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Soft Shell Turtle

22 16:02:14

Question
My turtle is 4 inched living in a Aquarium 2 ft long by 1 ft wide by 1.5 ft high with water fill to a height of 15 inched. A Aquarium roof top with a small florescent light to keep water temperature normal during cold rainy days. Feeding it with dried fresh water shrimps bought from the pet shop. Can it breathe freely in this environment. Can it sleep in this depth of water? Hats the right temperature? Is fresh water fish as feed a better food? How big can it grow?

Answer
Hi Anthony,

Since you didn't give the exact species of your turtle, I can only give you some general information.  There are species native to North America, Africa, and Asia.  Softshells generally like a good depth of water, and for yours you need at least 6-8" (more is fine).  In all likelihood, your turtle will grow to be quite large and you will need a much bigger tank.  You didn't say if you have a filter installed, but softshells must have very clean water and if you don't have an excellent filter you should install one as soon as you can.  Fluorescent lights don't give off heat and you also need a source of UVB, so find a basking bulb, preferably one that supplies UVB as well as heat.  

You need to feed a better diet--more variety, and offer some greens as well.  Fish, worms, bloodworms, shrimp, etc. along with a good pellet diet.  Just feeding one item will likely result in health problems eventually.  I can't tell you how big your turtle will get because I don't know what species it is, but probably minimum would be about 8" and maximum could be much, much larger.

I recommend that first, you find out exactly what species you do have, and then that you do extensive research on that particular species.  Softshells can be quite challenging to keep, and some species can grow very large, so the sooner you learn all you can the better.  Please don't rely on the pet shop for information, because they rarely know anything about the turtles they sell and may give you very bad advice.  If you let me know the species, I can try to find some links on care for you.