Reader Juan shares with us a picture of his hatchling pet red ear slider turtle, Peach. Juan says he misses her a lot…

That is one cute RES hatchling! What happened to Peach?

Leo shares a picture of his two happy -looking yellow belly sliders, Myrtle and Snappy. Here, you can see them enjoying and relaxing in their “turtle spa”:

Leo, from the little we can see, your tank looks impressive!! Hope you can share more pictures of it, particularly of the background and the use of river rocks in the foreground. And your turtles look handsome too!

Juan and Leo, thank you very much for taking the time to share your photos!

To share and have your pet turtle pictures featured here, simply share your pet turtle pictures.

• Benton, the red ear slider turtle
• turtle set-up pictures from Flickr part 4
• Alligator snapping turtle: Chompers

When it comes to buying food though, there are so many brands and choices out there. There are brandnames such as: Exo Terra, Fluker’s, Hikari, TetraFauna ReptoMin, Zilla, and Zoo Med – which are just a few of the biggest, most well-known brands. Amazon.com lists and sells around 30 brands!! (see them here)

Here are some factors as to why some brands might be a favorite:

• cheap
• best nutritional value
• easily available – from LFS or supermarket
• easy to find online
• mixture of ingredients
• and etc…

So, just what is your favorite brand of pet turtle food?
Answer our poll:

Did I miss your favorite brand of turtle food? Have any thoughts to share? Let us know in the comments.

• Do you feed your pet turtles home-made food?
• Survey Results: Do you feed your pet turtles home-made food?
• Do you feed your pet turtle/s live food?

Of all (100% of) voters the following have said that they give their pet turtles home-made food…:

• 22% at least once a week
• 2% at least once a month
• 7% at least every other month
• 4% at least twice a year
• 16% rarely do so
• 53% do not

Looking at the numbers, I was first surprised…. almost half (47%) of turtle owners give their pets home-made food! I thought it would be the rare turtle that had home-made food – it turns out that it is actually more common than first thought.

Looking deeper into the data obtained by the poll, only 22% of pet turtles get home-made food once a week. That’s almost half of all the turtles that do get some home made food, and that makes 1 out of every 5 pet turtle owner that prepares home made food. Much smaller that the 47%, but still more than expected (which was around 5-10%).

I wonder if the 22% of responders have tortoises/land turtles. In my opinion, there are less commercially available food for those species than aquatic turtle species do – which would contribute to a higher chance of tortoises getting home prepared meals.

What about you? Do you have a land turtle or an aquatic turtle? Want to put your vote in? Let us know if you do or don’t feed your pet turtles home-made food.

• Do you feed your pet turtles home-made food?
• Survey Results: Do you feed your pet turtle/s live food?
• Do you feed your pet turtle/s live food?

A Florida summer vacation is a great idea. Spend all day with the kids and family at the pool, zoo or where-ever, then spend hours at the beach at night waiting for sea turtles to emerge.

There are several things to remember when watching sea turtles on Florida beaches (and in other beaches too!):

For sea turtles going to the beach to lay eggs (I’ll explain these further in the future):

• when walking the beach, walk by the water and not further away on the sand
• when you spot a sea turtle, sit down, don’t move
• no flash photos, no regular flashlights

For hatchlings emerging from nests:

• don’t walk around, don’t step on them
• no flash photos, no regular flashlights
• only licensed individuals (and others assigned by a licensed individual) may pick up and handle sea turtle hatchlings

Sea Turtles and Light

Here’s a quick video that explains light issues with sea turtles:

Sea turtle volunteers

In my opinion, the best way to observe sea turtles hatch is to hang out with one of the many volunteers that observe and help sea turtle hatchlings. STOP (Sea Turtle Oversight Protection is the organization that does that in Broward County in South Florida. Be sure to check their website for more info and to support them.

Here’s a video from STOP that summarizes the 2010 season:

my experience

No need to contact any tour company or any specific group, office, or individual – at least in Broward County, South Florida. Just go out on the beach for lots of walking, lots of time waiting on the sand, lots of talk with sea turtle volunteers, tourists (you’ll be one of those ) and others. I spent 1-3 hours every night for a week on the beach. I saw:

• 1 green sea turtle lay eggs
• 4 green sea turtles come up on the beach to lay, but got scared and turned back to the ocean
• 10 loggerhead turtle hatchlings crawl on the beach and dash to the ocean by themselves
• 5 loggerhead turtle hatchlings disorient with building lights, get collected in a bucket and released

Which means I saw a total of 20 sea turtles on the beach.

Something always happened every night, I missed most of them but other tourists and volunteers were always happy to share what happened. A sea turtle can come up to nest or hatchlings may start leaving a nest at anytime during the night so volunteers literally spent the whole night on the beach. Every night.

