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What You Will Need to Keep Your Turtle Healthy and Happy

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First and foremost, you will need a large container that will hold water. If you have a baby snapper, a 20 gal tank (preferably 20 gal long) will suffice for a few years. As your turtle grows, you will have to increase the size of... See more » First and foremost, you will need a large container that will hold water. If you have a baby snapper, a 20 gal tank (preferably 20 gal long) will suffice for a few years. As your turtle grows, you will have to increase the size of his tank. When in the market for a tank, take into consideration that your turtle will get bigger and bigger. A full grown snapping turtle could be kept easily in a 100 gal wide/long tank. Since your turtle will need room to swim and turn around, any tank you get should be of the wide or long variety (vs tall). You can actually save money by getting a large tank to start off with. That way you don't have to keep replacing tanks. And no, they don't get bigger because they are in a larger tank. If the size of environment determined the turtle's size, we would have house sized turtles swimming around in the Great Lakes. How deep should the water be? The water should be at least as deep as the turtle is wide, but shallow enough for the turtle to rest on the bottom and still reach the surface by extending its neck. Unlike most other aquatic turtles, snapping turtles spend most of their time on the bottom. If you force your turtle to swim to breathe, it may drown. If your tank is large enough, you can have deeper areas for the turtle to swim and dive in, but make sure it can't become trapped in these areas. Your tank should be set up for easy cleaning, since you will be changing the water about once every other week. As far as what to put in the tank, I suggest large aquarium gravel for the basic strata with pieces of rock and wood. If you decide to place aquatic plants in your pet's environment, make sure they are not poisonous since they will eventually be consumed. Snapping turtles love to dig and hide, so place things in its environment that are easy to get under. Avoid sharp and jagged rocks since your turtle will cut its shell trying to get beneath these items. I have found that hollow logs cut down the middle to form a wooden 'cave' work nice. There is some disagreement over whether or not to put gravel or sand in your tank since your turtle will eventually consume either. But it would be almost cruel to not give this type of turtle something to dig in. That is what it spends a large amount of its time doing in the wild. This is why I recommend large, smooth, aquarium gravel for the strata. It gives the turtle something to dig in and is too large for a small to medium sized turtle to swallow. Look for gravel about the diameter of a penny. You'll need to provide an out of water basking area also. Most snapping turtles won't use it very often, but you should provide one anyway. It only needs to be large enough for the turtle to get entirely out of the water on. Focus a basking light on the area and keep the light on all day. This helps your turtle regulate his temperature. You should also provide full spectrum UVA/UVB light for your turtle. This can be a little pricey but it's needed. Buy a hood that runs the length of your tank. Most large hoods have places for 2 tube lights. The tubes usually cost in the $25 range but can be higher. This in another area where getting the large tank to start with will help save money. You'll only have to buy one hood. Plus, you'll only have to buy tubes when they burn out. The light will help keep your turtle's skin and shell healthy and it aids in digestion. One word of caution, don't get 'nocturnal' or 'black' lights. They put out too much UV light. To keep the water clean, you will need some kind of filter. Look for a water filter that would normally be sufficient to clean at least twice the amount of water if it were for a fish tank. Turtle's produce MUCH more waste than fish and thus need more powerful filters. Also, the more powerful the filter the less often you will have to clean the tank. The filter should use several different types of media, including carbon. My current set up uses a Magnum 350 canister filter and 2 biowheels.The biowheels cascade water down a rocky area at the end of my tank. The canister filter uses filter floss to remove debris See less »

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care, cleaning, turtle

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What You Will Need to Keep Your Turtle Healthy and Happy

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