Opinions, please...

[Moozillion]

When I retire in 2-3 years, and am home more, I would like to get an aquatic or semi-aquatic turtle to keep in a large aquarium/paludarium inside. I am very familiar with the care and maintenance of freshwater aquariums: my family had them when I was a child and I helped my father with the siphoning, cleaning etc. As an adult I have kept several freshwater aquariums, the largest being a 70-Tall.

I live in south Louisiana which allows me to have Spotted Turtles since they are not native to our area. If I understand correctly, they need slightly cooler temps than we have here. That's no issue except once every 3-5 years our area will get a hurricane and lose power for a few days. During that time, we obviously have no air conditioning, and the air temp is very likely to be in the high 90s with equally high humidity. The longest we were out of power was 5 days due to Hurricane Katrina, so I figure we would never be out of power longer than that.

So my question is, just how stressed do you think a Spotted Turtle would be in unexpected high heat and humidity for several days? Would that likely make it sick?

My heart is not absolutely SET on a Spotted: I'm also considering native turtles like Razorback Musk or Striped Mud. (No laws governing their keeping here.)

 

[mike taylor]

Just get a generator installed on your house then you will have no problems keeping whatever . You can get one for about 4000 that will run your whole house no problem . They come with an automatic transfer switch that as soon as power is lost ten seconds later generator will take over .

 

[Yvonne G]

Or add an ice cube or two to the water...cheaper than a generator.

 

[TheNorwegian]

Or add an ice cube or two to the water...cheaper than a generator.

But where is she going to get ice cubes from if there is no electricity?

 

[Anthony P]

Spotted Turtles live as far south as Florida. They would surely be fine indoors in LA.

 

[Moozillion]

But where is she going to get ice cubes from if there is no electricity?

Bags of ice get quickly trucked in among other Emergency Supplies. After Hurricane Katrina, two of the first Emergency Supplies trucked in were MRE's and ice!

 

[TheNorwegian]

Bags of ice get quickly trucked in among other Emergency Supplies. After Hurricane Katrina, two of the first Emergency Supplies trucked in were MRE's and ice!

Ah, cool. I didn't think of that... This is not a normal problem for norwegians Good luck on finding a solution!

 

[Moozillion]

Ah, cool. I didn't think of that... This is not a normal problem for norwegians Good luck on finding a solution!

But I imagine you have MUCH better methods of coping with severe cold than we do down here!
About every 10 years or so we may get a light dusting of snow (about .5 inch/1 cm) and everybody panics: all the schools, government offices and many businesses CLOSE until the snow is gone!!!

 

[TheNorwegian]

But I imagine you have MUCH better methods of coping with severe cold than we do down here!
About every 10 years or so we may get a light dusting of snow (about .5 inch/1 cm) and everybody panics: all the schools, government offices and many businesses CLOSE until the snow is gone!!!

Yeah, I know. It's really funny to me, and anyone else in Norway. I don't live in the most "Snowy" places in Norway, but we often get a feet of snow for a month or four.

It's not problem-free too have tortoises in Norway though :/ They don't get to walk around outside enough...

 

[Earth Mama]

Just curious, how large of a tank would you need for these turtles? I'm only familiar with keeping soft shells and red ears.

Also like mike said, a generator would be perfect. We have one. We lost power for 4 days with Hurricane Rita and 3 days with Hurricane Ike. The neighbors were jealous. We had TV, music, food and most important A/C!!!

Can you post a picture of the type of turtle your thinking about?

 

[dduek]

In korea,even humid and hot summer, spotted turtle adapting this climate. It seems not necessary for cooling. But for make sure turtle's well being, i would like to recommend ice cube with plastic bottle that we can easily get in every market .

 

[Anthony P]

Here's a pic of one of my Spotted Turtles. I keep a group in a low profile 50 gallon Rubbermade Tub with a custom above tank egg laying area.

 

[Earth Mama]

View attachment 98929 Here's a pic of one of my Spotted Turtles. I keep a group in a low profile 50 gallon Rubbermade Tub with a custom above tank egg laying area.

Thanks for the photo. I've never seen one of these. Very pretty.

 

[Anthony P]

My pleasure ;-)