Turtle - A pet you can pass on for many generations
I believe the longest living pets are the turtles.
Some people don't seem to realize that most turtles are carnivore. They require meat to survive.
I just saw someone asking questions about turtle online and he said he was feeding the turtle bread!
Wheat flour is worthless and just empty nutrition to a turtle.
When I had a turtle during my childhood, at first I didn't know better either...until my little "peaceful" turtle ate my two of my goldfish.
We didn't have internet back then to do research that easily.
Ever since that happened, I fed my turtle mostly raw pork, sometimes fish meat. He seemed to be really happy and excited every time I fed him. He would use one claw to keep the meat in place, while pull the other end with its mouth.
I had it for quite a few years, until one day he escaped!
My aunt has a turtle for more than 25 years. Nobody knew how old the turtle was when she got it. One time at a furniture store, the owner told me his turtle is well over 30 years old when I asked.
They can live for hundreds of years in fact. You can pass this pet on for generations!
RE: Turtle - A pet you can pass on for many generations
That is very cool. It goes for all chelonians. Tortoises too. I have always wanted to get a turtle, never have yet. And a tortoise for that matter.
Aren't some species of aquatic turtles omnivores though? I may be wrong on that, I'll have to look it up. Not that wonder bread has any nutritional value to a turtle either way though It's the same as people feeding thier bearded dragons iceberg and romaine.
RE: Turtle - A pet you can pass on for many generations
I am pretty there are vegetarians and omnivores among some species of turtles and tortoises. I wouldn't feed a turtle bread, it has no nutritious value for them. It is not even nutritious enough for humans if that is the only thing you eat, although it provides us calories.
RE: Turtle - A pet you can pass on for many generations
Yes you do get omnivorous turtles but the general rule of thumb is turtles are carnivorous by nature.My red ear was fed a terrible diet of solely frozen shrimp for the first few years of his young turtle life.This was very wrong as he did not get the correct nutricianal requirements to help him with the shedding of his scales and growth of his shell.I feed Cyrill a great quality product of frozen fish with vitamins added specifically designed for turtles.Cyrill loves live snails,cockroaches,beetles,flies,moths,crickets and even earth worms.Cyrill gets calcium from the snail shells as well as cuttle bone floating in his tank.You may very well have had a female turtle ?I learned that female sliders are excellent climbers and will climb out of inadequate enclosures and walk for miles.Cyrill can climb but not very well at all.I was told of this by a turtle lady in Auckland who rescues abandoned turtles and rehomes them.The turtle lady from Auckland also told me of an 85yr old lady who still had her pet red ear turtle who was now at least 80yrs old.Pretty cool I think.Oh and Cyrill also had the wrong type of lighting for his tank he came with a light that was meant for fish not turtles.Hence his bad shell.
05-01-2012, 12:57 AM, (This post was last modified: 05-01-2012, 12:58 AM by Ram.)
RE: Turtle - A pet you can pass on for many generations
I had no idea what species or sex my turtle was. My dad got it for me when I was six. I had it for a few years before it escaped. As a kid, I had no idea how to raise a turtle nor I was prepared for it. The turtle was a gift from my dad, who also had no idea how to care for a turtle. Good thing about the turtle is, it could last for a long time without eating properly. So it lasted long enough before someone told us we should have fed it with meat. I don't even want to mention what my dad was feeding it...lol. It was so wrong.
It's the same as people feeding thier bearded dragons iceberg and romaine.
