erm....sun turtle

[Puriti]

Yesterday my mom and I saved two sun turtles from the road and she figured it was okay to plop the baby one in my 10 gal fish tank for a little while til I was done cleaning up the other one (it kinda broke the front part of its terrapace poor thing T.T) .. It was in there for probably a couple minutes. ummmm..... I'm no expert but won't that possibly put things in my tank? x.x

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

Anything from the wild can introduce unwanted creepy crawlies and/or disease in your tank. I'd keep a close eye on things to make sure nothing pops up.

 

[tropicfishman]

true, especially babys, they have weak immune systems when there young to begin with

 

[Puriti]

Yeah i figured, he was only a good half dollar size still.

 

[Toirtis]

Well, you have 8 species of semi-aquatic turtle in Massachusetts, none of which are typically referred to as 'sun turtles' ...have you any idea what species you have?

 

[Hara]

My guess is if you got it off the side of the road, it is not a turtle but a terrapin. In which case, you wouldnt want to put it in a fully submersed situation.

 

[Toirtis]

My guess is if you got it off the side of the road, it is not a turtle but a terrapin.

Ah, the age-old nomenclature issue...

Understand that for most Americans, all fully aquatic (turtle/sea-turtle), semi-aquatic (terrapin), and many NA terrestrial (tortoise) chelonians are referred to as 'turtles', without the distinction that most Europeans and some North Americans make. There are very few mainly-aquatic FW turtles (such as softshells, some musk turtles) that rarely leave the water (for even basking) in the USA.

The species list she can choose from (for indigenous species) in her area are:

Common musk turtle (less likely) Sternotherus odoratus

Northern redbellied cooter (endangered species) Pseudemys rubriventris

Diamondback terrapin (threatened) Malaclemmys terrapin

Painted turtle (common) Chrysemys picta

Blanding turtle (threatened) Emydoidea blandingii

Spotted turtle (common, and my bet) Clemmys guttata

Wood turtle (fairly common) Clemmys insculpta

Bog turtle (threatened) Clemmys muhlenbergii

Common snapping turtle (common, but unlikely) Chelydra serpentina

And, of course, the ubiquitous red-eared slider, which would be an introduced species.

 

[Puriti]

Sorry, it's a painted turtle, we call them sun turtles.

 

[Toirtis]

Ah, then you require perhaps 4"-6" of water, and easily accessable, fully dry basking area with a heat and full-spectrum UVA/UVB light above it. Food may consist of a good-quality turtle pellet (obviously small) if the turtle will take it, as well as small earthworms, and bits of greens (such as romaine or leaf lettuce, but not iceberg-type lettuce).

 

[Puriti]

Oh oh oh! No Toirtis I didn't want to keep the turtle! I let the little guy go! I just wasn't sure if it would put anything in my tank or not (which I knew was entirely possible) but I just didn't know what exactly it could've given me x.x I would never keep the baby turtle...well maybe not unless I had tank space for it but it was a wild turtle..I'm not mean! lol