Turtles

[little_O]

Dd1 loves turtles. I am thinking whether we should get her one for a pet.

How much work is involved with a turtle? Expenses? How big do they grow? Are they safe to handle?

Anything else I should think about?

[MummyNaomi]

Subbing as DH loves turtles and am thinking of one for his birthday in April. My Brother has one and the kids loved watching the turtle for aaaaaages!

[peanutter]

Licences were pretty expensive when I looked into it.

[Beach Mama]

We had some long necks a few years ago, they were fine to handle, the tank was the same maintenance as a fish tank. Feeding was with frozen white fish and although not difficult not as easy as a few fish flakes for eg. We didn't need a licence in Vic but it was over 8years ago now.

[MummyNaomi]

Little O - did you end up getting one?

[little_O]

No we haven't. I'm getting mixed info online so I am thinking I may need to go to a pet store and find out.

What about you?

[Floweryfields]

Turtle wee stinks to high heaven apparantly - someone had one at work recently and this was the fact I learned lol.

[peanutter]

An old boyfriend at highchool had one (mid 1990s). they fed it a live goldfish about once a week, and bits of frozen meat throughout the week.

I remember him saying that he was supposed to have a licence, but it was a lot ($180 I think) and so they just hadn't got it. They bought it through someone who knew someone who knew someone...

[Joeve]

We have them everywhere around here! Silly things love crossing the road so I rescue them and plop them where they are heading. I rescued one out the front the other day and walked it all the way down the back to our dam. DH then said what if that's where it came from? It probably just spend 6 weeks getting to the road out the front and now you've put it back rofl!
Anyway point of my post is that yep they can be a bit a smelly but I have not ever encountered an aggressive one

[Astrid]

I'm getting mixed info online so I am thinking I may need to go to a pet store and find out.

See if you can find a store the specialises in reptiles and unique pets. Standard pet stores may or may not give out the correct information.
Locally the major pet store reptile "guru" would go into the local specialty store and find out what he needed to know. Sadly this "guru" advised poorly in many cases (UV light for nocturnal reptile). Animals suffered and people were out of pocket being sold the wrong items for their pet.

I will see if I can get some good info for people.

[MummyNaomi]

I'm going to get a 2nd hand aquarium I think. I've done a bit of research online and visited our big pet store the key things I learned where
*Dont get a small tank, 3 ft is the minimum otherwise you'll just need to buy a bigger tank when they grow
*They are pretty cheap to feed, but feed them out of the tank or the tank will get very messy quickly as they are messy eaters
*Tank needs to be cleaned/maintained fortnightly
*Need UV light etc for warmth/light
*can share the tank with little fish (but turtle will likely eat them)



Have been on gumtree and am watching a few atm, I dont want a tank that comes with a cupboard with filter inside as we already have a cupboard to put it on

[~Kim~]

Licence needs are dependent on the state you live in and the type of species you buy. So one that is fine without a licence in one state, needs one in another.
Not all pet shops are licences to sell them either.