Baby Turtle Care
This is how to make your new baby turtle arrival comfortable. At the youngest stage in life, animals are at their most delicate. They must be handled gently to not be physically damaged or hurt. This means that baby turtle care is the most important part of giving your turtle a great start for a strong future. Overall turtle care is slightly different from that of caring for the babies, so if you currently have an older turtle, simply introducing the new baby into the same tank is not the right thing to do.
Proper baby turtle care requires shallow water in a tank, a little deeper than the turtle’s shell is wide. As with adult turtles, there should also be a basking area that is out of the water. The area should be easily accessible via a gradual ramp coming out of the water. The tank can even be placed at a slight slant so there is a spot with deeper water as well as a prime basking spot. Both the water and the basking area should be kept warm with heaters and lamps. Turtles are cold blooded animals and being warmed from outside sources is important to promote good immune system health. Especially in babies that are weaker, warm temperatures are essential.
In addition to keeping your new turtle warm, clean water is vital to proper baby turtle care. Water should be changed extremely regularly, as often as every day. With the installation of a filter, the frequency can be extended to a few days between changes. Filters can create currents that are too strong for babies to paddle against so watch carefully to see if the filter has an adverse affect on the comfort of your baby turtle. Even if the water looks clear, chemical deposits invisible to the naked eye build up daily and can harm your baby turtle. Regular water replacement is a basic turtle care fact, but it is even more important for babies to have clean, fresh water so they can grow strong and healthy. Each water change should go through a de-chlorination process to limit negative affects chlorine has on aquarium nitrogen cycles.
Baby turtle care dictates that you feed your animal foods rich in vitamin D3 and calcium. D3 can be absorbed through sunlight exposure and from supplements. Calcium is found in foods like boiled and crushed eggshells, crushed oyster shell and cuttlebone. Providing the right size of tank, temperature and foods will allow your baby turtle to thrive and grow into a healthy adult animal.
