The 16 Most Common Turtle Care Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Being a turtle owner is not very hard, turtles are very easy to maintain compared to other pets. But there are a lot of mistakes that you can make that could make your turtle’s life unpleasant.

In this article, you are going to find out the 16 most common turtle care mistakes that people make and how to avoid them. To write this article I’ve used my personal experience and mistakes, and I’ve also asked all the persons that I know that own a turtle about the mistakes they did as a beginner. But you don’t have to be a beginner to make those mistakes, even if you owned a turtle for years, you can still make some of those mistakes, the important thing is that after reading this article you will know what those mistakes are and how to avoid, or correct them.

1. Not Having Enough Information

These is the most common mistakes people make. They are generally caught up in the excitement of getting a new pet and they forget to get enough information. Or sometimes they just think, that it’s a turtle all it needs is a tank with water and some pellets to eat, and this is completely wrong. Turtles need a lot more than a tank with some water in it and some food.

Other times people have a basic idea about what a turtle needs, but they don’t know what their specific turtle species needs. Based on the species of the turtle it needs will be a little different.

If you are thinking about getting a pet turtle make sure that you have the proper information before getting the turtle. Or if you are already a turtle owner but you are not sure that you know everything that you need about your turtle you should still do some research.

If you want to read more about turtles and how to properly take care of them you should check out the Care Guides on this site, where you will find all the information you will ever need.

2. Choosing a Species that Is Difficult

The next big mistake that most people do is choosing a species that is hard to take care of. Even if in general turtles are not hard to maintain, some species are more demanding than others.

It might be tempting to get an exotic species as a pet, but if that species is hard to maintain you will be doing a disfavor to you and to your turtle. Your turtle will have to live in improper conditions, and you will have to spend a lot of time trying to take care of it.

If you are thinking about getting your first turtle, choose a species that is suitable for a beginner. If you are not sure which are those species check out this article: Best Turtle Species for a Beginner.

3. Not Getting a Tank That Is Big Enough

This is not a big mistake, but if you do this right from the beginning things are going to be a lot easier for you and your turtle.

When choosing a tank for your turtle you have to think about two things: first is that as a general rule of thumb you are going to need at least 10 gallons of water per inch of shell, and the second thing is that your turtle is going to grow really fast if it’s still a baby or a juvenile.

There are several reasons why you will want to get a bigger tank from the start. The first one is that in the long run, you are going to save a lot more money if you get the biggest tank from the start and you won’t have to get a new cheaper one every couple of years when your turtle grew too big for its current tank.

Another reason you will want a bigger tank from the start is that turtles are very messy, and a bigger tank means more water, more water means that your turtle will need more time to make it dirty, so instead of having to clean the tank once a week, you will have to clean it once every two, or even three weeks.

Cleaning the tank is not that hard but it can get pretty repetitive and a little annoying after you do it every week for years and years, so you can at least make things easier for you in the beginning.

Another reason is that more space is in general better for the turtle, they have more space to live in and to swim around, and that is always a good thing.

So by getting a bigger tank from the start you are actually doing yourself a big favor. If you don’t know what to look for in a good tank you can check out the Recommended Gear page where you will find guides on how to find a good tank as well as some recommendations.

4. Not Making a Proper Basking Area

Basking areas are vital for good turtle health, and if you don’t know too much about turtles you might not know that turtles need a place where they can heat up, and get UV light.

A proper basking area needs to have a certain temperature, based on the species of the turtle, and it also needs a UVB bulb, that provides UVB light, which is essential for the turtles to produce Vitamin D3 and to properly use calcium and other nutrients.

Making a proper basking area is not hard, but it’s essential for the turtle and it can be easily overlooked by somebody who doesn’t know to much about turtles.

You can read more about how to properly heat and light a basking area in this article: Guide for Lighting and Heating a Turtle Tank and Basking Area.

5. Overfeeding

Turtles will usually eat everything you give them, no matter how much, so overfeeding them is a really easy thing to do if you are not careful.

Turtles won’t get chubby if you feed them too much, instead, they will start pyramiding, which is a serious affection that is untreatable. Pyramiding happens because turtles eat too much food, usually too much protein, and their shells start to grow bumps. Those bumps are part of the shell and they cannot be treated and will remain there for the rest of their lives.

In general, pyramiding is not very dangerous, the only time it can be considered dangerous is when the bumps become too pronounced. If your turtle already shows signs of pyramiding you shouldn’t worry too much about its health, because it shouldn’t be affected in any way at this point. But you should definitely reconsider your diet.

