Turtle Information Pages

Copyright by V. Haecky. All rights reserved. This document may be freely distributed for non-profit use, provided this notice is included.

Disclaimer: You will find something about everything at this site. I strongly encourage you to use the links provided to do your own, in-depth research. I don't know everything and I make mistakes. This website is an attempt to help turtles, but it is by no means final. All information is provided "as is."

Up Close

• My Pond and How I Built It
• My Reptiles
• My Setups
• Black & White: Ohanko the (Neglected) Cow
• Nature Writing Class: Drawings

If Your Turtle Is Sick Take It to a Veterinarian Immediately!

• The NYTTS Vet List
• Melissa Kaplan's Vet Resources
• Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians

Turtle Care: General and Basic Information (Detail Pages Below)

The following information on setups and feeding is enough to get you started and enable you to keep your turtle alive. However, every species has somewhat different requirements for setup and feeding, and in order to keep your animal healthy and for a long time, you must find out what species of turtle/tortoise you have and investigate its specific requirements!

• Take This Test! Are You Ready to be a Turtle Owner? Also provides basic breakdown of cost and suggestions for care.
• Water Turtle Care: Introduction, Basic/Generic Setups
• Water Turtle Care: Feeding, Breeding, Sexing, Light Requirements, Hibernating (Basics to Consider for Most Species)
• Water Turtle Care: Health Issues
• American Box Turtle Care Basics
• Turtle Care: Resources, Books, Videos
• Never Ever Release Your Turtle Into the Wild!
• Beyond Basics: Specific Turtle Answers
• Finding a Veterinarian

Tortoise Trust

Use the Tortoise Trust site as your final reference point if you are not sure about information you find on the internet (including on this site!). Check out their excellent articles which go into much more depth than what this site will ever be able to provide, especialy on feeding and providing the appropriate environment for particular species.
Consider signing up for the foundation class offered by the Tortoise Trust Institute.
Find books, videos, and other materials at the Carapace Press site.

• Tortoise Trust
• Chelonian Education and Training
• Carapace Press

Turtle Topics

• Age and Longevity; How Old Is My Turtle?
• Automatic Turtle Care
• Algae and Slimy Films on Shell
• Before You Get a Second Turtle (Your Turtle is NOT Lonely)
• Baby Turtles (Information)
• Baby Water Turtles (Care)
• Beak and Nail Trimming
• My Turtle is not Basking
• My Turtle Stays in the Water All the Time
• Behaviors
• First Aid for Bites, Raccoons, and Other External Injuries
• How Do Turtles Breathe? (They Need Air!)
• Breeding Turtles
• Calcium for Turtles
• Cats, Other Pets, and Turtles
• Children and Turtles
• Clubs
• Colds and Runny Noses
• Colors? Turtles Care About Colors?
• Constipation and Diarrhea; Dragging Backlegs; Paralysis
• Creams, Kissing, and TLC
• Calcium: What About Dairy Products?
• Death of a Buddy: Do Turtles Mourn?
• Drowning in Turtles
• Dwarf Turtles, Miniature Turtles, Dollar Turtles
• Eggs! Help, my turtle laid eggs!
• Eating Problems, Giving Medicine, Force-feeding
• Is My Turtle too Fat? How Can It Diet? How Often Should I Feed? Frequency of Feedings?
• Fecal Samples and How to Obtain Them
• Fluorescent Lighting and Why Your Turtle Needs It
• Fighting, Biting and Pestering
• Filtration Basics for Turtle Tanks
• Foam at Turtle's Mouth
• Foods to Avoid, and Why
• If You Find a Turtle or Turtle Nest
• Fish in a Turtle Tank?
• Flukes and Leeches
• Gaping and Yawning
• What Gender is my Turtle?
• Where Can I Purchase/Buy/Get/Adopt a Turtle?
• Heating Reptile Enclosures
• Hibernation Basics
• Incubator Building
• Injections for Turtles
• Love? My Turtle Doesn't Seem To Like Me
• Paint or Mark Your Turtle? NEVER!/A>
• Poisonous Plants
• Outdoor Hibernation for Water Turtles
• Outdoor Setups, Ponds, and Raccoons
• Turtles in Water Gardens; Turtles and Koi.
• Pool: Can I Let my Turtle Swim in the Pool?
• Problems: Common and Prevention (by Evergreen Veterinary Clinic)
• Puffed up Turtle
• Roommates for Turtles
• My Turtle Is Scared of Me
• Stool Ingestion: Harmless? (My turtle eats its poop.)
• Shell Info: Preserving Turtle Shells
• Shell Injuries: Repairing a Cracked Shell
• Shell Problems: More Information and Treating
• Shell Problems: Soft Shell, Metabolic Bone Disease, Calcium, Vitamin D3Reptile Lights
• Shedding of Scutes: Clear vs. Transparent; Shedding Skin
• First Aid for Skin Problems
• Turtle Soup
• Taming Reptiles
• Temperatures: Unit Converter
• Traveling with Turtles
• Turtle, Tortoise, or Terrapin?
• Vacation Care
• Veterinarians: When Is It Time to See One?
• Vitamin A Injections and Swollen Eyes
• Vitamin K
• White Spots/Patches on the Skin of my Turtle?
• Why Do I Have to Change the Water?
• Water: How Can I Keep It Clean? (Film on Water)
• Worm Breeding / Vermicomposting
• Yawning and Wheezing

