Just expect to have a massive tank or outdoor pond in mind for when they're adults. My boy is now in an outdoor 700L tank to himself... They grow pretty big...
I try to avoid handling my guy cause they don't like it. Having said that though, when he was young I could place my hand in the tank and he'd swim over and rest in it etc. I just handle my boy only when I need to.
Some important things
- Make sure you provide him with a good diet; live aquatic plants, shrimp, freshwater fish etc. as they get older they'll become more herbivorous (vs. longnecks which remain pretty much carnivorous). I do also provide some pelleted foods in the form of Reptomin (large green container with a yellow lid) and nutrafin max (white container); I don't touch other brands, because from my experience they either are of worse quality, less palatable (i.e. my turtle doesnt like them) or they just disintergrate too rapidly in the water and make an absolute mess (in the case of Wardley turtle pellets).
- make sure they have a strong, stable, non-abraisive (smooth and no sharp points, yet so they can still grip onto it to climb up) large basking platform; i've always made my own out of perspex, used a heat gun to bend a piece down for the ramp and then siliconed river rocks on top (these must be smooth) for traction. the turtles must be able to completely dry off.
- if they're kept indoors they must have a special UVB bulb, I always gave mine 10.0UVB, I'd say the bare minimum is 5.0 but you'd be way better off to get the 8.0 or 10.0- NOTE if it does not specify exactly how much UVB it emits, then don't bother with it, its useless. UVB is vital for calcium absorption, without it you can get metabolic bone diseases.
- you will need a good canister filter; these provide a lot of media for your three types of filtration (biological, mechanical and chemical, if wanted). The biological is vital, because your friendly bacteria (these take weeks to grow and develop properly) break down toxic ammonia to nitrite, and then on to nitrate which is far less toxic. This still doesn't remove the need for water changes, because nitrates are not removed by bacteria, and can still build up to toxic levels.
- make sure the basking temperature is a few degrees higher than the water temperature to encourage the turtles to bask, soak up some UVB and to dry off
- I would avoid the use of fine/small gravel. I've heard quite a few stories from other turtle keepers that have had turtles eat the gravel which caused in compaction and death. Better to be safe than sorry and use larger rocks- I like using large polished river rocks as they're easy to clean, smooth so won't cause any damage and my boy loves digging around in them and moving them around
I've always liked to build 'above tank basking docks', where the basking area sits on the absolute top of the tank/tub etc, allowing the tank to be filled to the brim. when doing this though its VERY important that you have high enough 'walls' to keep the turtles in, because they can climb surprisingly well.
They're really active animals, love to explore
His old tank
My current tub
