I bought an elevated loft for my turtle but the bracket for my light won't extend that high. So can I take that light off the hanging bracket and set it on the metal ceiling of the loft?

It's the thrive turtle loft, specifically.

Hello! I need some advice, yesterday i got a yellow bellied slider from my dads coworker, they said she’s about 14 years old, she’s a pretty big turtle, she’s still very nervous and they said she gets scared being handled for too long, i wanted to know how long they’re able to be out of water and what i could do to try and bond with her or make her feel a little more comfortable or maybe get her used to being handled :)

edit: i really don’t know much about turtles, my dad told me his coworker said no one wanted anything to do with her and i felt awful and i wanted her to be in a house where she was loved and taken care of. everything she has in her tank now if what she came with..her heaters aren’t working too well and we plan on getting her a new one soon

One of my babies playing peekaboo :) she has the prettiest eyes 🩶

By Far Cutest Pic I have of my Little Red eared slider Penny 🐢

I have spotted this on my turtles foot and look for advice if it could a fungus or something And what I should do about it

Hey all,

My baby musk is doing great in his little home but he’s mostly eating fish food, so I’m wondering how long this can continue.

He is currently in a 20g tall, he has a basking light and rock, uvb light, and some LEDs for plant growth. I have live plants in the tank and some guppies as well. I also have bladder snails. I am going for the naturalist setup here, and he will be moving into a larger tank when he grows a bit. The water quality is very good, filtration is good, it’s very clean and everything seems to be going very well thus far.

Now that that’s out of the way, I have only rarely seen him eat turtle pellets and he LOVES the guppy food I use for the fish. I am adding fluval bug bites for tropical fish. They are tiny little balls that sink slowly and the fish and turtle go to town on them. Is this going to be okay for a while since it’s bugs anyway, which he can eat?

I also have used Mazuri aquatic diet but it floats and he never comes to the surface to eat. The Arcadia turtle diet is AWESOME—it sinks and slowly rehydrates and the ingredients are excellent, the fish nibble on them as well. But I have only seen him go for the turtle pellets a handful of times. Same with bloodworms.

He just loves the fluval bug bites!

Any advice is welcome. I am not really interested in removing him from his tank just to feed. I want to keep his habits as naturalistic as possible. I know he will eventually gobble some fish and snails which is fine, but I’d really like to get him eating more turtle pellets.

Hello! I posted this on r/snappingturtles but have not yet received a response.

I am a new common snapping turtle owner, and my little guy Brad arrived yesterday. He is doing quite well, and super fun so far. I do have a question on his tank setup to ask all of you. He is currently in a 40 gallon, with bare bottom, basking rock, smaller sized rocks, plants, heater, filter, etc... I am going to rearrange it a bit today, make it a little more personable for him. I was wondering, is it okay to use a sandy substrate on the bottom of the tank? (I have gotten a ton of hate saying that I have done no research on snapping turtles, which is incorrect. Yet, on the topic of sandy substrate, all I seem to be able to find, is VERY mixed answers). Some say absolutely use substrate, some say to always leave the tank with a bare bottom. Thank you for your time!

Seriously no matter what I do besides well lifting the tank and pouring it out Icant get this stuff out

Was skeptical about this purchase but did it. Since buying this calcium cube, the water is clear and my turtles are much more active. The only concern I have is although I keep the appropriate dosage as described on the instructions label and their website, https://zoomed.com/dr-turtle-slow-release-calcium-block/

I fear that maybe too much calcium can have negative consequences? Does anyone have experience with this brand? Or possibly other brands of calcium? Have you had any issues of too much calcium? Not a brand affiliate.

Thanks!

I just want to start by apologizing for everything I’m about to say in this post.

I work at a school with a yellow-bellied slider that used to live in a small stone pond. There were no options for basking, and the only food provided was basic turtle pellets. Until about three months ago, I had no idea the turtle even existed until I happened to walk past a small plastic tub filled with dirty, murky water. I asked what was in it, and I was horrified to learn that the poor turtle had been put there because the pond had gotten too dirty and had become too much of a hassle to clean out.

Seeing the turtle in that state absolutely broke me. I couldn’t bare to leave it in that tub, so resorted to moving it into a small rodent cage (roughly 45-50 cm by 35-40 cm) as a temporary solution. The cage doesn’t allow the turtle to get out of the water to bask and dry its shell, I did add a small tray as an option for it to climb out and bask, but it refuses to use it. The only time it leaves the water is when I clean the tank and let it roam around. Otherwise, it just swims around in cold water, alone. It’s heartbreaking, and I know the little thing is likely depressed.

Right now, the water is only about 10 cm deep to keep the tray from submerging, but at this point, I’m wondering if I should just remove the tray entirely and fill the tank higher so the turtle has more room to swim. The problem is, I’m really at a loss for how to improve its quality of life. The school caretaker has refused to help, and I can’t afford to buy a proper tank or set up a better environment for it. As for food, I’m still feeding it turtle pellets, with occasional dried shrimp as a treat, but I’m worried it’s not enough. Again, the problem is that since the cage does not have any basking options and the turtle barely gets any time to wander around outside of the water, veggies aren't really an option as they end up sitting there in the water since the turtle shows absolutely no interest in them.

I just feel stuck and don’t know what else I can do. Any advice or suggestions would be really appreciated. And yes I understand that the best option would be to remove it from the school completely and give it away to someone who can care for it properly and knows what they are doing. However, that is proving to be rather difficult as finding someone where I live seems near impossible.

I put in a new 25W UVA + UVB lamp and now my turtle keeps scratching, can this be caused by it?

He's been almost constantly scraching, something seems to really irritate him. I dont se signs of shedding

They don’t mind basking when someone is in the room as long as you’re still and relatively quiet. but as soon as you move, such as get up off the couch or exit the room or enter the room, they jump off of their rock. Will they stop doing this eventually? It’s been one month.

I have a RES, not sure age, adult though, I feed it every 3 days (so 2 days gap in between each feed). Noticed that there is a lot of poo (not A LOT, just maybe like 3 solid droppings) the day after a feed but even in between feeds, my turtle will let out a tiny amount of solid poo (usually I will find it and clean it each morning, she doesn't seem to poo during the day). Wondering if that is normal. I've had her for about 3 years now and has been doing fine in all other aspects!

I got him a little over a month ago as a present and his shell was like this I figured if it was shed it would have come off by now he’s super active and loves to eat and swim so he seems healthy otheriwse im just a little worried, any advice appreciated! Thanks in advance

So i currently have a juvenile common snapping turtle. My dream turtle is an alligator snapper so I do plan on getting one eventually. Now besides the enclosure having to be pretty large would it be possible to house both species together??