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Re: i could be making a mistake

Subject: Re: i could be making a mistake
by longhairedgit on 2007/11/10 2:03:18

The others are talking sense, another turtle combined with the other you already have will further help your tankwater turn into gravy if you havent sorted out a filter yet. In addition, should you buy a female to go with the male, and she become gravid, you as yet dont have the facilities for her to lay eggs, and if she retains them as is quite likely without having anywhere to dig a nest, she will probably die.

The plants though, perhaps they might help freshen the water a little, but choose floating species because the turtles tend to dig anything else up. Plants are usually a bit of a waste of time in a turtle tank.

Be best to spend your money on a filter for now, or get some cuttlebone or calcium rich foods for your turtle. When you have fully mastered the care and read a good book about turtle care, only then go for another animal.Helps to be able to handle one and know as much about the species as you can before taking on another.
Long necks and snake necks can be aggressive around other turtles, even though other species may be more powerful. To another more predacious turtle, that neck is a tempting target.

I know its always tempting to take on more animals but you really should get the care right for the one you have and read up on the potential difficultiees of managing the different sexes before having another. Turtles have individual personalities, and if the budget is limited , you dont want to risk them not getting on. You wont have the cash for another suitable enclosure.

At one time I had to manage a consingnment of 200 adult turtles rescued from a dredged pond at a closing down wildlife park, and they were fighting and had to be segregated into compatible groups. In the few days it took the turtles to get to me many of them already had major limb and neck wounds where the males had been hassling the females in close quarters. 30 of them at least needed topical wound cleansing and antibiotic injections, most of them females.

You have to know your species before trying different species of turtle in with yours, yours is a special species, its not like just mixing sliders and cooters and that requires a good deal of reading. If for example you bought diamondback terrapins ,large adult specimens of carnivores or other species like snapping turtles and softshells your tank could have some real issues and your nice male turtle could be killed. Turtles arent above predating or territorially victimising closely related species.

Id concentrate on getting your turtle as happy as possible first. You obviously have a few issues with sloughing and water pollution that need addressing first. Adding more turtles now will make things worse.

Well cared for, your turtle may still be around when you are in your forties or fifties, so you have years to plan something really good.Youre eleven at the moment, and it takes a good few years to become a turtle expert.

Give it some time to be solid on all the concepts of keeping before you get more, or turtle keeping could turn out to become something of a regret for you later in life.