Turtles - anybody keep them as pets?

Hi ladies,

So in China, it's acceptable practice to keep a turtle or tortoise as a pet. Naturally, as dogs & cats are OFF the agenda, my children want them. They visited an Underwater World as a field trip at school during the week & a few of the kids there bought tortoises. They were absolutely tiny - the shell only about the size of a 50 cent piece.

Maybe I should openly admit, turtles & tortoises are my FAVOURITE ever animal & so I'm quite excited that perhaps we could get one as a pet. :D

I told the girls I would 'think' about getting them one & I will, but I have NO idea what I need to keep one?

I know I will need an aquarium type set up. But do I need one where he/she can swim in water, but also be on land? Do I just use tap water? What the heck do they eat? I don't think I would need a heater, as all the apartments are quite toasty. Heated floors & radiators. All Winter we barely even switched on the heaters, even during snow outside, because the apartments are so warm. Are they solitary animals or should I get 2? How fast do they grow?

My mind is boggling!!!

Does anybody have one? I know that in most Aus states, you need a licence to keep them - so I'm sure they are not a 'regular' type pet - but any info would be greatly received!

Thanks!

Jayne

We used to have a couple. They can just have normal tap water, they need to be able to go in and under the water and also have somewhere to sit out of the water on rocks etc. to keep warm We had a couple of short necks, and we would feed them frozen white fish. We had 2 but I am not sure if they need the "company" or not. You need a fairly big tank - ours were as big as 50c pieces when we got them and bigger than my hand later on. Tank water needs to be kept clean and Ph balanced and you can buy those white thingys that neutralise the water. They were pretty maintenance free but needed regular feeding so if you go away you would need someone to feed them while you are gone. That is all I can think of right now!