The tools of turtle care ... from tank to sand.

No pain, no gain. Not to sure about you, but I really hate that expression. Why do I have to experience pain to have some gain, and lets be honest, the whole no pain, no gain is rather vague in terms of how those two are doled out. Are we talking a little pain for bounding leaps of gain or lots of pain just to crawl forwards. I prefer the brains over brawn kinds of expressions.

Allow me to illustrate this for a moment. You have a 100 gallon tank that needs to be topped up. You haul out buckets and call in the family guard to prepare the line to pass it down - if your lucky, otherwise, you will be running back and forth. It takes more than just a few buckets to top up your turtle tank. You don't know the tools of your new pet and with an aching back and sore fingers from carrying the buckets, never mind lifting them to dump them into the tank, you can call the chore done, once you wipe up all the drips of water and small splashes. This is pain for gain theory.

You could also learn your tools, become familiar with something called a python and hook up a simple attachment to your kitchen sink and depending on whether you wish to clean out the bottom or top off the tank, you simply turn the tap on and open or close the bottom of the attachment to the sink. You might crack or split a nail if you bang it off something while waiting for the tank to finish topping off. You then disconnect, drain and put away. Never once breaking a sweat, unless its a dog day of summer and you have no air conditioning. This is brains over brawn.

Which would you rather?

I thought so too.

Turtles are notoriously messy and dirty. Or they should be else wise, you may not be doing something right. Did you know that aquatic turtles need water to help them eat their food. Did you also know that aquatic turtles kept as pets tend to defecate in that same water.

Turtles, depending on their age, are omnivores, both of my boys love grapes, strawberries, apples, cherry tomatoes and more. They eat anything that moves in their habitats - crayfish, shrimp, fish, snails. Live plants are not immune to a turtles chomp either, hornwort is gathered and made into beds, anything with tall stems like lilypads are bitten and 'set free'. And once you have finished spoiling your turtle, he leaves you a big ole replica of unwrapped hersey kiss. All of this creates a horrendous mess, often it will jam up your filter if you don't take these little details into account when designing and setting up their habitat.

A common misconception in regards to filtering tanks for turtles, is that the standards you use for a regular fish tank apply. It could, but remember that brain over pain concept ... applies here too. If you use a filter made specifically for your tanks size, you will be cleaning the filter more often and your filter choice will dictate the level that vein in your head pulsates at as your frustration grows at repeating a chore done just two weeks ago!.

If you use a filter designed for say two or even three times your tanks size, what you are doing, is allowing the filter to do all the hard work for you, for longer. Another benefit of this method is that the water itself is not as nutrient rich (breakdown of wastes or food left over), and because you will have to have a light for heat for your pet, you will eventually encounter an algae issue, if you do not stay on top of water quality. You will be cleaning the filter less, providing a much cleaner environment for your turtle and preventing one of the two requirements needed for algae to grow. That is brains over brawn.

I have touched on this before, but the size of the tank that you start with ... can save you a heap of money, time and effort. Get the absolute biggest tank you can afford, fit into your living space and believe it or not, make sure you living space can bear the weight.

Yes, I know your sweet turtle is the size of a toonie, all eyes and shell. Red earred sliders and other related species are aquatic turtles, they LOVE the water. I am saddened often to see turtles housed in a few inches of water, walking on a barebottom fish tank poking their head out of the top. Fill that tank right up and dump your little treasure in. They may appear to be struggling, but they are not. They are overwhelmed with joy. Chuckles.

By going big the first time, you save yourself a goodly amount of money as well as time and effort with constantly resetting up the new upgraded tanks. How much money depends on a variety of factors but I would guess-timate that you could save as little as twenty or thirty dollars to the higher number of hundreds of dollars. I got your attention I see.

Look at it this way, with pretend numbers for simplicity. New turtle, if the sales person is good at their job, a standard 20 or 30 gallon tank, lid and light combo as well, a thirty or forty dollar filter, a few bags of pebble rocks or sand, a few decorations and maybe even a aerator. A few hundred dollars easily if bought at a store all brand new. Using places like craigs list or ebay for cheaper used items is always a viable option to dampen costs.

A year passes your toonie turtle is now half a small dinner plate and looking cramped in his home. Time to upgrade. You'll save the cost of the turtle this round, and possibly a few of the other items, but you will need a new tank, hood and light, a larger more expensive filter, new filter inserts and possibly new aerator, heater, some additional rock or sand, to actually fill the bottom of the new tank. Yes, a couple of hundred dollars more than your last visit only a year or so ago.

As is the way of nature, you cute little turtle kept growing and is now a small dinner plate size. Guess what. Yep upgrade. You could sell your older stuff, search craigs list and ebay and like, but you see the pattern forming. Rewind to the day you originally bought the turtle. Had you gone with brains over brawn and gone big that first day, you would not be in a cycle of upgrades and happily enjoying your new pets.