Can I put my turtle in the bath tub to exercise?
by Aquaboy on Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 | 24 Comments
I scooped one of those little baby turtles from a beach shop and he’s in such a tiny little aquarium thing. Should I fill the bath tub up just a couple of inches to let him swim around? Or will the chlorine hurt him???
okayyy just to back myself up..this turtle isn’t a sea turtle..it’s a like..land slash water turtle that beach shops happen to carry, but they could be carried in like..mountain shops too. and it’s been in captivity since born so it doesn’t know any better. and i’m a kickass captivator..he gets to sleep on my pillow 
chlorine will hurt him i suspect, mabye just fresh water or add salt.
im sure if you do a quick google you will find the answer
Awe! You’re so lucky i want a turtle soo bad..
I’m sure it wouls be okay for him, just dont leave him in for too long.
i think you should just google. from a beach shop? did u ask the owner what to do? you should call that shop tomorrow and ask. putting them in a tub sounds really cute though.lol
Uhm there’s no chlorine in bath water.
As far as I know I think it would be okay.
If you let the water sit in the bathtub for 24 hours, most of the chlorine will evaporate, and he should be safe to swim.
(btw this is the funniest question i have ever answered)
um theres not chlorine in bath water but i think u can but ull have to look on google or sumthing and c what kind of turtle it iz and c what water it takes like fresh or salt water!!!!!
CUTE! I don’t think there is chlorine in bath water, but that’s something I would ask a pet store or veterinarian. You should upload a picture of the turtle. Whats its name?
aww thats so cute! i love turtles!
U SHOULD ONLY USE BEACH WATER.. HES GOING TO DIE SOON BECUZ HES OUT OF HIS HABITAT
Get a cheap storage (plastic) box. You know, one of those fairly flat & long ones for under bed storage. Set that in the bath tub & fill with water you’ve had sitting in a bucket outside (takes the chlorine out- one hour per gallon) Be sure to have something in it for the turtle to get on if it doesn’t fill like swimming. Plastic isn’t good long term, but wouldn’t be bad for a short duration. I would avoid the excessive chlorine.
TO EVERYONE: I think the girl knows if there is chlorine in her own water! (this depends on where you live). yes, the chemicals will hurt it. it’s sad that the turtle has to live in captivity though. Would you like to live in a room the size of your bedroom? but, it’s nice to think of excersizing it. and yes, it does take 24 hours for the chlorine to evaporate but i still don’t know if I’d trust it.
why are you keeping him in a tiny aquarium? He should have a very large aquarium to swim in, 50 gallons, set it up like this: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v738/hoydisboyispinoy/DSC01639.jpg and this http://i15.tinypic.com/5y9vjbk.jpg
by the way, a tank as big as the bathtub, 55 gallons is what you should have. a 55 gallon is as big as a bathtub.
stop being foolish and save this turtle instead of killing it :
ATP : http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/housing.htm
diet is complicated!!! : http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/care.htm
wait, is this a baby box turtle, what species is it? How can you care for it properly if you can not even determine what species it is, and whether it is terrestrial or not!!!!
What kind of owner are you? Why would you let it sleep on your pillow, that is nonsense, turtles should have their own very large tank, where they can swim around and be happy, no turtle can possibly be happy if they don’t have a large tank filled with water, and a large basking area with plenty of light, uvb and heat.
just take a look at this you-tube video, this is the habitat you need to create to care for this turtle, if you can not do this, then you shouldn’t have gotten the turtle in the first place, they are not toys, so stop treating yours like a toy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3OAKLYzIq8&feature=related
ya, just make sure the bathtub is clean, and there is no soap. Turtles are really hardy, they can go thru a lot.
Tap water is bad unless conditioned. Do you know what kind of turtle you have? Red ear slider, yellow belly slider etc. The diet and size is different for most species. You need ten gallons for every inch of the turtle but the best thing to do would to be to buy a tank that it can live in as an adult.
Is he getting UV light? All turtles need this or else they’ll develop soft shell.
Dose he get fish and veggies in his diet?
There is so much you need to know that exercises is the least of your worries right now.
But mostly learn what kind of turtle he is. Then google some care sheets for that turtle. And yes, care sheet(s) as in as many as you can read in three days and more. Buy a book on that breed and study up cuz turtles are NOT easy to care for.
nope nope nope..they get stressed from being moved,handled..leave them in a tank..no swimming with the turtles..
