Turtles live in fresh water, oceans, and marshes. Turtles spend most of their lives under water venturing out only to lay their eggs or bask for a while in the sun. When the weather becomes too cold they go into a state similar to hibernation. Turtles are omnivorous. They eat plants, insects, and fish. Turtles have light shells that are rather flat having only a slight crown, streamlined for efficient travel through water. Their feet are webbed for swimming. Although they are notoriously slow on land, they are very fast swimmers. Often kept as pets, turtles live to an average age of thirty years.

Tortoises spend most of their lives on land, venturing into water to drink or bathe. They are not good swimmers and can easily drown if caught in a swift current. Tortoises are, for the most part, vegetarians or herbivores eating plants with lots of moisture. Tortoise shells are heavy and dome shaped, providing excellent protection. Their feet are short and they have rugged legs. Some tortoises are quite fast on the ground, moving quickly when necessary. Tortoises have very long life expectancies, some living as long as 150 years. While some tortoises are kept as pets, they are not as popular as turtles.

If you are considering having a pet turtle, both land and aquatic turtles (tortoises and turtles) make interesting pets, but the aquatic turtles are generally more popular because their habitat is simpler to create and maintain, and the aquatic turtle’s space requirements are usually much less that a tortoise’s. It’s important that the pet turtle’s environment be as close to what he might experience in the wild as is possible.

If you have an aquatic turtle, a tank with both adequate water volume for swimming and eating and sufficient land area for resting is essential. The water is especially important, and should be filtered and maintained in the same manner as would be done for a goldfish aquarium. Land turtles will usually require a much larger area with access to enough water for occasional bathing. Smaller land turtles can manage is smaller terrariums, but many tortoises grow large enough to require a larger fenced in area outdoors.

As with any pets, clean water should always be available. Most aquatic turtles, being omnivores, will require both plants and animal protein from foods such as calcium-rich vegetables, snails, earthworms, and bugs. Tortoises, on the other hand, should be quite content with a purely vegan diet consisting of vegetables like carrots, berries, and leafy greens.

If you are planning to keep your turtle in a tank there are some things you will want to consider. First thing is the size of the tank. Of course you should provide the turtle with an area as big as possible, however reality says that is not always possible. You should have at least a 40 gallon tank for your turtle as this will provide enough room for it to swim or walk around and feel comfortable. If you turtle is a water turtle, you should fill the tank about half way to provide enough water for the turtle to dive down and enjoy his swim. The water in a turtle tank should be kept at about 75 degrees and should be filtered through a commercial filtration system. Be careful not to have a big enough hole for the turtle to get caught in the filter system. If your turtle is a land dwelling turtle, a mix of soils and rocks/logs for him to enjoy will be good.

Water turtles will spend most of their time in the water. However, they will still need to come out of their water pond and eat and or get some “sun”. You will need to provide a place for them to get out of the water and rest. This can be a floating log, a couple of rocks, or even a commercially made ramp. As far as creating the sun for the turtle you’re going to need a heat lamp and a UV light. The UV light is to give the turtle its natural sun rays and the heat for obvious reasons. Even though your UV light will still be working after 6 months, you will want to change it. The lights will start to loose their UV effectiveness at this time and will no longer be beneficial to the turtle.

Keeping you turtle’s environment clean is crucial for their health. Even though a turtle can be a little messy doesn’t mean their tanks should be. If you are keeping a desert type of tortoise, you should clean the sand by sifting it through a screen to get rid of the waste. Then replace the sand about every 10 months or so. If you are keeping a water turtle, a clean tank is more vital. It is very crucial that you clean the filtration system often. It is quite common for the filtration system to get plugged up form feces and food particles. You should watch this at least once a week until you can determine the habits of your turtle. You should clean your turtle’s tank every time you start to see algae forming. You can clean the tank with some Clorox bleach diluted with water.