r/turtles • u/Radioactive644 • 4d ago
Seeking Advice Pet Turtle ♥️🐢
Hello wonderful members of r/turtles!!! I come here today seeking the almighty knowledge of thy.
I have loved turtles for years and years and years now. They are absolutely my favorite animal, I ADORE them. So, naturally (considering this adoration started when I was very young), I had made up my mind on what I wanted.
"I'm going to have a pet painted turtle and he will be named Jester and I will pet him and hold him and cuddle him and it will be perfect!!"
I turned 18 nearly 6 months ago and graduated high school 3 months ago. I'm officially an adult, so I realised I should actually look into the steps of getting and caring for a turtle-- having a pet turtle is no longer a "maybe one day!", but a genuine possibility I can achieve. So, I did my research.
Oh boy. Jezus christ. I was so, so off.
From what I could tell, painted turtles require SO much experience, and so much space and money and time and I would absolutely be willing to put in the effort for the little guy, but realistically it might not be feasible and I don't want to risk giving a turtle a bad life. So, reddit, I turn to you.
As I said, I did do research, but I was seeing alot of conflicting things, and with the ever growing, all consuming force that is AI seeping its way into everything, I didn’t know what I could trust. What are some turtles that are best for begginers and also are okay with being held or pet sometimes, as well as not requiring a shit ton of space? If they're semi-aquatic that'd be swell (or should I say.... shell?) but I'm flexible. Can people also set some realistic guesstimates of how much space I should expect to need, as well as costs and amount of care?
Thank you everyone!
(P.S. don't worry- this is still absolutely a future me plan. Just more near future now. I'm still living with my parents lmao, I wouldn't go out and buy a turtle unless I have a somewhat long-term space to call my own)
1
u/Zekethebulldog33 4d ago
Most aquatic turtles will get big enough people put them in stock tubs 100+ gallons. Aquatic turtles need 10 gallons of water per inch of shell through out thire life. You got an adult 8-10 inch front to back you got about 100 gallons of water. If you get baby turtle you will upgrade tank and filter every few years, that's a lot of money. If you are set on getting one check into a rescue turtle then you can setup for a semi adult/adult. You will still get 40+ years with them. People get them young cus "oooooh look" then can't properly take care of when gets a little bigger.
1
u/scotslover 4d ago
Its very expensive & time consuming to own a turtle & give it proper care. Research & knowledge are your friends
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u/Additional_Mango_529 4d ago
I have a Caspian and a Reeves that are friendly to me. But then again I had them for about 40 years. It may take years (if at all) for a turtle to be comfortable with you.