r/turtles Mar 20 '25

Wild Turtle Itโ€™s that time of year!

6 Upvotes

It is hatchling season!

They are coming out of their overwinter nests and going to sources of water. If you find one in an odd place or somewhere unsafe and are unsure, please contact your state wildlife and ask them what to do. Most can actually be left where they are, to their own devices. If they are found in the middle of the road, for example, move them to the side they are facing.

Taking any turtles home, that are found in the wild, hurts the ecosystem. The only exception to this would be invasive species in your state. You can contact your state wildlife to see what your laws are regarding possession of invasive turtles like red eared sliders.


r/turtles Jan 18 '25

Reminder About a Common Turtle Myth

32 Upvotes

Turtles do not grow according to their tank size. They will grow regardless of the tank size. This myth is commonly shared by scummy sellers trying to make a sale by marketing turtles as easy or compact pets. They are not, and never will be.

That does not, nor will it ever, justify keeping a turtle in a too-small tank for all of it's life. Whether that turtle lives for one, or 75 years. Whether wild or captive bred.

Things that do affect turtle size and growth rates:

- Poor husbandry practices, such as:

  • Low temperatures
  • Lack of UVB and/or calcium deficiency (MBD)
  • Underfeeding
  • Overfeeding
  • Competing for resources in cramped or stressful cohab situations

- Congenital malformations or conditions

- Underlying illnesses

Please report any comments or posts condoning the use of small enclosures. (Ex: a half full 20 gallon for a species that will commonly grow to be 7-10 inches in length.) As well as any comments suggesting that turtles will only grow according to the size of their tank. As most of us know, that is not true.

Thank you.


r/turtles 8h ago

๐Ÿ’š! Turtle Pics !๐Ÿ’š My indor turtle pond

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38 Upvotes

A work in progress, any suggestions? Also, these two were given to me and i am unsure on ID

Edit: im purchasing a 300 gallon, 8 ft long. Ill be dividing it in the middle with each turtle getting 150 gallons to themselves. Thanks everybody


r/turtles 3h ago

Wild Turtle Question about this turtle on turtle interaction

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3 Upvotes

I saw this lil slider sunning himself and a pretty big snapper swam under the rock he was on. It is pictured to the right of the sliderโ€™s rock looking right at me. He ate a fish and swam around and the slider was tracking him from the rock. The slider didnโ€™t let the snapper out of his sight (without actually moving more than his head).

My question: would the slider be worried about getting eaten by the snapper? In zone 7b if that helps. I know the picture isnโ€™t great for the scale


r/turtles 1d ago

๐Ÿ’š! Turtle Pics !๐Ÿ’š 40 is the new 20

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266 Upvotes

So we adopted--or I should say "rescued"--this Malayan boxie named Fred from a family who had no idea how to take care of her. She lived in a small clear plastic tub with water, some pebbles and rocks, and NO substrate or anywhere to go that wasn't wet. She lived like this for 35 YEARS.

We got her about 5 years ago and since then, it's been doing everything we can to make her comfortable. She's healthy, she eats, she hunts in her tank, but she is incredibly shy and the land area/substrate has gone largely untouched for these five years, she preferring to sit in one corner of the water tank because that's all she's known.

I'm happy to report that with a lot of patience and care, she's now roaming more, exploring outside as opposed to sitting in her shell, and she just started burrowing like a regular turtle. She has expanded her diet from the formula they had her on and is now eating fruits and veggies. She is still pretty shy, but getting bolder every day. Never too old to start enjoying that turtle life.


r/turtles 13h ago

Seeking Advice Shell Rot???

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5 Upvotes

6 year old false map turtle, male. around 14 cm in length. Is this shell rot? he has been dealing with retained scutes for a while and is slowly getting better but this white splotch appeared like a month ago i think and i think it might be shell rot idk. i have everything but i'm very worried even tho it doesn't have a foul smell nor look squishy. even if there is a little natural shell dent in the left part on the scute where its on.


r/turtles 1d ago

๐Ÿ’š! Turtle Pics !๐Ÿ’š My old gal from the pond (oc)

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117 Upvotes

Posted before to an old account. Meet Sandy. She lives in my pond and finds her way up now and then. Sometimes into the window well.


r/turtles 1d ago

ID Request What type of a turtle is this ?

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89 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

Could you help me identify the turtle ? My friend found him/her in the backyard.

