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My oldest daughter has loved turtles and has wanted one for a long time. Today I happened to find a nice turtle tank se up...the funny thing is that it's local pickup about 10 minutes from where my kids live.

It's a 15g tank that can hold 5g of water. Are there turtles readily available for that size tank? Does anyone know of sites online that sell turtles? Is caring for them difficult?

I got my oldest son into fish, he's now cycling a 20g I bought him; another daughter has a 10g and yet another is waiting for warmer weather so her Uncle Milton's ants can be shipped. I must really drive my ex crazy

Thanks for any info

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

My LFS has some red-eared slider turtles in a palaudarium (sp???) type set-up like you are describing. Here is a link on that turtle:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=17&cat=1797&articleid=2613

Not sure where to purchase online, but maybe a google search would be fruitful.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Not really something you can keep in a 15 indefinitely. We used to recommend an absolute minimum of a 20 long for a red ear slider or a painted turtle. If you can find a set up with all the equipment (water heater and heating lamp, UV lamp, land platforms, filtration, etc) at a reasonable cost, go for it. Usually the biggest factor keeping people from keeping turtles is the (very high) cost of a setup for them. A lot of people lost interest when I was working at the pet store when they found out how much it would cost.

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I agree with super, a 15g is just too small. Also, they're illegal to sell commercially with a shell diameter of less than 4". May not sound like much, but that takes up a 20L in no time at all, i feel it's too small even for a specimen of that size. These guys can get upwards of a foot in size, and nothing less than a 75 is needed for a pair, IMO.

You might as well prepare now and get a large tank if you're looking into it. A breeder style tank is usually what i recommend, as they give much more surface area than a 'standard' size tank of the same theoretical volume. You CAN obtain small specimens about the size of a quarter or 50 cent piece but you'll have to look around. The only way to get them that small here is to buy it off the street in NYC or online from out of state, in bulk. I remember caring for 50 little quarter sized turtles, they were so cute!!

Anywho, red eared sliders aren't the only available option, but they're usually the most readily available. Other common turtles are african sidenecks (really cool, actually), painted turtles (not so much aquatic, but a moist woodland type setup) and map turtles (really neat, but tough to take care of).

As super stated earlier, there is a lot that goes into the proper setup of a turtle, and one must be devoted to their care as they can get really sick and suffer. Ask yourself if you're prepared for a long term, high care animal that will require a large amount of space and higher maintenance costs. The UV lighting will need to be replaced more often than regular aquarium bulbs, as the UV emitted by these specializied reptile bulbs diminishes quickly.

I'm sure you can handle it as you're quite the super mom, but just wanted to warn you first!

i just know that my turtle which was a RES (that died last july) it was stunted and was about maybe(cant 100% remember) but about 12 inches long and was about 10 years old female. i had it in a 75 long, and with reg water changes it should be good.

so i dont think a RES is a good idea, are their any soft shell turtles that are small? my uncle has a couple illgal ones, but they may be stunted.

Wow, I had no idea...... When I see these Red Eared Sliders they are SO small. I guess these things need to be researched just like fish.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

If shes not dead set on turtles, it may be good to look at the tortoises.

The russian and greek are about 6-9" and the Cherry Head Red Foot hits about 12"

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

Probably worth picking up a few care guides beforeyou choose a chelonian pet, hermans are probably the best in terms of comparative ease of keeping, greeks can be fragile and precise diet balance and brumational techniques are very variable for russians. Also they just plain arent a kids pet,you will have to take responsibility for the finer aspects of its care, and that means a LOT of reading as a bare minimum standard to start with. Basically most tortoises are like lizards etc needing decent uv source, and a decent outdoor enclosure and an indoor vivarium in which they can thermoregulate properly. A balanced herbivorous diet similar to that of a green iguana except a higher calcium requirement and a much lower amount of protien.Its not unusual for experienced keepers to offer a balanced diet including over 20 different veggies , beans, squashes , shoots and grasses plus vitamin supplements per feeding.

Turtles take more labour but much less intellectual input to stay healthy, being much more versatile in the food department , and being easier to correct for minor nutritional difficulties. Its all too easy to cripple and kill a tortoise with incorrect keeping and feeding protocols. A lot of greek tortoises especially rank quite high on CITES listings, and mistreatment can mean prison sentances, as can owning an illegal animal without the propert license, so you need to check into that before you begin. Check out some good sites by the andy highfield tortoise trust and some dietary information by mellissa kaplan BEFORE buying the tortoise.The AFH has also published some excellent info on tortoises, and the TFH book in mediterranian tortoises is unusually good for a cheapish book.

A quick note on the moral side...

Many species are also becoming sufficiently rare that the pet trade can seriously affect their survival as a species, so make sure you get the right species for you, preferably captive bred, and from one of the more common species. Even one of the more common terrestrial box turtles could be good choice.Lastly dont forget that this type of animal must be cared for throughout its life, and ultimately it might outlive you by a great many years if properly catered for.A lot of people no longer consider tortoises as suitable pets full stop- a lot of them are that threatened , and the pet trade has caused the death of more than 30 million tortoises since the 1970's. Thats more than all the tortoises alive in the world today by some 30 times! Bearing an mind most of those tortoises would be alive today because of their longevity, and would in fact be at peak breeding age the massive impact of the pet trades exploitation of these species is all too horribly clear.

I would recommend anyone to adopt a tortoise over buying one, at least that way you can be sure the tortoise will be getting proffessional assistance if needed, and in a way it will alleviate some of your resposibility for it.Many people like myself believe that tortoises are now sufficiently rare to warrant keeping them out of the hands of first -timers , unless of course they are getting some really good guidance.Most people are entirely unaware of the damage they can cause by mere oversights, and without a significant amount of knowledge, you just wont see the disasters coming.

russians are great pets and I think a 15 gallon would do
I had mine in a 20 long but i took him out to play

I adopted a few russians some years back , and they are more active and personable than a lot of other tortoises, I very fond of them myself, the only thing that concerns me is that some are still being wild collected without accurate monitoring of numbers, so despite having a fairly large distribution , no-one really knows how the populations are doing. Id probably go bigger than a 15 gallon for an adult, tortoises are generally much better off in room size enclosures or sheds and conservatories. I always think its a bit of shame when I see them in proportionately small vivaria. If you let them outdoors for a run for the larger part of the day theres probably no harm in it though. One thing I think is important to bear in mind with tortoises is that obviously they need exercise, but also they are incredibly longsighted, and in the confines of a small vivarium everything seems a blur to them, over the longterm this can obviously lead to a loss of eyesight if they cant focus on distant objects.

I mention this only because I owned a blind testudo graeca which had become so because its previous owners kept it in a large packing case that it couldnt see out of. Also the lack of a nice grippy substrate had meant that the back legs kept slipping outwards and the shell slamming down on them, and after years of this the muscles in his back legs had atrophied to practically useless. The poor little fella suffered a lot in his life and after over two years of trying to strengthen him and correct his problems with steroids, a perfect vitamin and diet regime, spot on temperatures, regular warm baths and muscle massaging, infra red treatments andd the best vetinary help( spent a bloody fortune) etc I ultimately failed and had to have him put to sleep. Unfortunately his abusive first owners already had the best of him , and there was nothing I could do to help him. Heartbreaking really , and all because hed been housed and fed incorrectly.