Turtle Times

Box turtle diet is where most box turtle health problems begin. The species sits awkwardly between aquatic-turtle and tortoise feeding patterns — not as protein-heavy as a slider, not as plant-only as a Mediterranean tortoise — and a lot of well-meaning keepers get the balance…

Snapping turtles are the species we’re most cautious about recommending. They’re long-lived, they grow enormous, they can deliver a serious bite, and they’re fundamentally not handling pets. They’re also misunderstood — the “will bite your finger off” reputation is overblown, but the “easy beginner pet”…

Softshell turtles are the weird ones — flat as a pancake, leathery instead of bony, with snorkel-like noses and the ability to bury themselves so completely in substrate that only the tip of the snout shows above the sand. Priya keeps a Florida softshell and…

The basking area is the single most-important part of an aquatic turtle setup that new keepers get wrong. Tom’s seen thousands of slider tanks over twelve years and the same four mistakes show up over and over: basking spot too cold, no UVB, bulb the…

This is one of the questions Linda answers most often: “can my turtle eat strawberries?” The short answer is yes, occasionally, for most species. The longer answer — which fruits, how much, how often, and for which species — depends on what kind of turtle…

Cooters are the larger, calmer cousins of sliders — same family (Emydidae), similar husbandry, but considerably bigger as adults and noticeably more plant-keen in their adult diet. Tom keeps a single Florida red-bellied cooter (Pseudemys nelsoni) and the standout difference from a slider is the…