# Turtles! Turtles! Turtles!



## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

Hello, i'm interested in buying a couple turtles.. male and female

First, I don't want BIG turtles I want ones the size of your hand (At full growth) i have searched images of long necked turtles, short necked and saw shell they are too big for my liking 

2. I'm 14 so I need a license my mum said she might let me get a turtle depending on the costs.
3. What kind of tank do I need? do a regular fish tank (Big one) satisfy their needs, or they a POND (Which I cant have because my dogs will eat them  )
4. How much a week/month does it cost in food? what do they eat?

Once I find out more i have more questions! thankyou


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

Oh, I didnt think so (They are when they are babys) well can you tell me the breed of the SMALLEST ful grown turtle (Short neck) ​


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

but they get really heavy  and harder to look after I guess would i need a pond when they are fullllll grown?​


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

Build? can't i buy a 3 foot fish tank? ​


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

How much am I looking @?​


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

Well I want a cute turtle  (Man I sound like a fairy) I duno.. short neck looks better than long neck but they grow heaps large​


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

define long time. Years/months?

and how do turtles have sex! are they like frogs boy can lay eggs and so can females or females have to lay eggs and males insemenate them?​


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

Yea thats a well known fact i learnt @ the wet lands over here in newcastle. if I dont get a turtle i might breed fish


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## cris (Oct 28, 2006)

macleay river turtles(emydura maquarii) only get to 18cm(carapace length). Apart from that no other turtles that are smaller are available in captivity.
Turtles do have sex too.


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

Never heard of them turtles can you post some images of them please =]?​


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## Tristis (Oct 28, 2006)

Repz If you wanan keep a baby theres no point getting just 1 in a 3 foot tank. But if you want 1 fully grown yer 3 foot would be sufficient for a short neck, long neck or saw shelled. 

Repz Not really, You can build a 3 foot tank for a fully grown short neck or long neck to live in. 

have you ever seen a adult turtle of those species, a 3 foot tank is far to small for an adult.


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## cris (Oct 28, 2006)

Benan said:


> Never heard of them turtles can you post some images of them please =]?​



no i dont have any pics, they look just like murray short necks(these are often just called short necks) if you google "emydura macquarii" you should find something.


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## Tristis (Oct 28, 2006)

i adult murry river turtle (maquarii, not maclay the normal ones) grow to about 30cm how can you keep it in a tank 90cm long its to small. they would need a min of 6x2x2 ft imo.
they also need heat and uv


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

I want the smallest turtle possible even when full grown how big of a tank will i need? and how long would it take for them to grow fully​


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## Tristis (Oct 28, 2006)

my murrays have gone from 20c peice size to 7cm in 4 months


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

WOW! Im seriously thinking of breeding fish LOL turtles seem to cost some money (tank, supplies etc)
​


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## nathan.c (Oct 28, 2006)

Hey guys,

Macleay river short necks are for sure the smallest if thats what your wanting i have kept them in a 3 and 4 foot tank at adult with no problem and bought them from a guy who bred them in that size tank. They all hatch out tiny but obviously will grow so a 1 foot tank is fine when they are small but you will need to upgrade as they grow other wise their shell will deform etc. If you go to your local aquarium im sure there will be setups that you could buy with a heater and filter etc and as said earlier make sure u get a good UV light for the tank. I know of some people who will have some for sale in a couple of months if you are interested?

Cheers
Nath


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

nathan.c said:


> Hey guys,





nathan.c said:


> Macleay river short necks are for sure the smallest if thats what your wanting i have kept them in a 3 and 4 foot tank at adult with no problem and bought them from a guy who bred them in that size tank. They all hatch out tiny but obviously will grow so a 1 foot tank is fine when they are small but you will need to upgrade as they grow other wise their shell will deform etc. If you go to your local aquarium im sure there will be setups that you could buy with a heater and filter etc and as said earlier make sure u get a good UV light for the tank. I know of some people who will have some for sale in a couple of months if you are interested?
> 
> Cheers
> Nath



That sounds good. Would I need a bigger tank for a female and male Macleay River turtle (Full grown)?


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## nathan.c (Oct 28, 2006)

ive kept the pair in those sized tanks with out a problem and no they are not exactly the same as a common short neck, short neck is a generalised term that can relate to northern snappers, saw shelled, murry river, mary river etc etc, these are a short neck from macleay river that is closley related to the murray short neck. tehy look pretty much the same just dont grow as large. And with out feeding them too much just nice and constantly they wont grow too fast, just nice and constantly. They can average in price, depends who they are off and if there are many around that year etc. im not too sure how much these will be going for but i doubt it will be untill december give or take.


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

So yes a pair of full grown ones would be good in 3 ft?​


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## cam (Oct 28, 2006)

Why is there no point in keeping a baby in a 3ft tank? REPZ?


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## nathan.c (Oct 28, 2006)

obviously the bigger the better but as i said its been done before. Yeh i have 3 northern snappers in a 3 footer no problems at all they love the room to swim around.


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## herptrader (Oct 28, 2006)

Benan said:


> define long time. Years/months?
> 
> and how do turtles have sex! are they like frogs boy can lay eggs and so can females or females have to lay eggs and males insemenate them?​




years.

