We can assist you in maintaining a happy and healthy turtle that will offer you loads of entertainment for many years.

•  it is always a good idea to ask the pet shop or aquarium where you purchase your turtle what water conditions they keep them at and most importantly what they feed their turtles.

Water condition guide

pH - 7.0 – 7.8

General Hardness - 150 – 250ppm

Ammonia – 0

Nitrite – 0

Nitrate – up to 80 ppm

Before you purchase a turtle you should know…

Before you purchase your turtle you need the right set up to avoid any re-occurring problems and to ensure your turtle has a long and healthy life.

A turtle will not stay small, so you need to consider a decent size tank, even a custom made tank to suit your home and style, without wasting any space.

Always keep in mind your turtle will eat a lot and then, of course, will be very messy about it so your choice of filtration is vital.

A canister filter is always a great choice and will save you a lot of time and money compared to a small internal filter unit.

Your water will also need to be heated for your turtles comfort. Between 22 and 25 degrees Celsius is ideal. Thermostatically controlled heaters are available and a heater protector is vital so your turtle does not burn itself.

Your turtle will also need some kind of platform in the tank so they are able to come out of water to absorb UV from your UV lighting. Turtle platforms or docks can come in latex, solid foam, glass coated with gravel or a flat log or something similar suspended at water level. This is extremely important for your turtles shell health and to help them digest their food.

Above the turtle platform a basking lamp should be safely fitted to keep the basking area warm and entice your turtle up out of the water. These lamps are available in clamp style fitting that will attach on to the side of most tanks. Reptile basking lamps with fans fitted are not suitable at all.

Lastly your turtle needs to have UV to keep its shell hard and healthy and to help it digest and function properly. To simulate the sun a regular aquarium light reflector with a UV tube is all that's needed. The UV tube should be between 5.0 and 8.0 % UVA and should emit both UVA and UVB.

Handy hints in regards to lighting…

UV does not penetrate glass and most plastics so this should be replaced with a screen top of some kind.

It's a good idea to ensure there is a ‘cold spot' in the aquarium as this will enable your turtle to regulate its body temperature and get away from the ‘hot spot' if required.

Ceramic globes should be safely fitted with a globe cover to protect against the turtle.

Black lights are not to good for UV supply. They do not produce penetrating UV.

Along with the correct heating, lighting, filtration and water conditions, calcium supplements are vital for good turtle health.

Dusting food products or stuffing them with the appropriate amount of calcium is great or even using calcium additives in the water or administered orally if needed.

Setting up your turtle tank as described above and letting it run in for about 3 – 5 days, then bringing in a water sample for us to test is the next step to getting your turtle!! It is important that your water conditions are perfect before you put your turtle in.

To make sure your turtle retains good health water conditions are best kept naturally good as possible.

A turtle in dirty surroundings with insufficient heating, UV and food sources has a very poor chance of survival.

FEEDING

A large feed should be fed once a week, with small feeds fed every or every second day.

Avoid feeding heavy foods such as liver, beef-heart and minced meats (eg. Steak). They are too high in fat content and protein and can lead to an unhealthy turtle.

Always remove any uneaten food to avoid fouling the water.

FOOD SUGGESTIONS

Whole fish, prawns, mussels, fish dinner mixes (all available frozen)

Mealworms, crickets, roaches, various insects (all available live)

Mud eye, yabbies (claws removed) (not wild caught)

Lettuce leaves, elodea, veggie matter (peas, zucchini)

Pinkie rats and mice (frozen and thawed)

Live fish (neon tetras, small barbs, guppies, goldfish)

Dry food (turtle pellets, shrimp)

It is extremely important to never feed your turtle yabbies that have claws. If you do the yabby may cause damage to your turtle.

It is always good to try to purchase a turtle that eats a variety of foods, especially dry food. It makes it a lot easier to keep them healthy if they are not too fussy!!

SALMONELLA

In a few cases, people who have handled their turtle and not washed up properly after have contracted salmonella poisoning.

This is extremely rare and like with any animals, before and after handling, you should thoroughly wash your hand with warm soapy water.

HEALTH ISSUES

The following problems can occur when your turtle is not cared for correctly:

-Respiratory infections

-Growth stunting

-Swollen eyes

-Shell rot

-Soft shell

-Fungus

-Shell infections

-Parasites

-Scratches

-Bites

-Worms

Should your turtle show any of the above symptoms or start to act ‘funny', feel free to bring in a water sample for a free water test or contact a vet.

Please call us for details of vets who specialize in reptile care.

TIPS

Always keep an eye out for unusually flaky or slimy skin on your turtle.

FREE water testing is available 6 days a week at Rayonne Aquarium.

Canister or inbuilt filtration is always great for turtle tanks.

Even if you start with a tiny baby turtle, it won't stay small for long, so consider a decent size tank. 4ft + is best.

Due to aggressive feeding behaviour, try to keep similar sized turtles together.

The less you have to handle your turtle the better. Never leave your turtle unattended outside, they are amazing diggers and climbers and they are super fast. Turtles are fantastic escape artists.

Always use water ager or chlorine eliminator to remove chlorine and heavy metals when using tap water in your tank.

SUMMARY OF GENERAL CARE

•  ¼ water change at least once a week, siphoning substrate to remove waste.

•  Feeding, 1 big feed and then snacks every day to other day.

•  If no timing device is been used, heat lamps 12 hours a day and UV 4 - 6 hours a day.

•  Clean filtration regularly, once a month is good.

•  Enjoy

**if you need to transport your turtle at any stage, place your turtle in a dark box covered with a lid, lined with newspaper. Do not leave them like this for longer than 6 hours.

**all information in this care sheet is a guide only. This information has been compiled from many reliable sources and from our extensive experience in animal keeping. We cannot take any responsibility for an animals health after it is out of our care, but we do take the utmost care of our animals and will not sell an animal that has an obvious health issue or that does not feed to our satisfaction.

Please understand that there are many ‘correct' ways of caring for your animal depending on personal experience.