Painted Turtle Setup

Check out this link to some care sheets on them. They should help answer all your questions. I use to keep and breed Midland and Eastern Painted Turtles but they lived outside in a pond. If you still have a question after that I'll be happy to help you out.

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheets.htm

Liquid_Pyro said:

Hey!

My brother recently rescued a Canadian dollar sized painted turtle from a pool and would like to take it in as a pet. I am quite familiar with aquariums as I have 5, but turtles are not my specialty. Been reading the internet for a bit this evening but I still have a few questions.

1) Do I need 2 types of lighting? Or do they have combined ones that are just as good?

2) Can the water be any depth? Alot of sites recommend a fairly shallow tank why is that?

3) How long should the lights be on for in a day?

4) What should the basking spot ground be made of if I were to make a wooden climb out area?

5) Do they prefer their food placed in the water or on land?

6) How fast should it be growing if all its need are met?

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You will need UVB and UVA lights they do hav some that are combo lights. Usually pretty expensive ($79) although recently I have seen a maker out there that are offering some a little cheaper. Not sure how long they last. The problem is if you have to increase or decrease the basking light it is easier to do it and cheaper with the two lights verses the combo lights.

The depth is usually the size of the turtle length, but I don't see why it can't be deeper. In the wild they are found near the river banks but I'm sure they swim out further as well.

The lights should be on about 12 hours a day. Some people will decrease the amount the lights are on during the winter months when they are less active.

I wouldn't recommend the wood ramp because they may rot in the water and tend to get real slimy when algae grows on it. I would use a large rock. It would be easier to clean as well.

They need to have their food in the water. No matter if it is pellets, crickets or greens.

How fast they grow all depends on the each individual turtle. Just like humans one 14 year old boy can be 5'2" and another can be 6'0.

I hope that this answers some of your questions. I have a midland map turtle that I have to release back into the wild. Someone dropped it off at my work and it is wild caught. It is so temping to keep him but I think it will be better off back where it came from.

Liquid_Pyro said:

Hey, yeah the care sheets are not too specific, as to how longs lights should be on

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12 hours on, 12 off is good.

What are you feeding it? I would start it on a good type of pellet food like Reptomin. Remember that it's growing so it will need lots of foods that have calcium and protein in them. You can also feed it earthworms, aquatic insect larvae, thawed shrimp and fish fillets. As it gets older you can try to feed it more veggies.

I think reptomin is probably one of the best turtle foods out there. I have been using it for 10 years and I love it! I would also like to point out that too protein can cause pyramiding of the shell.

RisiganL. said:

I would also like to point out that too protein can cause pyramiding of the shell.

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Good point. Just make sure to not over feed and this usually helps to avoid the problem.