The most important factors in caring for your turtle is to provide a good home and correct nutrition, to help with this we have put kits together to take care of the specific needs of your turtle. One of the main issues to consider is the growth rate, a small turtle purchased at a size of 1.5” will soon grow potentially 8-10” across!!, for this reason we supply tanks no smaller than 2’ but will always recommend a 3’ or larger as this will prove to be not only better for the turtle but a more cost effective choice in the long term. Glass tanks are better than plastic, goldfish bowls should never be considered due to size and lack of durability.

A coarse pea gravel is the best substrate to use, it not only looks attractive and natural it will be suitable and practical for further maintenance. Keeping the water at the correct temperature is of course important as turtles are tropical creatures. We provide heaters that have a built in thermostat, they are fixed to the aquarium glass using suckers, the heating element is encased in glass and being fully waterproof can be completely submerged, on the very top of the heater is a thermostat control, this can be turned to set the temperature and should be set at 76-78f.

The lighting provided with the aquarium has three reasons for being important, not only does it provide illumination but the heat generated from the bulb will help to raise and maintain the air temperature to keep basking turtles warm. The third reason is that turtles use light to absorb vitamin D which without they can be prone to soft shell, this can be a potentially a life threatening condition for the turtle if left untreated.