How to Take Care of Remiel's
Turtle - The Comprehensive Guide

Posted on: 6/9/2024 5 minute read

Introduction

Hi there~! In this blog post, I will go over all there is to know to taking care of my Turtle (atmos). He is a 3 year old red eared slider and loves to dance when you shake the food can in front of him. This blog entry is primarily intended to be a guide for people I have asked to take care of my turtle, but beginner turtlekeepers are also free to take a read! I did not find much help online when starting to take care of my turtle, so I'm making this so that there are more resources online for new turtlekeepers!

Some of the things I use
Here is a list of everything I use to take care of my turtle; you can find these if I give you a kit:

  •  - 2 Canisters of Food
  •  - 2 sets of relacement filters
  •  - Glass Tank
  •  - A filter
  •  - A heatlamp
  •  - A platform
  •  - A net
  •  - You also need containers for water, which I will not be providing

Setup

Upon recieving the turtle, you will need to set up the tank. The way I set it up looks like this, but don't add water yet : My tank setup Place the tank next to a window such that sunlight can reach the inside of the tank. The heat lamp and filter also require power to operate, so you would need a power outlet nearby or an extension cable leading to the tank. Hang the lamp over the platform and set up the filter in one of the corners. If the filter is too loud, you can lower the spout to be just above the water, or increase how much water is in the tank. Don't forget to turn the lamp and filter off at night! Speaking of water, "How much water should be in the tank?" A good rule of thumb is to always have the water higher than the shell of the turtle. But not just any water works, in the next section I will go over how to treat water for the turtle.

Water

In most areas, including Taipei, filtered tap water should be just fine for the turtles. However, turtlekeepers in areas with unsafe tap should consider alternate sources of water. Tap water itself contains trace amounts of chlorine, this is to kill bacteria in the water. It may be okay for humans, but is unsafe for Turtles. As such you want to dechlorinate the water to a point where it is safe for the turtle to use. An easy way to dechlorinate water is to simply leave it out in fresh air for at least 8 hours. This evaporates the chlorine in the water, and makes it safer for the turtle. Keep in mind that 8 hours does not completely dechlorinate the water, and you would need to leave it out for longer if you want to completely dechlorinate the water. After the water is dechlorinated, you may pour it in the tank. I usually keep a few containers of water for dechlorinating, so there would always be water ready for the turtle. Please change the water at least once a 1 week. water

Feeding the Turtle

This is probably the easiest part of taking care of the turtle. I feed my turtle twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. For each feeding, I give him 1 pinch of pellets (~10 pellets). I also have a canister of dried shrimp, which I give him as an occasional treat. You are not limited to the feeds I give you- turtles can eat many of the things humans can (they are omnivores). So fruits, vegtables, and washed meats without any sauce or additives are good as well. For example, I sometimes feed my turtles grapes, lettuce, mango, watermelon, and beef. My turtle accepts handfed food, so that may be a cool thing to try if you're interested. If you are worried about overfeeding, a good rule of thumb is to never feed more food to a turtle than the size of it's head.

Cleaning the filters

Filters need to be cleaned once a two weeks. The filter I use is a cotton filter, so all you need to do is rinse it with water and put the pieces back in. You may also want to use a Qtip to clean off the pump itself. If the filter appears too dirty (brown), you can swap out the cotton with a new, clean, white one.

Conclusion

Alright, that should be it. Taking care of my turtle should not be a hard task at all. I hope you enjoy your time with atmos and thank you so much for helping me πŸ™πŸ™πŸ™ If you have any questions please feel free to contact me!

Turtlekeeping Hall of Fame

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