What Do Water Turtles Eat?

Have you ever seen water turtles? You know how it is? It is a very small pet that you must keep with certain care or that you must teach your children to keep your water turtle in a cool place, away from the sun and how to feed them.

The lovely water turtles

They are cold-blooded reptiles , and you can have them in your home in a glass space filled with water where they do very well, as long as they are maintained in the place where you have located them, they are also ideal for motivating your children to be responsible.

You usually find them in pet stores, you can also ask for advice and instructions on the care they should take so that they don’t suffer so much and you don’t end up frustrated because at some point you had a bad time with them.

What do you need:

• The quality of the water you use must be optimal.
• Filters to keep the place where you have it clean.
• Thick sponges to retain debris.
• Gentle stream of water that relaxes them.
• Change the water at least twice a week.
• Oxygenate the water to keep your turtle healthy.
•  A dry part for the turtle to rest.
•  Shade and a resting place. Sand at the bottom for when they want to hide.
• Feed him according to age.
• Take them to the vet at any alarm signal.
• Never disturb them.

Instructions

Water turtles are very small animals that easily adapt to any environment where they are placed as long as they have enough water to live, although there are well-defined differences between freshwater and marine turtles.

They are reptiles that can live a long time , reaching a fairly old age if they are in an environment with special care that provides them with the opportunity to feel happy thanks to the maintenance of the habitat where you have them.

They are docile, although if they feel threatened or bothered they feel the need to bite, this being very dangerous as well as painful because when they catch they usually take time to release your prey, what you should not do is force them, since they will press harder. Do you find this interesting? Keep reading.

How to take care of a water turtle:

1. Shape of the turtle the water turtle has a long neck that they extend when they want to observe everything in addition to experiencing the place where they are, especially if it is a new habitat or simply to defend them and attack if they feel threatened by any agent.
2. They live in and out of the water. These pets have the particularity of having lungs to breathe when they are out of the water as well as a kind of gills that allow them to live in the water or to hide from their enemies, although in the accommodation for your turtle that you choose must have water and pat dry.
3. They need to breathe air from time to time. When they have been submerged for a long time, they must have a dry place where they can go out for a moment to breathe fresh air, because although their name says that they are water pets, they also need a dry place to survive or stay dry a time.
4. Special care they do not need much special care, what you should keep in mind is to change the water sporadically to keep their environment free of bacteria or putrefying water due to the residues they leave when eating or the evacuations of the turtles.
   Despite not needing many things, you should take into account the lighting and the temperature of the environment where you have them, since this can provide them with calcium to avoid serious diseases that can cause death and so that they last for many years.
5. The installation of a filter it is necessary that in addition to always cleaning the aquarium or environment where you have them located, you place a filter that purifies the oxygen, the water and everything around it to clean all of the bacteria that can make your turtle sick and in many cases die. If you take care of it, it can last for many years. Water turtles are usually very messy due to the waste and debris that they throw away, so it is essential and you will see it as trite that you change the water, in addition to the clean liquid that you put in, you must remove the chlorine it contains because it is harmful to them.
6. Water temperature they must be at a normal temperature, neither too hot nor too cold, although you should place a lamp in the environment if the climate is very cold where you live, since they need the sun’s rays to warm up and take in the nutrients that they keep healthy at all times. The important thing to keep in mind is that with the lamp that you place them you will have the opportunity to give them artificial sunlight so that they feel comfortable, safe and calm inside the aquarium in which you have them apart from others. Animals.
7. Cleanliness and neatness Turtles are very calm to keep as pets, but when handling them you must clean your hands well with soap and water because, like rodents, they already carry salmonella bacteria in their feces, which can affect your system digestive and give you diarrhea and vomiting. You must pay attention at this point, since handling them can be very dangerous for your health, taking into account that if you wish you can handle them with gloves when you go to do maintenance to the aquarium where you have them.
8. Difficult to open There are family specimens of these larger turtle friends that are edible, but what must be taken into account is that the shell of these pets is attached to their body, which would be difficult to separate at the risk of killing them if you try
9. They do not have teeth Water turtles do not have teeth in their mouth, which is pointed with the upper part a little longer than the lower part, but in spite of this you must take into account that they can bite very strongly. Which can leave you in great pain because they do not easily release their prey?
10. Food Water turtles can eat anything since they are omnivorous, although you can buy special food for them at a pet store and provide them with insects to absorb their nutrients as well as legumes, vegetables and fruits. Do not overfeed them because this can also affect their health, because just like people suffer from different ailments if they are obese, for this you must take into account if they are young, adult or older almost reaching old age. So pay attention to the following:
    When they are young it is enough to feed them once a day every day.
    • When they are adults it is enough to feed them every two days once a day too.
    • When they are already a few years old or are considered old age twice a week twice a day and without leaving excess.
11. Reproduction When you want to have offspring, you must place the male and female together and let nature take its course, these animals are monogamous and a couple can last for years together until one of them dies. That’s why never separate them if you have the male and the female. Mating usually occurs between the 5-6 years of the water turtles, generating a ritual like other animals in which the previous courtship is performed in the form of a dance so that after copulation, gestation takes place, which lasts two months or so. . They are oviparous.

Tips

• You must treat them well if you like this type of pet to have them inside your house, so the care you give them will make them feel safe, calm and happy as if they were in their natural habitat.
• You will think that we are repetitive regarding the water change, since you have been told throughout the entire article, but forgetting about the water change can sometimes bring fatal consequences, so you should always keep this in mind.
• Be aware of providing the food as recommended so that you do not stuff it with food, or otherwise let it starve. If you see that you put something on it and it does not eat it, it does not mean that it is sick; it may be that it is saturated with food.
• Ask any caregiver or pet owner, and even the veterinarian about the needs of food, habitat as well as food and care that you should have with your water turtle, and thus not make fatal mistakes.
• Remember that the lighting and temperature must be consistent both in the aquatic part, the dry part and also the environment that surrounds the habitat of your water turtle so that they feel relaxed and happy and last longer.