If you just got them you can put them in the bath tub. BUT just think of all the soap scum and comet left in the tub after it drains. Could cause the little guy to get sick.
Advive?
Remember 10 gallons for every inch of turtle.
One BABY turtle ( over 3” ) should have a 55 gallon tank to start.
And my pictures don’t lie. All ages and all sizes get along as long as their is allot for swim room and plenty to eat!
Sliders, westerns, cooters , midland, painted, map, yellow bellied all are basically the same and require the same basic care.
They NEED calcium and protein they get it from the fish meat and the fish bones. Drop 20 or 30 or so feeder guppies or small goldfish or minnows they maybe a bit fast for babies at first just drop in the tank and watch them disappear in a few days! The more they eat the healthier the turtle. When I got these two 36 yrs ago all we had in back then were goldfish to feed so after 36 yrs and still going strong. If these are hatchlings a 1” and a tad over they may need to have their live food half dead by leaving the fish out of water for a few minutes (10minutes) and put in the tank. That way the baby can get the meat he needs and the fish can’t out run the baby turtle.
This way when they swim for their dinner they get exercise also!
Plus I also feed dried cubed blood worms or tubiflex worms at least 50 cubes 5 times a week for my five..
They can have garden worms which I collect after a good rain and dump them un the pond, also meal worms, snails, crickets, flies, crayfish small frogs, slugs, tadpoles ,dragon flies and anything that moves, but only as a treat.
They need leafy greens Romaine, Butter lettuce. (Iceberg and cabbage are bad for them, any other leafy greens will do) for vitamin A that they need at least 4 to 5 times a week.
They love grapes and strawberries and squash , apples. For small turtles cut in small bite size pieces.
TOSS in a bird cuttle bone in the water for calcium that will promote better shell growth, it will dissolve real slow and if they eat it that’s fine!!
Did you know that they need to bask under a reptile light UVA/UVB for up to 8 hrs a day for the vitamin D that they need to grow. So they need a turtle basking dock.
Gravel larger than they can swallow, alot larger.
Leave the heater on 78 to 80 degrees always. Their water needs to be clean otherwise they get sick easily from dirty water cause they poop allot. You need a GREAT filter system!
These turtles in captivity do not hibernate their eating may slow down some but they will not hibernate.
They will bite very very hard. Under 4″ they carry a disease called ‘salmonella’. So you must wash after every handling ANY size turtle..
They can become cannibalistic if you have 2 or more turtles and a small environment. They will kill off the smallest and then fight for the tank for themselves.
But if you have plenty of room and fish they will get along fine. My pictures prove that.
Size for basic aquatic turtle is approx Body length: 5-8″ is average for males, up to 12 inches max for females, but average is about 9 to 10“ in captivity. Life span: 15-25+ years plus.
Males have the longer front nails and are used in mating. And are considered mature at about 5 yrs old. You can’t start sexing till about 3” across. Do not cut the males nails!!
They sleep at the bottom of rivers, streams. lakes or ponds or your tank to avoid predators like coyotes, foxes, owls, hawks, possums, raccoons and even some wide mouth bass and us humans.
***Some sicknesses they get easily.
Like shell its actual holes rotting through the shell.
Respiratory sickness, lopsided swimming, coughing, vomiting, blowing bubbles from their nose. .
**Swollen cloudy eyes which means lacking in Vitamin A. Which we all need for good eyes. Google ‘vegetables with Vitamin A.
Fungus white cotton patches on their skin, treat by adding a 1/4 of a cup of aquarium salt per 5 gallons to irritate and hopefully kill fungus. The addition of sulfa drugs such as those sold at pet stores under the name “Dr. Turtle” also should help kill fungus. Here is one source that sells Dr. Turtle. They also now sell a Sulfa dip by Zoo Med to treat bacteria and/or fungus.
Contact rescues sites…
Red-Eared Slider: http://www.anapsid.org/reslider.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29035692@N03/sets/72157611311809399/
Listen to Peek and Veronika, they know what they are talking about. You can put him in the bath tub temporarily, until you can get him a good sized tank, no less than 50 gallons.