6. Underfeeding

Turtles can be as easily underfed, especially baby and juvenile turtles. Baby and juvenile turtles will need more protein in their diet than an adult turtle would need. During those early stages of life, they are growing at a significant pace and a lot of protein is needed to develop a healthy shell and bone structure.

If a young turtle is underfed it will grow at a much slower pace, or it will stop growing until it gets the required food.

Any turtle that is underfed will start to lose weight and will look a lot skinnier, this is not always easily observable since most of their body is covered by the shell. But if you inspect your turtle carefully you should figure it out.

If you believe that your turtle might be underfed you should start feeding it a little more and see if there are any changes in its appearance and behavior, underfeed turtles will also be less active than a good feed turtle would be.

If you want to know more about how to feed your turtle check out the Care Guides section of the site, where you will find multiple guides for multiple turtle species.

7. Not Offering Enough Food Variation

This happens more often than you might think. Even if turtles will usually prefer meat over any other kind of food, they still need to eat fruits and vegetables.

In the wild turtles have a very varied diet and meat is usually very rare, some turtle species are lucky if they get to eat meat once a week. So when they are on their own they will eat a lot of wild plants, vegetables, and fruits if they have the chance.

You shouldn’t make vegetables and fruits their primary food source, but it will be a good idea to give them some at least once every couple of days.

Baby and juvenile turtles will sometimes ignore them completely, since most of them require a lot of protein that can’t be found in fruits and vegetables, or at least not in the quantities they need. In some turtle species, the adults are omnivorous, but the baby and juvenile turtles live strictly on meat because they need a lot of protein to develop.

Even if you have a young turtle that doesn’t seem to be interested in fruits and vegetables you should still try to give it some occasionally, at some point it will change its mind.

If you want to know what fruits and vegetables are safe for your turtle to eat, you will find a chapter dedicated to this in this article: What do Turtles Eat?

8. Not Getting a Good Enough Filtration System

This is really easy to mess up, and it usually happens to a lot of people when they are getting their first pet turtle.

Most water filters are designed for a certain volume of water, 40 gallons, 60 gallons, 120 gallons, and so on. And normally you would think that you have to get a 60 gallons filter for your 60 gallons turtle tank, but you would be very wrong. You will need at least a filter that is designed for 120 gallons, or even more if possible.

The recommended tank sizes of those filters are usually for fishes, who are not a mess, but turtles are very, very messy and the water will get dirty at a very fast pace. So unless you want to clean the tank, and the turtle twice every week, you will get a water filter that is at least two times more powerful than you need based on water quantity alone.

Turtles also benefit from this greatly, staying in dirty water for long periods of time is also bad for them as well. So you aren’t doing this just because you will have to clean the tank less often, but because your turtle needs it as well.

If you want to know more about how to pick a good water filter and what are my recommendations, based on personal experience you should check out the Recommended Gear page, where you will find everything you need.

9. Not Adding Enough Water to the Tank

I’ve seen that a lot of turtle owners are only filling their turtles’ tanks only halfway up. This doesn’t really affect the turtles in a bad way if they still have enough space, but it’s not really the best practice either.

Having more water in the tank will mean more space for the turtle which is welcomed, and it also means that you will have to clean it less often, which as I said can become unpleasant after a while.

A lot of people do this because they want that their turtles to have enough space to get some air without having to struggle too much. But turtles are really good swimmers, and if you have a floating decoration, or an easily accessible swimming area your turtle should be able to easily rest on them and get some air at the same time.

So don’t be afraid to fill the tank up, as long as your turtle has a way to get air, this will only benefit you and your turtle.

10. Not Providing Enough Light

I’ve seen a lot of people that will leave their turtles in a dark room, and with the basking area lights on, thinking that will be good enough for them. But in actuality, it’s not the best thing you can do. Besides, the UV light and the heat bulb turtles will also need some other light sources that will light up the entire tank.

It would be preferred to have a special light that is close to the aquarium and it’s designed for this, but every light will usually do. Even the normal room light will be just fine if you leave it on.

If possible you should place the tank in a room that is naturally lit by the sun, this way you won’t have to worry about this part. But if you can’t do that then get a light for the aquarium that will make sure that is properly lit.

You can find more information about how to properly light the tank and some recommended lights in this article: Guide for Lighting and Heating a Turtle Tank and Basking Area.

11. Covering the Top of the Tank

It’s not necessarily bad to cover the top of the tank, it’s bad if you cover it with something that you shouldn’t, like glass or solid plastic.

