Care for Baby Water Turtles

Turtles make excellent pets. They are slow moving, quiet, calm and easy to care for. Turtles make good pets for anyone who is a beginner in handling reptiles, and they are fairly inexpensive pets to own. Water turtles require more work to care for because they are more active than land turtles. Turtles can carry disease, so you should make sure you always wash your hands after handling them and young children should never handle water turtles, or any animal, alone.

  1. Housing

    • Baby turtles thrive best in an aquarium with very shallow water. You can allow them to feed in water that is deep enough to swim but should not remain in the deep water. Make sure to provide them plenty of rocks and other items that closely mimics their natural habitat so they can climb out of water when they wish. Ensure that the rocks you use are smooth and do not have any sharp edges, which could harm your turtle. You can use smooth driftwood as an alternative to rocks. Many pet stores have starter kits that contain everything you need to keep your baby turtles happy.

    Feeding

    • You should feed your baby turtles in another location from where they live. The water can get very dirty, as they are messy eaters. Use water from the aquarium where they live and add fresh water back into the tank so that you are constantly replenishing the dirty water. Small flake and pellet foods are sold specifically for baby turtles and can be purchased at any pet store. Turtle sticks are the most common turtle food sold and are great for feeding turtles of all ages. Turtle sticks look like pellets and provide complete nutrition for growing babies.

    Heat

    • Turtles should be kept and maintained at a temperature between 75 to 85 degrees. For aquariums that require shallow water, you can use a submersible heater that will keep the temperature constant for the baby turtles, or you can try using a heat lamp. It's important that the babies do not get cold. A turtle that is not kept in tropical temperatures will stop eating and die. You can turn the light off at night to simulate night time but the aquarium will have to stay warm during this time.

    Sunlight

    • Baby turtles need adequate daily sunlight so that they can climb on a rock or other surface and bask in the rays. Sunlight or ultraviolet light in important for a turtle to properly utilize calcium. This makes the shell hard and keeps the turtle healthy. Be sure to also provide shade so that they can get out of the sun when they get too hot. If they get too hot, they will bake from the inside and this will kill them.