My Children Want To Keep A Pet Turtle, I Need Help?

Answer:
Kids are always going to be kids and that's just part of their nature. Nothing is as cool a having a pet when your young because it's "your pet." There comes a time for every parent when their child asks them if they can keep that wild animal as a pet. The aquatic turtle is a very popular choice by children because they're such a fascinating creature.

Most are small in size and have the ability to hide in their shell whenever they desire. They can also live on water and land. Heck, now that I write this.. I want a pet turtle. I've created a help guide for parents to let their kids have pet turtles safely.

Choosing a Tank or Habitat

Depending on what species turtle you are choosing as a pet, will determine how large of a cage you will need. I've seen turtles in 20 gallon aquariums and I've seen entire backyards devoted to a cage with fence to keep the tortoise in. Research the full growth size of your turtle and decide what size of a cage you will need.

Needed Habitat Surroundings

All turtles need certain requirements to live healthy lives. They need a mixture of water versus land. The species of turtle will also tell you their habitats of living in the natural habitat. Some species live in water more than others while some can live on land more. Water, land, sunlight, and food are going to be the core requirements. Of you can't get real sunlight, you need to get an artificial UV light that replicates real sunlight. This is a big key for turtles because they bask in the sunlight.

Viruses and Bacteria - Beware

Turtles and tortoises have the ability to contract salmonella to humans which makes it very important to wash your hands thoroughly after handling the animal. The outside shell of the turtle is the most prone spot for salmonella. Years ago, there were cases in which mostly younger children were obtaining the sickness. Weaker immune systems are more prone to it (children and elderly). If hands are washes good after each handling, chances are very slim of anything occurring with it.

Food and Exercise

Research what your species of turtle eats and obtain that same food. Don't go the lazy route and just buy "turtle food" at your pet store because it is going to suck to the tortoise. You grabbed this animal from living nature, the least you could do is feed it what it is used to eating.

Don't leave the animal in the same cage for too long. It's unhealthy and nobody wants to stay cooped up like that. Take your animal out in your yard and let it live life and walk around. I don't think it's going to run away on you. Spoil your animal and make it have a food life. I've even dug water holes in my back yard for the turtles to lay in on the weekends while I mow my lawn and such. At the end of the day, it's about the animal being happy.

 

Releasing Carp Fish Back to Waters.. Problem?

My cousin and I were fishing yesterday and we were catching carp fish like no tomorrow. These guys are fighters and we had a lot of fun catching them all day long. We were telling a guy the story and he said it was illegal to release them back into the water.. We released all of them because we didn't wanna keep them. Is that true you have to kill them?


Randy7721 Posted:
It is illegal to release them back into the water but a lot of people do it. It's not like the DNR is going to serve you a citation for something such a nature.. Why they do this is actually a good thing to know though.

The carp species is actually invasive here in the United States and the fish eats the eggs of other fish because it is a bottom feeder and loves those eggs. So if you can imagine, carp kill thousands upon thousands of fish before they are even born. That's more powerful than some of the meanest predators out there.

So to try and stop the carp fish from being so powerful in the lakes and streams, they made laws statin that fishermen must kill all three fish that are caught. The more the government can kill, the better. After all, this species of carp isn't even from the u.s. but instead Asia. It was transported here and somehow got into the natural water systems.

So next time you catch a carp, you should actually wack it over the head and throw it on shore to let the other animals feed on it. Even with these sportsmen laws.. It's still doing little effect. To give you an idea how serious the issue is.. Our government has even made it legal to shoot these fish with shotguns out of boats as a sport to help bring down the numbers in lakes. So if you see videos of this.. That's what it is. Every hillbilly in the world is going to want a piece of that.. Shooting carp from a boat with a shotgun..

Marlen98003zzz Posted:
The shotgun thing looks amazingly fun because the silver carp jump out of the water and you get to shoot them out of the air like pigeons! I don't even know what states they are doing this out of but it seems crazy! I'm really wanting to try it the more videos I see. I did hear though that a woman got hit in the face with a carp and it broke her neck. Some of these silver carp get to be 100 pounds apparently..

Randy7721 Posted:
Yeah a really big silver carp can get a tiny bit over a hundo lbs. I think some of the records were in the 120s. Imagine taking a hundo pounds right to the face.. They won't be able to stop this fish from taking over the waters and its really annoying because then there will be a no wake rule because they jump 10 feet out of the water and possibly hurt people.