Taking on a pet requires a certain level of commitment. For the most part, you will be responsible for the safety and well-being of another creature. Taking care of a turtle is no easy task. Choosing from among the types of pet turtles will entail careful thought. You will want to select a pet whose lifestyle can easily fit in with your own way of living. Here are three common types of pet turtles that you can consider rearing.
Box turtles
The box turtle is one of the more popular types of pet turtles that are found practically all over the world. Wherever there are damp, mossy areas, one is sure to find a box turtle inhabiting the land. These types of pet turtles are pretty territorial and are required to stay near their place of birth for their entire lifetime. As a matter of fact, if you try to remove a box turtle to another area half a mile from where it was born, it acquires the tendency to systematically search for its former habitat. It may not be able to find its way back to its old home but it will spend most of its life looking for it. This is one of those types of pet turtles that you will want to be cautious about because you need to create a living environment that is very similar to its old habitat. A box turtle is omnivorous so it can live off of insects, berries and various types of food products. They are ideal pets for people who live in the country because it is easier to recreate their natural habitat.
Slider turtles
Among the many types of pet turtles, sliders are probably the most controversial due to the salmonella scare in the 1970's. Apparently, young children have contracted the disease due to improper handling of slider turtles. However, through the years, these types of pet turtles have managed to redeem their popularity as they have always been known to make excellent pets. A slider can grow up to eleven inches long so you will probably need to replace your tank if you started with a ten-gallon aquarium for a baby turtle.
Slider turtles naturally live in swampy areas that have lots of mud such as shallow ponds and lakesides. These types of pet turtles love to bask in the sun for hours and are typically omnivorous. However they tend to minimize on their intake of meat as they grow older. You can try feeding your pet live goldfish, worm cubes and food sticks. It's also a good idea to feed it lots of lettuce and other types of vegetables.
Painted turtles
Painted turtles are probably the most beautiful types of pet turtles because of their colorful markings on their shells. The turtle usually has a dark olive to black skin color combined with red and yellow stripes on its legs and neck. It usually comes with a smooth carapace and can grow up to ten inches in length.
These types of pet turtles are generally aquatic. Compared to other species, they are a bit more complicated to take care of because they have specific habits that you need to take note of.
Copyright (c) 2008 Steven Magill
You might have, and be wondering what's so strange in that, after all your college roommate had a pet cockroach. Then there was that guy who had a pet frog. Really none of these are strange in and of themselves because different people are drawn to different things, but I still found it strange when I heard that some people had pet turtles.
I was intrigued and went down to my pet store to find out what about these little creatures was so fascinating. Absolutely nothing. The one that I saw did absolutely nothing for the half hour that I spent staring at it. A pet store clerk wandering over to me asked me if there was anything that I needed. I smiled and shook my head. I certainly didn't want one of those!
The clerk sidled closer and asked again if I didn't need anything. Probably he was wondering what I had been doing for half an hour in the pet store staring at a turtle if I didn't want anything. The light finally dawned on me and I lifted my head from my intense contemplation of the pet turtles in their display cabinets and gave the clerk a sheepish smile.
Telling him the reason that had led me here in the first place I waited for him to give a look of superiority which would firmly put me in my place, but I was to be pleasantly surprised. The clerk gave me a grin and told me quite frankly that at first he hadn't been able to understand either why people took for their pet turtles.
Then he took me over to a side case that wasn't as visible to the whole room and indicated that I should bend down, which I obligingly did. Imagine my astonishment when I was confronted by a large confined area in which there was a big turtle. This chap, as the clerk told me, had been abandoned after its owner had passed away a short while ago. The family had brought it over here because they knew the owner and knew that he could be trusted to look after it.
This then was why people bought pet turtles. The sheer majesty of the creature awed me, and I was struck speechless. This fellow had been around for a lot longer than even I had been. I now understood the compelling pull that made people to get pet turtles. There was nothing in a dog or cat, to beat the turtle.
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