You might want to have a look at some of the good information that is available on the internet. This is a good starting point: http://vhs.com.au/pages/Turtleintro.html


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

Oh okay, the reason im going to get a 3 ft tank is so I dont have to worry about gettin a BIGGER one when he grows​


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## hornet (Oct 28, 2006)

go a 4 or 5ft if you really want your turtle to be happy when he growns up, the turtles i have will be going into a 6 or 8ft but thats coz they grow to 50cm shell length and females can get to 85cm head to tail, but yea, get as big as you can make room foor, your turtles will love you for it


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

Whats a good fish tank place in Newcastle, NSW?​


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## cam (Oct 28, 2006)

aquarium


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

cam said:


> aquarium



you mean sydney one?​


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## Strange1 (Oct 28, 2006)

My pair of Macleays have a 4x2x2 tank, I wouldnt go any smaller for adults. Dont forget u need a basking area and all for them which starts to eat up some space.


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## Zeus_the_beardie (Oct 28, 2006)

i have two murray river turtles in a four foot tank, my tutles are about 15cm

IMO i deffently think bigger tank the better (according to their size) as soon as my turtles reach 2-3 years im wishing to get them a nice pond or something.

BTW you really need to do some research, these are special creatures with special needs


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

I have been doing research  im asking questions as some of my research i have until a couple days to decide my tank..​


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## Rastass (Oct 28, 2006)

Turtles aren't like snakes in that you need to start them in smaller tanks. My hatchies went straight into a 3 foot tank and are doing fine (although I sold all but 1). The only thing is that they dont tend to come out of the water as youngsters. And you also have years before they are too big.

But with Macquarii in NSW the only subspecies recognised until 2004 was Macquarii Signata (Brisbane River). The other Macquarii were all the same. Now they are different and they also have the Sydney basin one that I believe John Cann has decided were merely escaped pets. (Macquarii dharuk). But you would need to be careful to make sure you got the right species. Otherwise you will end up with a giant.


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## Benan (Oct 28, 2006)

a 3 ft tank would give them room


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## Rastass (Oct 29, 2006)

The problem we have is that there are only 9 on the NPWS licences as at the 2005 returns. That makes them rarer than GTPs (there were 111 of them). However there were 1210 Emydura Macquarii many of which would be from northern NSW. I have a mate who has them (I Know because I actually got them from the Clarence River in 1990) and I guess would sell any for about $100 each. But that's just a guess.

I can give you a male long neck with a 10cm shell.


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## DA_GRIZ (Oct 29, 2006)

i have a murray short necked turtle that is a juvie and i just moved him in to a bigger and better tank and he is alot more acctive now


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## DA_GRIZ (Oct 29, 2006)

Rastass if u are getting rid of the long neck if they don't take i will if it alright with my mum


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## Benan (Oct 29, 2006)

jessie can you please take a photo of your short neck i wana see what they look like.​


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## DA_GRIZ (Oct 29, 2006)

ok this is my murray short neck


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## Benan (Oct 29, 2006)

It looks very big is that a close up photo? or is it a full grown one?


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## DA_GRIZ (Oct 29, 2006)

its a close up it is only 5cm


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## Benan (Oct 29, 2006)

Can you take one thats further away?​


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## DA_GRIZ (Oct 29, 2006)

yeah but it will be tomorrow


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## Benan (Oct 29, 2006)

oki thanks​


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## ldheav (Nov 8, 2006)

Breden. how did you go looking at tanks, find anything that you liked look at putting a divider in, I get my big tank next week, as soon as it arrives i wil post pics to show everyone what i mean


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## ldheav (Nov 8, 2006)

Also mate i forgot to say
when you get your tank
Get an external Canister filter
i know they are expensive but it is soo worth the extra money


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## Ristof (Nov 8, 2006)

ldheav said:


> Also mate i forgot to say
> when you get your tank
> Get an external Canister filter
> i know they are expensive but it is soo worth the extra money


 
When/If you get a canister filter get one with a decent flow rate
With the amount of waste they produce I am looking at one that pumps at 1850lts per hour and that is for a 160lt tank. A 1500lph would do the job but my turts (murray short neck) like to swim against the current. Also the filter has an ajustable flow rate and 6 stage filtration. All this for only $189.

I used to have an ehiem but the flow rate was really weak and not worth being used with turts. The fish tank now uses it


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## ldheav (Nov 8, 2006)

My 6f has 2 canisters both 1200LPH

go Big as you can afford


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## SLACkra (Nov 9, 2006)

thought i would throw my 2 cents in

Why not as a cheaper more affordible method get your turtles say an aquaculture tub? you can get quite large ones! also it would be quite easy to turn say a 60L plastic container into one big filter using biolballs and a bit of plumbing stuff. 

a turtle tank is pretty much the same as a fish tank filtration wise and uses the same sortof bactieral setup. you just need to make sure that the amount of bacterial filtration you have is sufficient to process all the turtle waste from poo->Ammonia->Nitrite->Nitrate. 

also a 3ft tank would be tini for a turtle that gets nearly 1ft in diameter! also not sure if espansa is still on aps very often but espansa breeds the maquarie turtles that max out at like 23cm. 

Andrew


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## ldheav (Nov 9, 2006)

Yeh sounds like a good idea


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## IcedCactus (Nov 9, 2006)

hehe the title of this post just reminded me a lot of the end of a comedy thing i saw with stephen k amos.. doors! doors! doors! anybody else?


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