This will give your turtle a challenge with a treat as a reward. Another fun game for your turtle is to “find-the-treat.” Hide crickets, worms, or other live insects around your turtle’s habitat for it to find.Place a treat at the end to provide motivation. Design obstacles out of your turtle’s natural habitat – stones, sticks, plants, and water pits. If your turtle enjoys this, then try placing the piece of fruit on your wrist so that you turtle has to crawl up your hand to get it. This takes some trust and familiarity but once some connection has been established between you and your turtle, try putting a piece of fruit on your hand. Train your turtle to eat from your hand.Consider providing your turtle with an empty shell that they can slide across the floor with or place a small toy raft in their water that they can push along for fun.Although it is completely okay to pet and play with your turtle keep in mind that turtles are generally a kind of pet that is better to look at than to constantly handle. To help avoid overfeeding, you should present food as your turtle eats it and remove all uneaten or partially eaten food after about five minutes.That way, your turtle will always know where to go to get their food. Indeed, many turtles will consume their food under the water, but if they do not, then you should leave your turtle’s food in the same location in the aquarium. Be careful not to overfeed your turtle, they can become obese. Younger turtles need to eat daily whereas adult or mature turtles only need to be fed a few times per week.Do not veer from the schedule, otherwise you will probably overfeed your turtle. Oftentimes, when your turtle sees you they will approach you with an open mouth because they associate you with feeding. Turtles are opportunistic feeders in the wild since they never know when the next meal is coming. You love your turtle and it loves you, but do not give your turtle food every time you witness begging. Always wash your hands before and after handling your turtle so that you do not transfer germs or contaminates to your turtle and to prevent the transfer of salmonella.The scutes on your turtle’s shell will become itchy and irritable if you do not keep the shell cleaned off. Algae will build on your turtle’s shell and will need to be cleaned off with a soft toothbrush.An unclean tank or turtle could result in several different types of diseases that are difficult to treat.Clean your turtle’s aquarium weekly or create a separate area outside the tank to feed and allow your turtle to excrete waste before reentering the aquarium.Moreover, all this waste could potentially cause high ammonia and nitrate levels. Marine Biologist & Reptile Specialist Expert Interview. If you do not clean their aquarium and don't have an adequate filter, both the turtle and its habitat will stink. Turtles are messy – they excrete, eat, and leave behind scraps of food in their water. This article has been viewed 416,357 times. This article received 35 testimonials and 85% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. WikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. She has spent the last nine years working as a biologist at the California Academy of Sciences. She is the founder and Executive Director of Things That Creep, a non-profit dedicated to herptile conservation through education.
Audra earned a BASc in Marine Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and studied Natural Sciences at the College of Marin. With over 15 years of experience, Audra specializes in reptiles and exotic animals, environmental education, marine biology, conservation issues, and animal husbandry. Audra Barrios is a Marine Biologist and owner of Lick Your Eyeballs, a business offering experiemces, reptiles, supplies and plants.
This article was co-authored by Audra Barrios.
0 kommentar(er)
