Read this to help your baby water turtle live a healthy and happy life. They should not be purchased as it is illegal to sell them anywhere in the states if they are under four inches. You cannot give them away as prizes either.

Baby Water Turtle Care
Water turtles can live 50 or more years if treated properly and eventually moved to an o outdoor pond.

Read this to help your baby water turtle live a healthy and happy life.

1. Housing

1. An aquarium or even Tupperware are fine for baby turtles but make sure it is large enough and that wall are 4-5 inches high. Do not use sand/gravel on the bottom because turtles do eat this stuff and it can cause an impaction (inability to poop) or death. .
2. Fill the tank or Tupperware with several inches of tepid water and a fake log to bask on with real sun and a Kane heat pad underbeith. Your turtle should remain healthy until he is large enough (two to three years) and can be placed outside in a private pond in late spring. You cannot release a captive turtle back into the wild..

1. Feeding
   1. Baby turtles are mostly carnivorous so feed them tiny worms, slugs, bugs, prepared food like Reptomin, tiny fish - it's a guessing game. Some nibble lettuce floating on water. Feed once a day.
2. Bits and Pieces

1. Turtles will carry disease. Do not keep them in filthy conditions or feed rotting food. Always wash your hands after handling them or changing the water.
2. When the weather is warm, place them outdoors in a kiddie pool filled a little less than half with water. Add some floating pieces of driftwood to climb as well as  and few water plants to hide under.  Add a screen on top if you have birds that might carry them off.
3. If the turtle must live indoors permanently, then position them in a Rubbermaid container near an open sunny window for sunshine, as turtles will get shell-rot and fungus if not exposed to direct sunlight.
   
   ​Questions? Email info@tortoise.com.

Last night when I went to put the turtles away, I saw that Popcorn the 125 lb Sulcata had not eaten his breakfast, which is very odd. I looked in his house and saw that he was almost invisible and was below the level of the dirt.

The house is 12 feet long, so I could not get in there without suiting up. I was scared that he was digging a tunnel underground or that he was dead or upside down. I prayed to St. Francis and St. Anthony that things would be OK.

This morning I put on long sleeves and gloves, tied my pants legs closed at the ankle, put on a shower cap and grabbed my wide snow shovel. He was alive, and so I gave him a banana to keep him busy far away in his enclosure. They are not allowed to eat fruit so this was a big deal. I crawled and tried to refill the depression but realized the dirt was as hard as a rock, so I think the 6 months of heavy rain turned that area to mud and now it has hardened. Thank goodness as digging "burrows" is a no no for tortoises. They can collapse on them or they can actually dig so far that they go under a neighbor's house or worse. All's well but this was a good reminder of what it takes, caring for a tortoise! Be prepared to sacrifice yourself for your turtle or tortoise if there is a problem.

- Susan, American Tortoise Rescue, 2023