I've worked with painted turtles for a while now, I grew up with one. My very first turtle was a baby painted my dad found at work, he worked at a pool company matancing pools and found a baby turtle in the pool Skimmer. Skimmer the turtle lived with me for 22 years. Recently I adopted a rescue turtle. A little 3-4in midland painted turtle. He was the victim of a wild animal atack and is missing both his front feet and his backend and tail was damaged. Bc of the damage to his back end i was worried about the possibility of a prolapse. He's been to the vet and she said he looked okay and was in good heath. But the other day I noticed something hanging out of his butt, imminently inspected him and looked up pictures of a turtle prolapse. Well...turns out it's just his peen. In all these years I've nver seen a turtle penis and I had no idea that's what they looked like. I legit thought my little guy had a prolapse. But no, he's fine, he was just horny.

Hello all! I currently have 2 tanks, one 50 gallon with a few angel fish (among others, but mostly angel fish) and a 30 gallon with guppies (again, among other small fish) and was wondering if there are any breeds of small turtles that I can put with them. I would most likely put it in the larger tank, and if I have to sell a could fish so it’s not so crowded I can do so. I will do proper research to make sure everyone is comfy in their tank if I do get a turtle, but I have never owned one before so I have no idea if it is even a good idea or if there was turtles that won’t just eat all my fish. If anyone has any experience with this, please let me know, and if I need to provide pictures of my tanks I will do so. Thank you for the help

Hello!

My fiance and I have been in a pretty crappy living situation and we finally decided we should leave. We found a beautiful complex that we love and are touring tomorrow. We have not yet asked them about this, but we have 1 cat, 1 bunny, and 3 turtles. The bunny is always in her own playpen space and is not free-roam. The turtles live in an enclosure as well (aquariums) never leaving their areas. The apartment allows up to 2 pets it states on the website (I am assuming cats/dogs), but I am worried that they will completely reject the idea of turtles. As far as the turtles, I plan on telling them I have "aquariums/fish." Any recommendations from those who have been in situations like this and any tips on selling the idea of turtles to a landlord? Hoping for the best because we need this move!

God bless.

I know I’ve been posting here a lot and I apologize for that, but this is my OG turtle, he’s been my pet for over 10 years when a family friend gave him to me, he’s ALWAYS been super interactive and friendly, and splashes, to the point it can actually get kind of annoying 😂 anyways, since I adopted new turtles, I have become more conscious of behaviors and having proper setups for them. Well I have noticed a lot lately since getting UV bulbs and keeping the water as clean and healthy as I can, he actually gets up on the basking rock and he’ll just close his eyes. For long periods of time too. I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily concerned since he always wakes right up, eats , plays , and acts like himself. Does anyone else’s turtle seem to go through long periods of lounging or just being very calm?? Does depression exist in turtles? I wasn’t always a responsible owner , sometimes I’d just put whatever bulb I could find in his lamp, but I have a 75 W lamp on the side with the thermostat and I believe a 100 W on the side without to accommodate the temperature, he was staying under the 75 until I added another medium platform to the side without the 100 and he seems to like it there more. Hell sprawl his legs out and just chill, for hours sometimes. His name is tuff btw 😁 not 100 % sure of his age but I’m fairly certain he’s only grown since I’ve had him. If memory serves right I think he was just a juvenile when he came to live with me.

I noticed my turtles shell was shedding but there is this one spot that worries me. Opinions?

Southern us regions Gulf Coast, hummid hot mild winters maybe 1-14 days a year where it may dip below freezing over night. I have a fenced in 12 x12 area with a plastic 150 gallon in ground pond with a heater and multiple 16"x16" black slate tiles and white tiles and rocks in the area. Pond is near house on East side so direct sunset over the entire area for probably 9am-2pm with partial shade on some of it from trees and home during the other hours. The main basking area is placed where it gets the most sun probably 8am- 3pm. This is the 1st year I have them in this setup a femal red eared sliders and a male peninsula cooter both were local wild rescues. 1 recovered from a pool drain as a baby and the other was found in a garage. Both are full grown dinner plate in size 8+ years of age.

The question is I'm the title does anyone also create any form of habitat outside of there ponds for slider/yellow belly water turtles and if so what works best. I see these types of structures mentioned for land turtles and tortoise but with these types the seem to spend most of the time in water so wondering what is best and or if created do your turtles use them.

So I am a student, and I got a turtle in my home town which my parents take care of.