Anyhow, being able to see sea turtles on the beach (and not in an aquarium) makes all the time spent waiting worth it.

Here’s what I was able to capture with my camera (all the hatchlings are loggerheads):

Three sea turtle species lay eggs in South Florida and they are active on the beach from March to October. Loggerheads usually stop nesting in July, leatherbacks (very rare for the area, I believe there is only 1 recorded nest so far for 2011 and maybe 1 the previous year from what I heard) from May and June, and green sea turtles start at July. The latter part of the season are all hatchlings emerging.

Special thanks and shout-outs to Katie, Mary, Renee, and Mark. They are the wonderful STOP volunteers I met and got to talk to.

• Florida Box Turtles
• turtle summer vacations and activities
• Florida Box Turtles Care Sheet

First up is Tank, a sulcata tortoise:

Tank is the sulcata’s name because, well, it’s obvious: Tank is a tank, armoured, slow, etc.

Next is Neil, a cherry headed tortoise named after Neil Diamond who did the song “Cherry, Cherry”.

Both pet turtles look attractive! Neil’s enclosure looks interesting, based on what we can see from the photo – and Tank the sulcata being able to walk outdoors on the grass is just awesome!

Find other articles about sulcata turtles and cherry heads/red foot tortoises. To have your pet turtle (and general pet reptile) pictures featured, share your pet turtle pictures. Find other reader submitted pet turtle pictures here.

• Grant’s Farm tortoises
• Sulcata tortoise care sheet
• Sulcatta being feed by kids at the NYTTS annual show

So what are some of the best ways to enjoys turtles out in nature in the summer? Here are a few, from specific travel destinations to more general locations…

• Go on a Sea Turtle vacation tour – SEE turtles, through SEEtheWILD provides sea turtle ecotourism adventures to key turtle hotspots including places such as Cost Rica, Trinidad, and Nicaragua. Trips usually last one week…watch sea turtles lay eggs, tour and help researchers, get hands on with sea turtles… looks like a great time!

• Take a turtle walk – go to one of the many beaches where sea turtles regularly lay eggs. Many of these beaches are closed to the public at night and you may need to call ahead to schedule a guided turtle walk. Click here for a listing of Florida beaches with turtle walks. The Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, Florida sells tickets online for their turtle walks and hatchling releases.

• Visit a sea turtle conservation facility – such facilities, usually (but not always are) attached to or partner with an aquarium, usually take in injured sea turtles, rehabilitate them, then release them or collect sea turtle eggs, incubate and hatch then release them. They house many turtles and usually have many large viewing tanks for your visual pleasure. The New England Aquarium in Boston (click here to learn more of some of what they do) or the Georgia Sea Turtle Center in Jekyll Island, Georgia are two examples of such facilities.

• Volunteer with a turtle conservation project – usually an effort to help local populations of native turtles, they do a variety of projects that directly help turtles, raise awareness to the community, study and keep track of local populations. The diamondback terrapin conservation project in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in NYC is one example, this video is another.

• Visit your local aquarium – Most aquariums have one or two sea turtles, usually swimming around in a giant tank with sharks and other large fish. Also, they usually at least have at least one display with a freshwater aquatic turtle on display, a few reptiles, and amphibians too (usually dart frogs). In addition to the usual assortment of various saltwater and freshwater tanks (and planted tanks too!) you can’t lose. Always great fun for the whole family!

• Visit a place with turtles – go to a park or hike to a lake, there are so many ways to enjoy turtles in nature. The desert, woods, etc…. have turtles, although sometimes they aren’t so easy to find and not all places have turtles. if you like turtles, you most likely already know of a few local spots where you can find turtles.

These are just a few examples of wonderful summer turtle-themed activities & vacations and organizations/groups/companies. What are your favorite turtle activities?

• Recovering Sea Turtle
• loggerhead sea turtle taking a breather
• green sea turtle takes a breath

Home-made food can range from washed vegetables or sliced fruit, to cooked fish and other meats. Of course turtles will eat anything, especially if they like the flavor, but just because they eat something doesn’t mean that it’s good for them or that they should eat it.

What do you do for your pet turtles? Do you prepare food for them at home? If you do, how often?

Answer our poll:

Why or why don’t you give your pet turtles home-made food? Let us know why in the comments!

• Do you feed your pet turtle/s live food?
• Survey Results: Do you feed your pet turtle/s live food?
• first time with fish

Respondents that do use feeder fish (as a percent of all respondents) answered:

• 23% goldfish
• 17% minnows / rosy reds / fatheads
• 14% guppies
• 3% platies
• 6% other kinds of feeder fish

Respondents that do NOT use feeder fish (as a percent of all respondents) said that they do not because:

• 7% it’s cruel
• 4% due to health / nutrition reasons
• 3% some other reason/s
• 20% have never tried feeder fish

I also provided an “other” choice for the question, which received 8% of votes. I’ve no clue what the people who said “other” means, since the question is plainly straightforward “Do you use feeder fish for your pet turtles?” and the answer is either yes or no. If you answered “other”, please let me know what you mean in the comments section here.

