful spot to start....Turtleforum.com
Very friendly and helpful place for any kind of tortoise/turtle/reptile keeping.....
Hapy turtle reading!

Thanx Andrea Your a big Help.

Ok, well I called my local petco and the only turtles they have are the red ear turtle. He also said that there 6 inches by 6 inches long..so not too big. And he also said there not bitters......

Ok more questions...for ya (hope I'am not a bother)

There tank/tub needs to be cycled right?
Do you know any thing about the red ear turtle?

I have seen them they look really pretty

if always loved the simple kind of turtle the painted turtle
i have 2 (i don't have them with me now they are at my old
house in the pond,im getting them in the summer after i move
ect ect.)
Im planing on getting maby anotehr kind as well.

Ali, I don't know much about the so called Red Ear Sliders. All I know is that they don't get all that big, 6 inches should be almost mature size. They tend to be a bit nippy when they get older. Here is the link to Austin's Turtle page, its basically the main info page that goes with the turtle forum.....

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/

Its named after Austin, the son of moderator and founder Tom. Its a nice crowd over there, and as I found out, quite a few of them are from Central Florida.
On the main page is a link to care sheets, and there you can find anything you wonna know about the RedEar Slider....
I gotta warn you, once you are hooked, you are hooked. But then again, you know that already!
BTW, the most expensive tortoise I ever saw was at a show in Daytona last August, it was a dollar coin sized Albino African Spur Theigh for 12.000!!!$
The parents get up to 400 lbs or so, but a baby already being that expensive..WOW!!
Enjoy reading, and ask away!

Oh my!!!! My red eared slider was about 12 inches by 9 inches when I had to finally give her away to someone with a pond! Her name was "Squirt" because when I got her she was tiny. Then she got huge and layed an egg, so she got nick-named "Big Mama." Big Mama was in no way shape or form small!!!!!!!!!! And any turtle will nip at your fingers if they think your fingers are food! They don't try to snap, they just think your finger is a worm or something.

Like Ranchugirl said, turtles are dirty, dirty creatures. Why do we fall in love with the 2 most dirty pets in the world? <_<

To be quite honest, I've never remotely cycled my turtle's water. I've been itching to test it just out of curiosity, I can only imagine. He gets tap water...he's fine with it. I've had him since my 13th birthday and if he's lived this long, I've got to be doing something right. Just make sure that you have a heat lamp for your turtle to bask under (or it gets alot of sunlight, if it's outside).

Good luck with your new pet!

Heather, I think those two somewhere along the time line shared the same ancestors!

I'm tellin you! When I first started up my tank, my mom told me, "oh no, not goldfish, they're so dirty." I was used to that from the turtles. Oh, and by the way, I've sucked her into the goldie world now. At least my dog and bettas (and even my boyfriend) are *somewhat* clean.

When it comes to house training, goldies are not the pets I would think of! But its good, the more people you suck into the adddiction, the less resistance you encounter when getting new tanks or fish!

No you don't have to cycle their water. I put dechlorinator in it just in case in bothers them. Make sure your turtle doesn't overheat if you leave it in a rubbermaid container out in the Texas sun. It's water should be fairly deep in that case, or make sure it has a cool shaded area to retreat to. Of course they have to have a land area to bask on. I agree with Fi5hkiller that Red-Ears can get quite large.

They are fun pets. I've always liked keeping them in aquariums (their own aquariums) because it's fun to watch them swim from a side view. They stand on their hind-legs on the bottom to rest, it's so cute.