Anybody keep turtles ?

Anybody here keep , turtles , what kind do you have ?

I have 3 yellow belly turtles . From what i know in Ireland i have only seen yellow belly and red ear.

I did notice a pet shop in town selling cooters but had them labeled as yellow bellys, which is bad as they have different requirments .

Demonique

I have a red ear, smelly little b*****d.

Cute little fellow though, when the weather is warm he gets to go out in a hard plastic kiddie's swimming pool which is shaped like a turtle

Our man in Havana

I have 6 rescued RES so far & possibly more arriving! I keep mine year round outside - currently in a kids paddling pool but they will move into a large pond with a deep side & shallows so they can easily come out of the water to sun bath - the condition of their shells is much better with natural light.

andrawolf

I have a red ear and i have him 15 years. was thinking on giving him up for a new home but it needs to be someone that knows what they are doing. he lives in side and out. they need the light to grow as well as be healthy:D

dbrock

any one keeping turtles indoors i highly recomend the use of a uv bulb a lot of shops and people will tell you they dont need it but i def recomend you use one,,
we tell all our customers to get one and you be amazed the amount who say another place said it was ok without em and we were just trying to get more money from em

Our man in Havana

Should be common sense that they need uv light - like reps they need D3 to help absorb calcium, but like most things in life some pet shops are just out to make a quick buck! The silly thing is if you give the correct advice you make more money!

I still say they are way better outside, in a pond there is little maintenance needed once the pond is set up correctly with a good filter.

Bex01

I have 2 yellow bellied turtles myself. Yeah they can stink up a storm at times.
Mine are only a few months old but they grow fast enough. I've seen huge ones in some petshops.

cowzerp

i've 2 red eared terrapins and 2 map turtles and none are smell if they have enough water and are cleaned regularly..

Shelli

I have 3 YBS and a chinese soft shell. Love the little guys to death! Would love to get my hands on a snake neck.

Leeby

I've got two YBS and a giant musk turtle. The musk looks like the little wrinkly dude in the simpsons so I named him Hans.

wallzy234

ive got 2 YBS's

lively fellows! very entertaining however one bites when picked up.

wallzy234

Bond-007 wrote:

Should be common sense that they need uv light - like reps they need D3 to help absorb calcium, but like most things in life some pet shops are just out to make a quick buck! The silly thing is if you give the correct advice you make more money!

I still say they are way better outside, in a pond there is little maintenance needed once the pond is set up correctly with a good filter.

turts in a pond in ireland? i think it would be a bit too cold here for that!

Our man in Havana

Tis colder in the UK & they live in park ponds & streams & lakes - they would be a problem to the eco system but thankfully in the wild its too cold for eggs to hatch.

Check out park ponds I am sure you will see turtles. They are hardy & cope with winter just fine. Google it! Mine have been outside for 2 years now & have survived & thrived.

m_stan

We adopted what turns out to be yellow belly turtles. I had no idea what they were until I read this thread and did some google image searching.

No idea what age they are but the bigger one is nearly the size of the palm of my hand. We were told in one pet shop that the females grow to the size of a dinner plate. Any truth in this ?

Our man in Havana

yep they do get BIG which is why I keep mine outside!

dbrock

if keeping turtles out side in a pond a good trick in the winter is to make sure the water is always running to avoid the pond freezing over ,

Shelli

I'm so looking forward to building my new pond for my YBS, planning on a custom built one down the end of the garden, filtered and heated with a heated basking area for winter and a UV bulb too, will have to net it in though to keep the cats and birds away!!

m_stan

Bond-007 wrote:

yep they do get BIG which is why I keep mine outside!

any insight into HOW big and how soon this will happen ? If they are to get really big I'll be wanting to foster them !

wallzy234

in about 5 years they will mature and reach their max size.

girloperfection

I have a red eared terrapin...,when i say terrapin i mean hes the size of my hand, massive thing and vicious. My ex loved it but i couldnt part with it so its still here with me.

m_stan

As I said, I have two small yellow belly turtles. I'm not going to be able to keep them long term. Would anybody be interested in taking them off me ?

Our man in Havana

They can always come to me & join my gang of turtles.