A proper layer of substrate at the bottom of any aquatic aquarium environment, whether it be for turtles or tropical fish, actually performs a few different purposes. All of them useful to maintaining a safe, stable situation for the animals living within the aquarium. First of all, the substrate (most commonly a layer of clean gravel) obviously goes…
Blog Posts in: Beginner's Basics
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Do Carrot Juice Soaks Really Work?
No, that’s really only a myth! Apparently someone, somewhere, heard that soaking turtles in carrot juice could somehow be beneficial, and then passed this misinformation on, where -like most urban legends- took on a life of its own. The whole assumption is based on turtles absorbing vitamins from the carrot juice in through their skins. The entire…
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How to Cycle Your Turtles Aquarium – (a beginners guide)
For those of us who have spent a lifetime raising and keeping Aquatic Turtles, the term “cycling” or more correctly “biological cycling” is a commonly understood subject. For beginners in the hobby though, hearing the constant “cycling” reference without really understanding the principle or the application of this process, can be understandingly confusing. Biological cycling of an aquarium establishes a system…
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Do Aquatic Turtles Shed?
Question: Do Aquatic Turtles Shed?
Yes, actually they do. As Aquatic Turtles grow it is normal and quite common for them to shed scutes (the outer layers of sections of the shell) as the shell grows and the turtle gets larger. Many times you can see these…
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Do turtles and tortoises hibernate or brumate?
Question: So is it Hibernation? Or Brumation? When talking about turtles and tortoises.
Actually both terms are correct. Up intel the mid 1960’s the term “brumate” did not exist, and all animals (warm and cold blooded) that went through a winter dormancy period of reduced activity were considered to be in some level of “hibernation”. It was not intel 1965 that a Dr. W.W. Mayhew, acting on his own without the support of the scientific community, created…
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How long do I leave on my basking lights each day? And how do I...
Question: How long do I leave on my Basking Lights each day? And how do I know how far away from the basking spot to put them?
Basking lamps are “timed duration” heating, meaning that they are only active for specific time periods throughout the day. Generally, most Aquatic Turtles should have a minimum of 6…
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Addressing Water Clouding in Aquatic Turtle Aquariums
Welcome to the Turtle-tech review of the primary causes for water clouding in Aquatic Turtle aquariums, an issue all turtle keepers deal with from time to time. Certainly, there is nothing more disappointing then to create a beautiful environment for your turtles only to have the aquarium quickly cloud up and make everything a murky mess…
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Turtles and The Social Media – Part 2
In part one of this series we noted that the world of today practically lives on social media. At any given moment there are millions of people exchanging information and ideas, in literally thousands of various chat groups. But as we all well know, social media is a mixed bag of goods and bads, positives and negatives, facts -and most certainly -fictions…
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The Nutritional Life Cycles of Aquatic Turtles
So how do you choose the right food for your turtles? There are a lot of different brands out there and let’s face it, all of them profess to be the best. Sure, there are the leaders: TropicZone, Zoo Med, Tetra. But do even…
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Turtles and The Social Media – Part 1
It seems the world of today practically lives on social media. At any given moment there are millions of people exchanging information and ideas, in literally thousands of various chat groups. But as we all well know, social media is a mixed bag of goods and bads, positives and negatives, facts –and most certainly -fictions…