Caring for your pet snappers, or any other turtles, means making sure that the turtle's basic needs - clean environment
and feed - are delivered.
To achieve that 10 to 15 minutes should be spent everyday on checking if the turtle is ok, removing
waste from the tank, checking the condition of the turtles ( cuts, bites etc. ) and feeding.
For more detailed information on keeping the water clean and turtles stomach full, please visit
the filter, water
and feeding IN CAPTIVITY chapters.
The water in the tank should be replaced and the whole enclosure thoroughfully cleaned
whenever necessary - the frequency depends on the size of the tank, the power of the filter and of course the size of
the turtle.
When finding an injured or infected turtle, the animal should be removed
from the tank right away and put in a seperate enclosure. Failing to do that
you will risk having other turtles nipping at the injured one and causing it more
harm or even death (the turtles will look at their camrade as nothing more than food).
To read about what to do with a sick turtle please visit the health checkups chapter.
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