Call the beach shop and ask what kind of turtle it is. After you find out, research, research, research! Keep in mind, you might end up spending 300 bucks at minimum. If you can’t do this, find someone who can and give it away. Don’t let it go if it has been in captivity their whole life. They won’t know how to survive in the wild. If you have to, give it to a nature center or wildlife rescue.
Don’t let him sleep on your pillow, you might get sick. Good luck, and I hope this turtle stays with you many happy years.
I put my turtles in the bathtub all the time. Go buy some distilled or drinking water from the store to put in the tub. It has been filtered and the chemicals that would be harmful have been removed. You could also (this is a little cheaper) go buy some water nuetralizer from the pet store (walmart also carries it) it will remove chemicals from the tap water. Make sure to follow the directions on the bottle. Do the same thing with his tank. You should be good to go.
Turtles need alot of water and room to swim, I would recommend moving him to a 20 gallon tank or larger, about half way full of water with aquarium gravel on the bottom. A filter should be used in the tank. Turtles drink the water they live in, so it needs to stay clean. You should also get a heat lamp and a rock that sits slightly above the water for him to bask. They are cold blooded so the water should be somewhere around 75-80 degrees F. I can’t keep mine exact, I usually just try to get the water just a little warm to the touch, and my turtles are very happy. They are quite a commitment, they can live for a very long time (up to 20years I think…) if taken care of properly. The tank needs to be cleaned often and can get dirty fast.
Here’s some other useful stuff. Does it have red marks on it’s ears? It is probably a red eared slider (very, very common type) I own two of them. The correct term for a land/water turtle, is aquatic turtle (generalized term, there are many types). You can tell what sex it is by looking at the back claws, if they are long, it is a male, if they are short, it is a female.
Also, I would not let him sleep on your pillow. Turtles can be carriers of the salmonella virus. You need to wash your hands thuroughly before and after handling the turtle and/or cleaning out his tank. This will help keep you and the turtle healthy.
Hope this helps you out!
…um… It’s a turtle – not a fish? It doesn’t breath under water or have gills… The fresh water should be fine in moderation. Pond water is good for a turtle because it develops nutrients and food – algea, bugs, etc.,. I let my 4 year old put his turtle in a baby pool often – usually about 15 – 20 minutes at a time without ever a problem. But it lives in a large filterless tank outside and I do water changes 1 x per week using my koi pond water. My sons turtle is very active and eats a lot of feeder fish which I put in its tank for excercise (its fun watching the turtl;e swim rapidly to catch its meal.) Just treat the thing gingerly and don’t over handle it. It should be fine.
hell yeah you can put it in the bathtub. i do htat all the time. i own over 20 turtles of assorted species. mainly box turtles. i’ll bet your turtle is a red eared slider.
sum of u guys dont no how to read. he said tht its a land/water turtle so its a fresh water turtle and not a fkin sea turtle, and yea u can put it in a bath tub just make sure its not to hot or to cold
First, of all you shouldnt leave him out of the water too long they need to stay moist but when they do come out its only so the turtle can have some sun because its shell can get weak by being wet all the time so it hardens by the heat and since its a baby turtle you should give extra heat also the turtle has salmonella until its four inches or larger thats why its illegal selling them so young
I don’t know much about turtles, but I would say
Put him in the tub with 3-4 inches of water for no more than 2 hours. Then take him out. If he’s sleeping and you can’t wake him then I wouldn’t do it again! Good luck.
Outstanding resource, nice one for sharing! Best wishes.
The turtles sold in the beach shops in Daytona Beach are yellow belly sliders. I have two myself. If u are unable to buy a large tank at this time go and get a large rubbermaid container and start building a habitat with that. The turtle will need a basking area (land, rock etc.) to get on under a heat lamp to bask and a lamp that will produce daylight (UVA / UVB lights are needed. Turtles are diurnal, so make sure your lighting goes off at night so they can continue thier normal cycle. You will probably need some kind of filter set up we use a Decorative repto filter so it doesn’t have to attached to the tank it will sit by itself cause it looks like a big rock. Your turtle will be fine. Watch the water level if you see him struggling then take a little of the water our until he gets stronger.
People if you have ever seen the conditions these turtles are kept in inside the store you would buy one too but you can not release them because they would die.
All bath water that comes from a tap of county water has chlorine in it that is a federal law otherwise it would not be safe for you to bathe in or drink.