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 #2063336


Crazymaddy10
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 Need help soon

I have hermit crabs now. My favorite animal is a turtle though. I thought about getting bearded dragons but decided they were to much work and was thinking about getting a turtle or two.
I was wondering these things though. do you HAVE to buy them in pairs? how old do painted turtles get with good care? what do you feed them? What is easier to take care of? A box turtle or a painted one? How much do they cost? do they need a heat lamp? I would also appreciate any other info you can supply me with. thanks!



08/25/09  02:39pm

 #2063362


Heatseeker
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   Message To: Crazymaddy10   In reference to Message Id: 2063336


 Need help soon

Well most turtles live to be very old 50 to over 100 yrs old. So they are life long pets. As far as what kind is better it all depends on you. How big do you want it to get, do you want to deal with cleaning a water tank or picking up poo from a land turtle. yes they all need heat/UVB lights. How much room will you have and will it be an inside or outside enclosure? Can you provide a pond for water turtles that get big later down the road? or at least a very very large fish tank for some? How cold/hot does it get where you live? Can the turtle go outside in the summer or possibly winter too? Its hard to give you info without knowing what you want or can do. Each turtle has different requirements. I would suggest doing a search on-line about some different kinds you may be interested in. Most (not all) turtles eat veggies and animal matter (bugs, fish, worms, other meat) but some (again not all) tortiose’s only eat veggies, grass and hay. They do make turlte/tort pellets but that should only be some of the diet no all of it. So give us some ideas of what you want or could have and we can give you more info.
08/25/09  03:21pm

 #2063706


Crazymaddy10
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   Message To: Heatseeker   In reference to Message Id: 2063362


 Need help soon

gosh hermit crabs seem to be so easy compared to all these animals im looking at getting. mabey a snake would be better. I definitly cant have a pet that will go 50 years. i want something small. inside tank. It cant go outside in teh summer because we dont have afenced in yard. winter here can sometimes get below zero degrees so them outside in winter is impossible. plus they might get buried in the snow. im thinking mabey a painted turtle. do you know how long they would live?



08/26/09  10:43am

 #2063888


Heatseeker
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   Message To: Crazymaddy10   In reference to Message Id: 2063706


 Need help soon

Well you can start off with a small lizard such as an anole or a whiptail- they live 2-5 yrs and can keep one in a 20 gal fish tank (the whiptail may need a bigger one later). Even leopard geckos live 20 yrs... ball pythons live 20-40 yrs or more, corn snakes live 15-20 yrs but they both can be kept in 20 gal tanks.

There’s different kinds of painted turtles and females get larger then males. You would need a tank that is 50 gal to 125 gal when they are full grown depending on what kind you get. Or a very large indoor type pond - this could be a large animal stock tank or something.
They live about 40 yrs in the wild but less in captivity - 20 yrs or so... depends on the care they receive. Here’s some sites you can read.
http://www.tortoise.org/archives/chrysemy.html
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheet-eastern_painted.htm
http://www.smm.org/warnernaturecenter/animals/paintedturtle/
08/26/09  06:37pm

 #2063916


Crazymaddy10
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   Message To: Heatseeker   In reference to Message Id: 2063888


 Need help soon

I just saw pics of anoles and whiptails. The anoles i thought were adorable! And 2-5 years is exactly what im looking for in a life span for a pet. so now i will do my research on anoles. thank you so much for suggesting them!



08/26/09  07:57pm

 #2064091


Heatseeker
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   Message To: Crazymaddy10   In reference to Message Id: 2063916


 Need help soon

Your welcome, hope it works out for you :) Anoles are very cool little lizards. Just make sure you do lots of research and have a tank set up for them before you get one.
08/27/09  09:35am

 #2065122


Crazymaddy10
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   Message To: Heatseeker   In reference to Message Id: 2064091


 Need help soon

ive been talking to people on the anole forum and they say there a lot of work to. but they suggested beta fish. so here i go again into a hole new researching party. whoo hoo.
08/29/09  04:18pm

 #2065242


Heatseeker
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   Message To: Crazymaddy10   In reference to Message Id: 2065122


 Need help soon

Well I guess it all depends on how much work you consider too much. I don’t think my lizards or tutrles are too much work at all, but that’s just me, I love taking care of them :) everyone is different. Hopefully you will be able to find something that is right for you.
08/29/09  08:17pm

 #2065520


Crazymaddy10
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   Message To: Heatseeker   In reference to Message Id: 2065242


 Need help soon

hermit crabs are just perfect work for me. im thinking mabey a betta would be perfect work to.



08/30/09  05:46pm


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