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wots the worst piece of reptile advice you've ever been given??

My friend has a slider. He's 13 years old today and he's over 6" and lives in a 40 gallon aquarium.
 
I doubt its the size of the home, but more like the lack of proper nutrition. Most of the people who keep them in small bowls don't bother with UV or calcium. They most likely just eat cheap turtle pellets, or maybe even fish food.
 
Did I say it was acceptable? No. Did I say WE housed them improperly? No. Please don't put words into my mouth! If you READ what I said, we got it when it was 31 FROM SOMEONE ELSE. Geesh. All of my 50 animals are in perfect health, more spoiled than you could imagine =) They are my children and I would kill for them. =) [18 larger pets and 32 guppies hehe, and yes, the guppies are all named =D]
 
I agree Colleen, when we got her her shell was soft and she was soooo tiny. Took 6 months to get her to a state I consider healthy and shes been great ever since. Mean, but healthy, was always mean *sniff* the one that hisses was from a pet store that had probably 150 turtles all stacked into a 10 gallon tank. 1/2 were dead or dying and we had to save at least one. She used to be really sweet but my bro isn't very good at taking care of them and she turned somewhat mean from lack of attention =/ They're mine now tho, and mean or not they're cleaned every 2 days and get their shells washed once a week hehe, good little pets.
 
Gintha said:
Did I say it was acceptable? No. Did I say WE housed them improperly? No. Please don't put words into my mouth! If you READ what I said, we got it when it was 31 FROM SOMEONE ELSE. Geesh. All of my 50 animals are in perfect health, more spoiled than you could imagine =) They are my children and I would kill for them. =) [18 larger pets and 32 guppies hehe, and yes, the guppies are all named =D]
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I don't have to put words in your mouth. The quote below implies just that. Especially knowing that RES (Red Eared Sliders) can and will outgrow their enclosures OR can and will develop deformities.

Gintha said:
Ours have never outgrown their tanks =) Grandpa did some research on turtles a while back, red eared sliders don't tend to outgrow their homes, but painted and box turtles do, and snapping turtles if your brave enough to buy one =) Ours are all sliders, I had a boxy but my ex took him, my little Fernando!
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RES CARE said:
Size: A full grown red eared slider can reach 12 inches in length (measured as the carapace, or top shell, length). Males tend to be smaller than females, but have large claws on the front legs and longer tails than females.

ENCLOSURE: Tank length: 3-4 times the length of the turtle Tank width: 2 times the length of the turtle Tank height: 1.5-2 times the length of the turtle + 8-12 inches above the highest level the turtle can reach in the tank. Minimum tank size for a single turtle 30g.
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Gintha it sounds like the turtle grew since you got it so it seems like it's in better hands to me. Since you didn't say how big the actual dimensions are of the tank they are in now is, I don't see how come people are assuming the tank is too small.
Maybe, she has it in a big enough tank and that's why it hasn't outgrown it?
:shrugs:
 
Colleen360 said:
I doubt its the size of the home, but more like the lack of proper nutrition. Most of the people who keep them in small bowls don't bother with UV or calcium. They most likely just eat cheap turtle pellets, or maybe even fish food.
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You also need to take into consideration the water quality. Ounce for ounce, a RES will create more filth in their water than an aggregate of tropical fish equal in mass. And most fishkeepers worth their mettle will properly filter the water.

You ever see the dedicated tanks and filters for aquatic turtles? Industrial strength.

regards,
jazz
 
jazzgeek said:
. Ounce for ounce, a RES will create more filth in their water than an aggregate of tropical fish equal in mass.

regards,
jazz
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You are not kidding! Once upon a time when we did some 'rescue' I had about ten RES of various sizes in a 150gal setup. Two extra large side filters that had to be cleaned daily and minimum 1/3 water change weekly. Although they are adorable, I wouldn't want to do that ever again. Messy little creatures. :puke01:
 
Have to agree with how messy turtles are - luckily I have a very limited sense of smell, but the weekly water changes can be pretty tiresome. Apparantly the most quoted reason for people dumping their turtles on rescue centres is the smell.

As for outgrowing their tanks, I don't know about red-ears, but my map turtles were first housed in a foot long sweater box, and withing a few months they had to move to a large aquarium, due to growth. The remaining one has been steadily growing about half an inch a year, and is currently waiting to be upgraded to a 4 foot aquarium. I imagine the idea of them not outgrowing tanks is probably linked to poor nutrition, from the days when proper husbandry information was not as readily available as it is now.

Hannah
 
Its a 25 gallon turtle tank =) Its HUGE 6 foot long 2 foot deep and 10 inches tall (Dad says he thought it was 29 gallon tho, but I was sure it was 25 *shrug*). I assumed people would understand that they were in a turtle tank LOL.

I agree that the smell is the worst, hence all the cleaning and the 3 turtle tank specific filters =) We also don't feed ours in the tank, the decaying food adds a lot to the turtle stench, the only food they get in the tank is ladybugs LOL, when one is stupid enough to land in there. We did give them fish to chase at one point, but the girls aren't very smart and kept getting stuck when the fish swam into a place they couldn't fit LOL.

They also spend a lot of time out of the tank, wandering around. Whoever said turtles move slow obviously never had a slider! ZOOM! Speedy little things!
 
Colleen360 said:
That is way more than 25 gallons. Its more like 75. Unless you are just referring to the amount of water you keep in it?
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I think it's more referring to yet another tall tale that she expects people to swallow and not call her out on.

Anyway, I don't know what the worst piece of advice I've ever gotten at a pet store was, but I sure see a lot of it when I visit them. Such as the guy in the fish department telling the family they can keep two baby koi in a one gallon fish bowl. I stepped in and they walked out with a betta instead. :rolleyes:

Every so often I get the odd thought to go to a pet store and play clueless just to see how much misinformation I'd get. But then I decide it's not worth getting depressed over.
 
exodus5139 said:
Tortoises are land turles, but not all land turtles are tortoises.
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Since we were talking about land turtles, I thought tortoises were aquatic... I just knew the criterium, but which one was which.. but apparently land/water is not at all the criterium :shrugs:

So, what defines tortoises then?
 
In the Uk, usually land turtles are called tortoises, smallish freshwater turtles are called terrapins, while large fresh or saltwater turtles are called..turtles. I have no idea why though, just convention I think
 
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