Some Specific Species Identification and Overview Care Information, and Links to Such

• What Kind of Turtle do I Have?
• Extreme Basics on Asian Box Turtles (Cuora spp.). Cuora/Cistoclemmys flavomarginata Information
• Some Information on Diamond Back Terrapins
• Overview of Softshell Turtles
• Slider Turtles Overview
• Painted Turtles Overview
• Snapping Turtles Overview
• Black-breasted Leaf Turtle; Geomyda spengleri Overview
• A Little Information on Spotted Turtles
• A Little Information on Leopard Tortoises
• Excellent Species Care Sheets from the San Diego Turtle and Tortoise Society
• Cuora flavomarginata Care Sheet
• Tess Cook's Box Turtle Information Site
• Pictures and Species Names
• Pictures, Species, Care by Darrell Senneke
• Species Pictures
• Longevity Index
• Melissa Kaplan's Reptile Pages (Includes Discussion of UV Lighting, Vitamin D3)
• California Turtle and Tortoise Club Care Pages
• Felice Rood's Web Site
• Turtle Discussion List
• Resources, Resources, Resources
• Humidity Booster
• David T. Kirkpatrick's Turtle Articles Topics include:
• On Feeding Turtles: When and How Much?
• Hingeback Tortoises of the genus Kinixys
• Pancake Tortoises (Malacochersus tornieri)
• Stomping for Earthworms by Clemmys insculpta in Captivity
• An Overview of Common Semi-Aquatic Turtles
• The Big-headed Turtle, Platysternon megacephalum
• Starting Out With Semi-Aquatic Turtes
• African Side-necked Mud Turtle: classification & husbandry
• Map Turtles of the United States
• The Matamata
• The Radiated Tortoise, Geochelone radiata
• Reeves' Turtles
• Building a Library: Turtle Books
• The Turtle Table

Rescue and Adoption Resources

• Turtle Homes
• BAARS Adoptions Page (San Francisco Bay Area)
• American Tortoise Rescue

Commercial Links

• Dealers, Breeders, Stores (kingsnake.com)
• Source for Earthworms and other worms (wormman.com)
• Pet Sitters!(petsitters.org)

Turtle Pond Sites and Outdoor Habitat Notes

• Outdoor Hibernation for Water Turtles
• Outdoor Setups, Ponds, and Racoons
• Edible Landscaping for Turtles
• My Pond And How I Built It

Duck Care Information

• My Duck Napoleon & A Care Sheet and Information on Ducks as Pets
• Never Ever Release Your (Imprinted) Pet Duck Anywhere!!!

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Last changed: Jan 22, 2004