When looking for a pet, you might think getting a turtle is an easy option. You could believe it requires less maintenance than a cat or dog and is more exotic than a goldfish. As a result of their extended life and high maintenance requirements, pet turtles are more like long-term investments than a pet.
As a result, before you adopt your little turtle, here is a summary of everything you should know about caring for pet turtles.
What is a box turtle?
There are many different species of turtles, but box turtles are one of the most often-kept turtle pets. Box turtles have towering, dome-shaped shells that give them their name and dark skin with yellowish patterns. Adults often reach a height of 6 inches.
Creating a Home for Your Turtle
Based on their habitat, turtles can be split into two groups: terrestrial turtles and aquatic turtles. Box turtles are terrestrial, or land-dwelling, turtles. An outdoor cage with high walls and a top to deter predators is the perfect environment for a box turtle if you reside in a region where the average temperature ranges from 75 to 85 degrees.
Establish a climate-controlled indoor space for your box turtle if you live somewhere colder or hotter. Since they like to dig, make sure your box turtles have plenty of dirt, potting soil, shredded newspaper, or carpet remnants to dig in to keep them happy. Experts at https://turtlecaring.com/ suggest that box turtles also need a certain amount of moisture to survive, so make sure your turtle’s enclosure has lots of rotting dry leaves, damp soil, and a comfortable shoe box or flower pot that it can crawl under to hide or sleep.
Feeding Your Box Turtle
Since the preponderance of turtles is omnivores, they take both meat and vegetation. Box turtles eat a wide variety of things, including slugs, worms, insects, apples, tomatoes, melons, and lush green vegetables. The high calcium and vitamin A content of dandelion leaves make them a healthy addition to the diet of a pet turtle. However, as long as they are pesticide-free, snails are a box turtle’s ultimate favorite diet. When young, baby box turtles eat meat; as they get older, they switch to a more vegetarian diet.
Young turtles should be fed twice a day, aside from occasional munchies. You can feed adult turtles every other day (they prefer to take their meals in the early morning).
Maintenance of Your Pet Turtle
Even though they don’t need to be walked, groomed, or petted as frequently as cats and dogs, turtles nevertheless need a lot of care.
The environment where a turtle life needs a lot of care. Your turtle will urinate in its drinking water; therefore, you must change it out frequently. As a rule, turtles are messy eaters, so you might have to dig rotting fish fragments or food out from under tiny rocks.
Conclusion
Even though they don’t play well with children and can bite if touched, turtles make highly entertaining pets. They need specific care and frequent cleaning. Check out websites like turtlecaring.com to find relevant information on how to care for your turtle.
