Thinkin' about a softshell

boosh96

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 8, 2012
Messages
80
I've been kinda interested in softshell turtles lately, and I was just wondering-what is the SMALLEST species of softshell, and what size enclosure would one need? Thanks in advance for the help!
 

Entomancer

Arachnobaron
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
351
I don't know about sizes...what I do know is that they need really clean water and sand as a substrate; without these, the soft outer covering of the carapace tends to have issues with infections. The water cleanliness is obvious; from what I've heard, they actually dig through the sand to help exfoliate the epidermis on the carapace to keep it clean and free of debris.

I don't have any experience keeping them, but I were to make a serious attempt, I would go for a large tub (go to turtleshack.com) and a beefy, well-loaded canister filter to keep waste down. And again, enough sand on the bottom for the turtle to completely bury itself.
 

Ziltoid

Arachnosquire
Joined
Mar 30, 2011
Messages
69
I was going to buy a pet Turtles a few years back and was looking at some of the softer shell Turtles because they're absolutely amazing... But they're too much for me to care for. If you don't have that much time to take care of them, you may want to consider something else. LordRaiden covered all the details so i'm not going to repeat what he said. Just consider how much more time they take to care for than the average pet Turtle. best of luck!
 
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