Sideneck Turtle Stinky?

Question
I just purchased a sideneck turtle from a local pet store for my son and he is just thrilled about his new pet.  I wish I could say the same thing, the smell that is coming out of his room from this turtles' aquarium is making my eyes tear up like an onion!  It smells horrible!  I am having to change the water in this cage every three days and it still stinks up after the very next day!  Am I doing something wrong?  Or are sideneck turtles just naturally smelly animals?  I have a filter in the 4-5 inches of water I am keeping in his tank but the smell is just killing me and stinking up my sons room.

Answer
LOL! You have fallen victim to the Great Turtle Scam.

Turtles are often sold as cheap, easy to care for, animals with simple needs. Most turtles are sold with far-too-small tanks and filters, wrong foods, etc.

The reality is this: Turtles have three basic needs-

1. Good water. "Good water" is a BIG tank, at least 10 gallons of actual water per inch of shell length. It is warm (75-80F), and clean. Unfortunately, because of the amount of waste a turtle produces, you need a BIG filter to deal with the wastes. We recommend about 3 times the size the tank usually needs- so a 20 gallon tank would need a 60 gallon filter. A good filter will run about $75-100.

2. Good sun. Turtles worship the sun, and need the opportunity to do so in captivity. We offer a good basking site, something that is easy to climb without hurting the turtle (driftwood is my favorite). Then, we heat the basking site to about 90F. We usually use a basking light to both illuminate and warm the basking sites. Offering UVB light helps as well, but needs a special bulb.

3. Good food. Most water turtles do best on a mix of about 1/2 good pellets, and the rest live or frozen/thawed 'fish foods' like small fish, krill, shrimp, insects, worms, etc.

Cover these three basics- which admittedly costs money and takes some work- but once you get it going well, it goes on its own pretty well.

Now- big tanks seem like a pain, but they also stay cleaner a lot longer. Combine the right diet, a big tank, a big filter (of a good design), and about a weekly 'siphon vacuuming' of the bottom of the tank (you would be amazed at how much of the stink is coming from food and waste in the gravel!)- siphoning out and changing about 1/4th of the water- and you get close to crystal clear, odorless water!

You should review the 'filtration' article (and other offerings) at http://www.austinsturtlepage.com for lots of helpful information.