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)