Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Want to get musk turtles - advice needed pls

Options
  • 15-11-2010 3:08pm
    #1
    mumof2
    Registered Users Posts: 1,368 ✭✭✭


    Hi there,
    my 8 yr old will be getting musk turtles this christmas, as he has been asking since his last birthday in April!

    Were so looking forward to them, but don't want to rush into it, for the wrong reasons.

    1. Can we leave 2 or three of them together in one tank?

    2. How long can they be left alone for ie feeding wise? We tend to go away once every couple of months for a weekend away, and the turtles could be on their own for a minimum of 2 days.

    Im sure I can find someone to feed them, but its the transporting of the aquarium im worried about to get to the person minding them....

    Thanks for tips.


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    godtabh
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 23,218 Mod ✭✭✭✭godtabh


    Never transport an aquarium with water in it


  • Options
    #3
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,159 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    mumof2 wrote: »
    1. Can we leave 2 or three of them together in one tank?
    I wouldnt get more than two. They are easy going enough but three may get them all territorial.
    2. How long can they be left alone for ie feeding wise? We tend to go away once every couple of months for a weekend away, and the turtles could be on their own for a minimum of 2 days.
    2 days should not be a problem so long as they're well fed and healthy, but any more than 3 and I would get someone to go to them and feed them.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



  • Options
    #4
    mumof2
    Registered Users Posts: 1,368 ✭✭✭mumof2


    Wibbs wrote: »
    I wouldnt get more than two. They are easy going enough but three may get them all territorial.
    2 days should not be a problem so long as they're well fed and healthy, but any more than 3 and I would get someone to go to them and feed them.

    Thats great information thanks very much.
    Never thought that you could leave them for 2 days! :)

    This info has helped make our decision, however am rounding up more info on web and from pet stores.

    Forgot to add this question: Godtabh, thanks for that tip, but now Im really curious, how safe is it to transport turtles on a 90 minute car journey from nearest (reputable) pet shop to home where their aquarium wil be waiting? Do they sell them just like the guppys, ie in a bag of water??


  • Options
    #5
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,159 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    mumof2 wrote: »
    Forgot to add this question: Godtabh, thanks for that tip, but now Im really curious, how safe is it to transport turtles on a 90 minute car journey from nearest (reputable) pet shop to home where their aquarium wil be waiting? Do they sell them just like the guppys, ie in a bag of water??
    Anytime I've gotten turtles they were in a small plastic box with holes at the top and damp moss in the bottom. They're air breathing animals, they're not fish. I'd certainly not transport them in a bag of water. Temperature would be more important. Especially if they're tiny babies. They're quite delicate to sudden temp shocks when young. Set the tank up. With a decent filtration system, not too deep water and a land basking area that they can climb onto easily with a heat source above that. Heat lamp or even a domestic spotlight(not one of those low wat economy yokes). Ask for advice on this from the pet shop. They should know what's what. If they don't I'd be going somewhere else.




    *well not just air breathers but for the purposes of this...

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



  • Options
    #6
    mumof2
    Registered Users Posts: 1,368 ✭✭✭mumof2


    :oThanks, hadn't thought of that on time.....:o

    That was my thinking too to have aquarium, heat and light set up ready to go, then get the turtles.

    Thanks so much for advice.:)


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    Thinspired
    Closed Accounts Posts: 77 ✭✭Thinspired


    If they're baby musks and you're feeding them pellets (the tiny roundy ones) the pellets fit perfectly into an automatic fish feeder which is really handy for when you're going away for a couple of days. I have a juwel one - you just load up the dispenser and programme it to dump the stuff in once a day. I priced them in petshops and they were at least E25, but they start at around E10 on Ebay. Saved me the hassle of getting someone in to do it for me.

    I also found, through experimentation, that if you leave a few crickets stranded on a rock in the tank on, say, a Friday, the turtles will have figured out some way of getting to them by the Sunday. Hunger breeds ingenuity. Not that i condone cruelty to crickets:)


  • Options
    #8
    mumof2
    Registered Users Posts: 1,368 ✭✭✭mumof2


    Yes those automatic feeders could be handy, again depending on what your feeding them I suppose:)


  • Options
    #9
    tallus
    Registered Users Posts: 6,324 ✭✭✭tallus


    I'm not sure if musk turtles are nocturnal or diurnal, but if they are day time active you will also need a UVB lamp to simulate natural sunlight as they use it to convert vitamin D3 to calcium.


  • Options
    #10
    mumof2
    Registered Users Posts: 1,368 ✭✭✭mumof2


    tallus wrote: »
    I'm not sure if musk turtles are nocturnal or diurnal, but if they are day time active you will also need a UVB lamp to simulate natural sunlight as they use it to convert vitamin D3 to calcium.

    Yes, thats been ordered too. Thanks.


  • Options
    #11
    man.about.town
    Registered Users Posts: 312 ✭✭man.about.town


    tallus wrote: »
    I'm not sure if musk turtles are nocturnal or diurnal, but if they are day time active you will also need a UVB lamp to simulate natural sunlight as they use it to convert vitamin D3 to calcium.

    my razor is definitely not nocturnal, very active all day.

    mumof2, if you need some books on keeping musks, i have three books on keeping them that i dont need, there free of course and have very good husbandry guides for musks throughout and one of the books would be good for the kids as its full of facts and pictures


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #12
    mumof2
    Registered Users Posts: 1,368 ✭✭✭mumof2


    man.about.town wrote: »
    my razor is definitely not nocturnal, very active all day.

    mumof2, if you need some books on keeping musks, i have three books on keeping them that i dont need, there free of course and have very good husbandry guides for musks throughout and one of the books would be good for the kids as its full of facts and pictures

    That is very much appreciated!! Thanks so much. sending pm


Advertisement