Temperature for Musk turt?

[Thomas tortoise]

I am still trying to get the temp of my musk turtle enclosure right. But to be honest...Idk what it should be at. So some help qould be great!

 

[Markw84]

How big is your musk turtle? I keep babies, their first 2 years, indoors in a tank heated to 75°-80°. Adults, outdoors in a pond totally left to natural temperatures.

 

[Thomas tortoise]

How big is your musk turtle? I keep babies, their first 2 years, indoors in a tank heated to 75°-80°. Adults, outdoors in a pond totally left to natural temperatures.

He is not much bigger than a quarter. Sadly he has not grown since I got him which was about 4 months ago... should I start to feed him pellets? And what kind of pellets? But i think he has not grown because of the water being to cold so he cant digest his food. I didnt have a heater or anything before and now I have a cheap heater that does not really work so my next pay check is going into an expensive heater.

 

[Markw84]

He is not much bigger than a quarter. Sadly he has not grown since I got him which was about 4 months ago... should I start to feed him pellets? And what kind of pellets? But i think he has not grown because of the water being to cold so he cant digest his food. I didnt have a heater or anything before and now I have a cheap heater that does not really work so my next pay check is going into an expensive heater.

I feed turtles that size blood worms. Then add pellets, but he worms are much more appealing to them and they will grow much better when given a food that is more natural and triggers better feeding response. If you can get live blood worms (tubifex worms) from your fish store that is by far best and most appealing to the turtle. I do then use a lot of the frozen cubes of blood worms and they learn to eat that eagerly very quickly. For pellets, my favorite for very young turtles is the Reptomin baby formula pellet. It is softer and a smaller pellet with extra calcium and vitamin D.

A good aquarium heater is not that much money. A lot of very reliable ones to choose from.

 

[Thomas tortoise]

Will worms I just pick up on my farm be okay since my friend got him from the wild?

I feed turtles that size blood worms. Then add pellets, but he worms are much more appealing to them and they will grow much better when given a food that is more natural and triggers better feeding response. If you can get live blood worms (tubifex worms) from your fish store that is by far best and most appealing to the turtle. I do then use a lot of the frozen cubes of blood worms and they learn to eat that eagerly very quickly. For pellets, my favorite for very young turtles is the Reptomin baby formula pellet. It is softer and a smaller pellet with extra calcium and vitamin D.

A good aquarium heater is not that much money. A lot of very reliable ones to choose from.

 

[Markw84]

Will worms I just pick up on my farm be okay since my friend got him from the wild?

Yes, they love worms - so red worms from the garden work well. You can also feed small to medium mealworms.