Designing Your Turtle Tank

Turtles, once you get them home and into their tanks, require very little personal turtle care. As long as their turtle tanks are kept clean, they are very low maintenance creatures, pretty much a step above fish when it comes to personal attention. While other pets like dogs and cats require a lot of time and effort, turtles thrive when they are left to their own devices (though some turtles have been known to show preference to certain people and some can even be taught to follow simple commands).

The most important part of turtle care is the turtle tank. The best turtle tanks are tanks that are set up outside, in the turtle's natural habitat—building a little area for your turtles in your yard is often one of the best ways to take care of them, assuming your yard is free of natural predators and environmental concerns (if you use pesticides on your plants, for example, keeping your turtle outside might not be such a good idea). The main reason to keep your turtle outside, if at all possible, is because turtles are very sensitive to seasonal changes and weather. Turtles hibernate and if you keep them inside, they won't know when hibernating season in. Failure to hibernate causes liver problems. Yes, the best turtle care you can give is a natural habitat for your turtle to live in.

If, however, you decide to keep your turtle inside, here is what you need to know about turtle tanks:

The absolute minimum size of a turtle tank should be forty gallons. It is not a good idea to have a tank smaller than this because turtles have very specific needs.

Your turtle tank should include a water area, some marshy area and a dry land area. This is because while turtles do spend most of their time in the water, the species of turtles typically kept as pets, also spend time sunning themselves on dry land. The marshy area can be where you plant various plants for them to eat, etc. Your turtle should have water that is deep enough to fully submerge in and water that is shallow enough that they can sit on the bottom of it but still poke their heads out of the top. A slanted plastic pond set up is idea—most pet stores will sell equipment to help make this possible.

The more natural you can make your turtle habitat the happier your turtle will be. In your water area, use only clean water that is not chlorinated in any way. You might want to install a water filter to keep the water as clean as possible and a water heater to make sure that the water is the right temperature for the turtle. You will also want to install a light in the tank, a full spectrum fluorescent light, as these are the bulbs that are the best able to mimic natural sunlight.

Turtle care is basically low maintenance, but turtle tanks are very involved set ups.