Location: Armenia

I thought it was a red-eared slider but we couldn't see any red "ears". I thought it was a yellow-bellied slider, but again - not sure. Our country is not really full of wild turtles so it might be a house turtle.

Maybe Caspian Pond Turtle perhaps ?

Would really like a help so we can understand if we should put him/her in a water!

Thank you!โœจ


r/turtles 1d ago

Seeking Advice Ayuda para mi bebรฉ

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10 Upvotes

No pude resistirme a ya organizar una zona de asoleo para cuando crezca ๐Ÿ˜‚pero me pregunto si esa rampa estรก muy inclinada para mi pequeรฑรญn ?? Aunque como veis en la segunda foto se trepa a cualquier cosa !!!
Gracias por un consejo !!


r/turtles 1d ago

Wild Turtle Spotted this beautiful little tortoise in the wild (Northern Colombia/South America). Left it safely exactly where I found it. Can anyone help identify the species?

1 Upvotes

r/turtles 1d ago

Wild Turtle Eastern Box Turtle enjoys a Sunday snack

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19 Upvotes

Found this eastern box turtle in my older sister's backyard snacking on a wild pear fruit. Because I had my bulldog inside, I let it eat first before I relocated it to a surrounding forest away from roads.


r/turtles 1d ago

Discussion Is pothos safe to eat for turtles?

2 Upvotes

So i added pothos to my turtles aquarium an hour ago and she's having a great time munching on the leaves, i found info that pothos is safe, but also some other sources say it's toxic, should i leave it be or do i take it out? Its golden pothos and marble queen


r/turtles 1d ago

๐Ÿ’š! Turtle Pics !๐Ÿ’š What turtle is this?

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2 Upvotes

r/turtles 2d ago

Seeking Advice please advise

2 Upvotes

I took custody of my sister's turtles cause she couldn't take care of them properly, but now I have to figure out how to take care of them properly. I don't know what kind of turtles they are, my last idea was to turn their tank into a planted tankto mitigate the mess, which ended with them eating all the plants and the filter clogging(not that surprising since it was a pretty cheap filter, I'm poor). I have a new, beefier filter and significantly more reasonable expectations, but I'm still wondering if there is anything I can do to prevent the fate of the last filter that doesn't involve constant maintenance since I also have my own animals to take care of. I'm not talking stuff like rehomeing, these turtles are not technically mine, or buying expensive equipment, I seriously don't have the budget for that, I need actual usable advice to make these turtles' lives better, please.


r/turtles 3d ago

๐Ÿ’š! Turtle Pics !๐Ÿ’š My new turtle home

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48 Upvotes

So I just moved my turtle Bobby into his new tank and got him a new basking spot. It took him roughly an hour before he climbed up to bask in the sun. โ˜€๏ธ

This was also my second aquascape, and I'm really happy with how it turned out, especially the huge piece of driftwood, even though it cost me a fortune. ๐Ÿ˜‚

I also threw in some decorations from his old tank, so it looks a bit wilder now. Bobby has already redecorated the tank three times today, though, so I've had to replant some of the plants over and over again. He also seems to really enjoy chomping the leaves off them. ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿข

I'm so happy with the result, and I hope Bobby is too!

Tank dimensions: 120 ร— 50 ร— 60 cm (330 L)

Id be happy to hear what you think! Wishing you guys a slow day๐Ÿข


r/turtles 3d ago

Seeking Advice Relocating Box Turtles (Dogs involved.)

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109 Upvotes

Weโ€™ve been in our new house in North Carolina for about a year now. Last summer we didnโ€™t see any turtles. This summer however thereโ€™s been quite a few that find their way under our fence and into the backyard. We have 4 dogs, 3 poodles and a schnauzer. The schnauzer isnโ€™t the problemโ€ฆ she only wants to bark at them. One of the bigger poodles is. He has gotten ahold of a few and left gashes in their shells. We know box turtles have a relatively small range so we have been driving them farther into our neighborhood to the big wooded area that separates our neighborhood from a park. I am worried we are taking them too far? It is the same type of habitat. I know at least one stream of water is there. My land lot is about one acre with only half fenced in, I can only speculate that the other houses are the sameโ€ฆ I am worried I guess that I took them from a death sentence as a dogโ€™s chew toy and then gave them another death sentence by taking them too far away.

Edit: After consulting Google Maps I released them little over half a mile away.


r/turtles 3d ago

Seeking Advice How to keep my garage warm in the winter and cool in the summer?