She is a yellow bellied slider, 4-5 years old(we found her during fishing). We live in eastern europe, so she is not native. She was healthy most of the time, had a really small enclosure which my parents refused to upgrade because of the costs and space (my mom is a hoarder and they didn't want to bother) and she had a good diet, got fed daily with mostly cheese and deli meat in the recent days, before she used to eat shrimp, fish, raw meat (chicken mostly, sometimes pork), bugs and turtle food.

About 3 weeks ago, she stopped eating and became lethargic, my parents thought she started hibernation and didn't care about her enough to take her to the vet since it's costly for a pet. I'm at fault here as well cause I could've made time to commute to my hometown and use some of my scholarship for a vet visit...

I left 2 weeks ago for a school mobility to France and in the meantime, my parents didn't give me updates of the turtle, they said she was just fine, probably hibernating in her enclosure. On my way home, 2-3 days ago, I called them again and asked about her.

Turns out, she started leaking some stinky liquid, they called it rot, she was unresponsive and had dead dried eyes. They left her like this for a week until the smell became unbearable and then buried her. They said they didn't want to bother me during my trip and the turtle was a lost cause too expensive to deal with anyway.

She has been buried for a week now, and I don't know... is there a chance she is still alive? The vet is closed today, and I have no clue how to check for her status, I also ran out of money and they will definitely not help. I want to go home right now to dig her out and check on her, and then go to the vet with her first thing in the morning.

My mum has a terrapin, his lil’ arm is all huge.

Looks like he has been doing’ the dirty. Go lil’ man!

What’s up with him though? Seems to have come on out of nowhere. He’s eating okay, and is moving about alright, but is not using the left arm (front-right arm in the photo).

Mum is worried, and we’ll be going to the vet soon, any ideas what we might be able to do in the meantime, or if it’s serious? :-(

I have a male RES turning 10 years old next week. He lives in a tank containing 200L of water (with basking etc. additionally separate). I am thinking of getting a Fluval FX2 filter (due to lack of availability of some other models), which goes beyond the standard recommendation of handling 2x the volume. We're okay to spend the extra money, and I can only assume it will do an extra good job of filtering, but I am concerned whether it will create issues for him to actually swim, potentially stressing him out.

Link to the filter: https://www.hollywoodfishfarm.co.nz/product/fluval-fx2-canister-filter/

Please let me know if this would be fine, as I want to take advantage of the one-day only sales :)

https://preview.redd.it/me452y1f8q3e1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=adaeaa9771fbe1f927d5c876dd21c0ffa92e59ab

Trying to find good lighting for my red eared slider and just have no idea what's really good and works

Hello, My friend C is thinking of getting a turtle and I’m a bit worried. I’ve personally owned fish and other aquatic reptiles such as newts but never turtles. The tank she has is 150L or 40G but she can’t fill it up all the way, maybe only half can be filled with water. She has talk about ways to maximise the water and basking space though. The thing is we live in New Zealand where only 4 species are available: Reeves, Snake neck, Red Ear and Painted Turtle. From what I know each of these species need a lot of room, not much when they are small but as they grow they may need more. She has talked about re-homing when they get larger or upgrading if she’s lucky. Should she not get any of these? Which one would be best? ( less room needed and grows slower) I know she can care for it other wise, it’s just the tank size I’m worried about. Some places online say that this is more thank enough room for a baby or up until they are 6-12 months and others say it’s not. If the tank isn’t suitable for any species I’ll type talkber out of it or help her buy a larger tank. Thanks :)

Hi, I'm looking to get a turtle but have two main concerns that we'll kinda merge into one. I live in new Zealand where only 4 species are available: snake neck, painted , reeves and red ear slider. The biggest tank I could add to my room is 150L which I'm pretty sure is to small for any of these species, but I just want to double check. Would 150L be okay for the first couple years (2-3) for any of these species?

Tried to take a cute pic of her Christmas decor and her pose is so awkward 😂😂

I’m new to this, do i need a filter? The pump has sponges as filter but that is it. The water is from the tap. I received as donation 2 adult florida turtles 15yo and 1 small 1y Please 🙏 advise

I work at a pet store part time, and we got an African Side-Necked turtle in recently for the first time since I started. I was cleaning the tank, and some water splashed in my eye. I rinsed my eyes out with water and washed my hands a few times and used hand sanitizer after washing them. I’m really unfamiliar with turtles, do I need to be concerned about Salmonella? I was scrubbing algae off of rocks, picked him up and put him in a holding container, etc. Thanks in advance for your patience with my illiteracy on turtles.