If you placed your tank in a room that is very well lit by the sun hoping that this will help your turtle get more UVB light, you did a great thin. But if you covered the top of the tank with glass or plastic you basically nullified the benefits of the sun. UV rays can’t get through glass or plastic, even if the light can. So by covering the aquarium you are basically depriving your turtle of the benefits of the sun.

Another bad thing that can happen if you cover the tank with glass or solid plastic is that the temperature in the tank can get very hot. This can make the water evaporate, and it can make the turtle uncomfortable, even if turtles like to bask at higher temperatures, being in hot water for too long can be bad for them. And another side effect of the hot water is the smell, it will start to smell really awful, really fast.

It’s OK if you want to cover the top of the tank, but choose something that has a lot of holes into it, that will let the UV rays pass through, and will allow good air circulation.

12. Not Providing a Good Water Temperature

Turtles require some specific temperatures that will slightly differ based on the species. In general, I would say it’s between 75-85 degrees F (24 – 30 C). But as I said the exact temperature will depend on species.

Another important thing that you have to remember about the temperature is that baby turtles will require a slightly different temperature than the adults from the same species. And in general baby turtles are a little more sensitive to temperature than adults, so if possible try to get it as right as you can.

Getting the temperature right is not very hard, you just have to get a good water heater, and set it to the right temperature. And as always you can find information about how to choose a good water heater and some recommendations on the Recommended Gear page.

13. Handling Them too Much

I know it can be very tempting to try and interact directly with your turtle, especially if you are a brand new turtle owner. But you have to understand that handling them too much can be stressful for them. And a turtle that is constantly under stress can suffer health problems.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t handle your turtle sat all, but you should try to limit it to the strictly necessary amount in the beginning, and over time you could try to handle them more often, as they get used to it. Just remember that some turtles will always hate to be handled, so if you see that they hate it don’t insist if there is no need to do it.

14. Having too Many Turtles in the Same Tank

When turtles are babies they can leave peacefully with each other, but once they reach maturity it can become a real problem.

Adult turtles always find a reason to fight with each other, they will fight over food ( even if it’s enough for everybody), they will fight for territory, they will fight for mating partners, they will fight to prove who is more dominant, they will fight for every reason that they can find.

So at some point, it can be a mistake to keep your turtles in the same tank if they are fighting, at some point one of them will get seriously injured. To avoid this you should move one of your turtles to a different tank.

15. Not Supervising Them Close Enough When Taking Them Out of the Tank

Turtles can get into a lot of trouble if left unsupervised out of the tank.

They will try to eat everything that they can, and this includes electric cable, toys, detergents, and everything that you don’t want your turtle to eat.

There is also the problem that your dog or cat might find the turtle and decide to play with it. And if this happens somebody will probably get hurt, and it’s not always the turtle, don’t forget that turtles are able to scratch and bite as well.

And of course, they can get lost. Even if they are not the fastest animal in the world, they are not that slow, and leaving them unsupervised for 5 minutes gives them enough time to find an exit if there is one, or to hide in a spot where you will not be able to find them.

There are a lot of bad things that can happen, but I think that you get the idea so I won’t list any more of them. To avoid something like this happening you just have to keep your eyes on your turtle when you are taking it out of the tank.

16. Worrying too Much

From what I’ve seen people tend to worry about their turtles over nothing in most cases. Turtles are very resistant, and it will usually take a lot to hurt them.

If you are trying to take care of your turtle, even if you only have just some basic knowledge, your turtle is going to be fine. In the wild turtles don’t always have access to proper food, sometimes good basking areas can be hard to find, the temperature is almost never ideal for them and there are a lot of animals that are hunting them for food.

So don’t worry too much if your turtle decided to take a break one day and just wants to sit in the same spot for the entire day, or sometimes decides to skip a meal. If things seem to aggravate you should go to a vet, but if your turtle behaves a little strange for just a day then you shouldn’t worry, everybody has a day like that occasionally, even turtles.

Conclusion

The most important thing that you must have when taking care of a turtle is information. If you know how to feed it properly, how to set up the basking area, and what kind of behavior to expect from a turtle, you will make a great turtle owner. You don’t have to know everything from the start, you will learn some things along the way as well. But a minim of knowledge is required.

As you’ve seen most of those mistakes can be avoided if you have the proper information from the beginning. But if you were making some of those mistakes from the start, there is no problem, most of them can be corrected without too much trouble.

If you know any other common mistakes that turtle owners usually make, then please share them with us in the comment section. And if you have any questions about turtles, you should ask them in the comment section as well, I will answer them as soon as possible.