Advice needed on terrapins

lauraww

Hi there I'm thinking about getting a couple of terrapins, could someone please tell me how much the terrapins cost?and how much does a decent terrapin tank cost?and finally how much monthly or annually to keep the tank heated?thank you

HorseSea

Don't! That would be my advice, I kept them many years ago. I didn't want to buy the little tiny things you'd see in pet shops, they are supposed to be carriers of salmonella, so I was looking out for larger ones and eventually found two in London for sale! Overnight boat and train, tube to Roman Road, out to the suburbs to visit an aunt, train and boat back to Dublin that night - the things you do when your a teenager with mad ideas. Anyway one was about 4 inches across and very cranky, always trying to bite you and the other about 6 inches across. About three days later there was a small ad in the paper looking to rehome 2 large terrapins from a family that was emigrating. I wished they'd gone a week earlier and saved me a trip to London, anyway I got them too.

So I had four large terrapins in a 5 foot tank. They are extremely noisy, banging around and extremely dirty. I used to feed them salmon and tuna frozen in ice blocks of orange juice (vitamin D for their shells). You should have special lighting in the tank too.

Only positive I would say was they were characters and would go nuts when you were coming with the foot, they would smell it from 20 feet away. Funny to see them go mad for it, but that wears off and the tank and filters still need to be changed very regularly and that's not so amusing.

After a couple of years a family friend took them, tank and all for their kids, I was glad to see them go. They continued to grow and when their kids tired off them they couldn't find another home, they even tried the Zoo - the bird house there used to be full of them on the floor, Peter Wilson was the director at the time and I asked him would he take them and he said he would if he had to, if there was no alternative, but they really didn't want any, never mind 4 more. Not sure what happened. But I always wondered what the Zoo did with all theirs and they suddenly all disappeared.

They are not good pets - honestly, don't.

lauraww

Thanks for your advice,I don't think I'll get them now.