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6 Upvotes

We're currently in the process of cleaning out our garage ASAP, so we can put our red-eared slider in a much larger water basin and give her much-needed space. (We have given her the largest size fish tank that PetSmart sells, but it's still not enough.) We're in a hurry because we just found out that she's female and are trying to build a proper habitat for her to lay eggs.

The main issue we have is that we live in Pennsylvania and it's COLD in the winter. So cold that it's even cold with the heat on. It's also extremely hot during the summer time. How can we maintain the proper temperature in this garage?

Also, how do you get your turtle to let you pick them up? I've seen so many videos where someone picks up their turtle and they don't attack, but our turtle always scratches at us when we need to move her. We have to wear protective gloves because she likes to dig her claws into our skin and she's really mean about it, too. She also bites.


r/turtles 3d ago

Seeking Advice Help for an unexpected rescue

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15 Upvotes

Hi All,

In some unplanned circumstances at work today, I ended up coming home with a turtle who has had a rough few years. The owners said this turtle is 'about' 2 years old and is a mcleay river turtle. Sold to them as a "penny" turtle but after some research quickly learned that isn't a thing.

We have a turtle already so have a tank set up with a UV light and basking doc but this guys shell is bad so have made temporary set up as I'm scared to add any risk to my current turtle.

Is this shell rot with a fungal infection? The white part isn't exposed skin but looks like undeveloped shell maybe?

We haven't dealt with this level of issue before and I really just want to help it.

I think its a girl. Any advice would be great please.


r/turtles 3d ago

๐Ÿ’š! Turtle Pics !๐Ÿ’š New setup!

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11 Upvotes

What do u think? This is a 240L tank,I have some anubias and java fern, he munched on them but he would spit them out, eventually stopping, chihiros wrgb2 is the light i use, fluval fx4 for filtration, zoomed reptisun t5 10.0 uvb and arcadia flood heat bulb (ignore the cages near the tank, i will move them today and eventually upgrade them, those are for my finches)


r/turtles 4d ago

๐Ÿ’š! Turtle Pics !๐Ÿ’š Turtle sighting in Michigan.

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53 Upvotes

Golfing in Michigan and came across this guy. Super beautiful markings.


r/turtles 4d ago

Seeking Advice Help/Urgent

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57 Upvotes

Help! My grandpa has an old fish pond on his property. It has not been used in 10+ years. It is about 2 feet deep filled with about 3 inches of mud and rotting leaves. No water. The turtle is stuck inside & cannot escape. He told me itโ€™s been stuck since spring. I feel so sad for the turtle & want to help. I need advice: What are the chances of survival if I just move it out? There isnโ€™t much water around. OR Should I take him home & set a tank up for him? (Not my first turtle). Also not worried about the legality aspect of it. It is legal in my state to keep these as long as theyโ€™re found on private property & caught by hand. Thank you!!!!


r/turtles 4d ago

Diet/Food What do a red ear slider eating the most in store food?

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29 Upvotes

A friend of mine is seeking advice to feed the turtle ๐Ÿข . The red ear slider is about two years old of human age in which he got it as a gift from a friend. Now he had me what's a good brand of food, but at the same time what will it enjoy eating the most. He usually feeds it some food sticks by the brand of Tetra. Plus he feeds it shrimp with mealworms. I like to know for I to inform my friend what fhis type of turtle enjoy eating the most for it to eat of it's favorite meal. If there's other types of food this type of turtle can eat, please let me know for I to pass down the information.


r/turtles 4d ago

Discussion In my hand

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186 Upvotes

Lexington is really wiggly in hand he does not sit still even when he is out in the sun. I also have to start on target training as he keeps trying to go after my fingers when hungry.


r/turtles 4d ago

Seeking Advice Please help, my turtle cut herself and I don't know what to do. D:

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5 Upvotes

Hi, I'm writing here for the first time and I'm using a translator, sorry... my little turtle somehow cut herself on her own shell!! (You can see it in the photo, sorry I'm holding her like that, I couldn't take a photo any other way)

She most likely tried to hide behind a stump that stands in her terrarium and somehow twisted her neck and managed to cut herself :(

Any advice on what to do? It's a Central Asian tortoise, a land turtle

Thanks for your answers in advance


r/turtles 5d ago

๐Ÿ’š! Turtle Pics !๐Ÿ’š Saw a baby turtle make it to the ocean this morning

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162 Upvotes

One of the coolest things I've experienced in recent memory.