Habitat - Indoor :: Petsmart turtle habitat

[mikedpirone]

yeah they are more for non aquatic things but i recieved the whole setup for free so i couldnt pass it up. im going to be upgrading to a 50 gallon within a few months when my friend finds it.

[Buslady]

Hello, I visited this forum to learn as much as possible before buying a turtle. I loved having RES turtles when I was a kid. My sister was allergic to everything else and this was as close to a puppy as I could get! But they were sold back then in the little plastic thingy with the plastic palm tree. My parents weren't animal lovers so I was on my own. Poor thing mostly ate bologna & lettuce. I was always devastated when eventually my beloved turtles would get soft shells & die. Now decades later I'm learning what caused that & indeed it can be prevented which has sparked my interest in them again. Sooo I need to know where to start. PetSmart has a turlte habitat set-up for $99. I couldn't find a size on the tank but it looks to be about 3 ft. long. It comes with a filter, light, & such. Anyone familiar with this set-up? Would this be big enough for 2 turtles? They said their turtles are sold as soon as they arrive so it may be awhile before I even get one (they've only been getting 2 at a time this time of year). Is this typical?

DO NOT get that kit. Those are not very good, you can't even fill it up where it should be.
I would buy piece by piece if you can't afford it all at once. Buy a large tank, biggest you can do...75 gallons for one turtle is good, it'll work...but the bigger the better and works better for filtration.
Ya need a tank(glass or acrylic<-lighter to haul), stand, decorations, filter, proper lights and diet. costs alot. turtles are not cheap.

I would look in classifieds for a tank and stand. I got my 120g acrylic tank + stand + canopy(dont use tho) for $165...the tank alone new, Tru Vu brand, is like $400!!!!!!!! So start there. And then you can get filters on Ebay for good prices, Jebo's are said to be good. I use Filstars.
River rock at Home Depot. Rinse well.
You can also try to find a reptile store with heavily discounted lighting. For example, I use the UVB/Heat bulbs(Exo-Terra is one brand that makes these)...they usually go for $80, I get mine at LLL Reptile for About $43.
Shop around! Chain petstores are marked up alot...so shop around.

and I know what you mean...back in about 1981 or so...I was given a little hatchling, no idea what to do with it...I was 9 or so, we get a deathbowl and the only food then was freeze dried bugs. *.* out of all of that, we did one right thing....he got lots of sunlight....other than that...he lasted a few weeks and passed on. I buried him in a matchbox in the back yard. I think he was a YBS, this was Florida so mightve been.