It’s disheartening to read that almost half of respondents (40%) use feeder goldfish / minnows / rosy reds / fatheads. There is plenty of information out there (such as this: Thiaminase – what it is, why you care) about why they are not a good choice for a feeder fish in that they contain thiaminase, which is detrimental to a pet turtle’s health – unless of course feeder fish is a rare treat and not a diet staple – then a rare small amount is ok. Also, much has been said online (look up any pet turtle forum) about the spiny fins / bones of goldfish and how they are potentially hazardous as they may do damage to a turtles innards as it swallows them. Of course, I haven’t had any confirmation of this ever happening, but better safe than sorry. Also, feeder goldfish / minnows / rosy reds / fatheads are undoubtedly the most commonly available type of feeder fish available, which positively has a huge impact on why their use is so high.

Survey respondents that do not use feeder fish due to health / nutrition reasons, it being a cruel practice, and other are the minority at 14%. Health reasons are an important factor that should not be overlooked. Be sure to feed healthy, parasite/bacteria free feeder fish. Anything unhealthy that a feeder has will be eaten and digested by a pet turtle, so do please use caution.

So, do you use feeder fish for your pet turtles? Want to put your vote in? Let us know if you do or don’t use feeder fish for pet turtles.

• Do you use feeder fish for your pet turtles?
• my thoughts on feeder fish for turtles
• Survey Results: What other pets do you keep with your pet turtles?

(All the images shown below are for products found in Amazon.com, although all the items are easily found in your local mall and retail stores).

• Valentine’s Day gift ideas for turtle lovers
• Top 8 Holiday Gift Ideas for Turtle Lovers
• Last minute holiday gift ideas for turtle lovers

Pet turtles, like all living things, are… well, alive.

They can get sick, catch disease, bacteria, virus, parasites – and they too can have all sorts of health problems. Problems with their skin, eyes, respiratory functions, internal organs, shell, appetite, energy, and so on and so forth. Even though turtles are very hardy creatures, able to tolerate a wide range of conditions, they are not invincible.

Many times, pet turtles, other exotic pets and fish get sick because of the living conditions they are in. In all cases, providing the optimal living conditions for each animal is the key to keeping them happy and healthy. A less than optimal living condition weakens an animals immune system – which makes them more susceptible to sickness and affects a pet’s overall health. All that a pet owner might see is one or two symptoms – and more often than not, they want to treat the symptom and not the root cause.

So what all that really says is that most pet turtle health problems are caused by their owners not providing the optimal conditions that their pet turtles need. In other words, if your pet turtle is sick, first fix their habitat. Usually, their health will begin to improve and the problem is resolved.

The optimal conditions and habitat for a pet turtle

So what is the optimal living condition for a pet turtle? Well, that greatly depends on what kind of pet turtle you have.

There are hundreds of specific turtle species — many of which are illegal to be kept as pets since according to Wikipedia, 48% to 54% of all 328 species are considered a threatened / endangered species — and they each have their own specific needs. It is very important that you are able to properly identify your pet turtle species so that you can find out how to properly care for them. Do a Google search, ask a question online, etc…. The important thing is that a pet turtle is given conditions that are similar to the conditions it has in its natural habitat in the wild. Unless you live in a nature reserve, you will not be able to provide the exact same conditions in your house or yard, but you must provide as much similarity as you can. That is what a pet turtle’s habitat should be compared against (its natural home), and not what one person or yourself thinks it should be.

Generally, pet turtles are either aquatic or land turtles (tortoises). For aquatic turtles, many pet turtles require shallow water and some do better with deeper water. Aquatic turtles require (and this is a general rule of thumb) 10 gallons of water for every inch of shell. That means a 4-inch turtle shell needs 40 gallons of water and a 12-inch turtle needs 120 gallons of water. Many land turtles require a minimum amount of space in terms of square footage – which is why tortoises generally are not great pets for those in small apartment units. There are also many turtles that need both land and water, but in different amounts and depths. Also, many pet turtles require differing amounts of humidity, sun and UVB light (unfiltered sunlight provides UVB), heat, cooling and so on and so forth. Hopefully, this illustrates the importance of identifying the specific species of turtle you have. Find caresheets for your pet turtle and follow them.

And so to end, a pet turtle with a proper habitat setup is a healthy turtle.

There will be times when a proper habitat is provided but a pet turtle still has health problems. These are less common in the pet turtle hobby and a visit to a qualified vet is recommended.

• Where Have All The Turtles Gone?
• Benton, the red ear slider turtle
• no more gravel and a bit about the pet turtle tank setup