How do I keep my water turtle healthy?

What should I know about water turtles at a glance?

Red-eared sliders and the other sliders and cooters are the water turtles most kept as pets, and in Brazil owners call them all tigre-d'água. They hatch about the size of a coin and can live 30 to 40 years, so a hatchling is a commitment of decades.

What health problems do vets see most in water turtles?

VCA lists vitamin A deficiency, respiratory infections, shell infections, metabolic bone disease and gut parasites as the common diseases of pet turtles. Most of them start with husbandry: dirty water, no UVB, or a diet of meat or lettuce alone.

• Vitamin A deficiency: swollen eyelids, often with a pus-like discharge, and a swollen ear, a lump behind the eye that is an abscess. VCA links it to diets of iceberg lettuce, meat only or a poor-quality commercial food. It also makes respiratory infections more likely.
• Respiratory infection and pneumonia: bubbles at the mouth, nose or eyes, and breathing with an open mouth or gasping. A turtle with pneumonia often tilts to one side when it swims. VCA notes these infections are mostly bacterial and also appear when the tank has no proper filtration.
• Shell rot: ulcers and pits in the shell that can reach the bone below, caused by bacteria, fungi or parasites, often after an injury, a burn or a bite. The Merck Veterinary Manual describes a bacterial infection of aquatic turtles, SCUD, that pits the shell.
• Metabolic bone disease: a calcium and phosphorus imbalance from a poor diet or too little UVB. The shell grows soft, bumpy or misshapen, or the legs deform. VCA notes that by the time the shell changes, the problem has often been there a while.
• Egg retention: a female that can't pass her eggs, most often because she has no proper place to nest. She stops eating and quickly becomes weak and lethargic. VCA notes that most reptiles seen for it are single females that never met a male.
• Gut parasites: roundworms and protozoa are common in pet turtles and show up on a fecal exam.

Do water turtles need vaccines?

No. There are no vaccines for turtles or any other reptile. Prevention is a vet check soon after you bring the turtle home, then a yearly exam with a fecal test for parasites at every visit, as VCA advises.

• Parasites: your vet treats them when a fecal exam finds them, with a product and dose that suit turtles.
• Ivermectin: the Merck Veterinary Manual's table of reptile parasiticides says it is not for chelonians, the group that includes turtles and tortoises. Never use a dog, cat or lizard product on a turtle without your vet.
• Feeder fish: VCA notes that feeder fish have been found carrying parasites and bacteria, so offer them only now and then. Wild-caught fish and amphibians carry parasites too.
• Salmonella: turtles carry it in their droppings even when they look healthy and clean, according to the CDC. It doesn't make the turtle sick, but it can make people sick, so hygiene matters (see the questions below).

Which signs in a water turtle can't wait?

Reptiles hide illness, so a change you can see often means a problem that has been building for a while. Call your vet or a reptile emergency clinic now if you see any of these.

• Breathing with an open mouth or gasping: a sign of a respiratory infection. Call your vet now.
• Swimming tilted or floating lopsided: a turtle that can't swim level may have pneumonia. See a vet soon.
• A female that stops eating and turns weak: "A female straining or restless without laying needs a vet." VCA says egg binding should be seen immediately.
• A cracked or broken shell: VCA warns that a shell fracture can become infected within hours. Call your vet now.
• Tissue sticking out of the vent: a prolapse can be life-threatening. Call your vet now.
• Swollen or closed eyes: swollen eyes are often a lack of vitamin A. Check the diet and the UVB and call your vet.
• Weight loss: "Weight loss in reptiles needs a vet."

Find a vet who sees reptiles before you need one. Don't give vitamins, antibiotics or parasite products at home unless a vet says so.

How do I care for a water turtle day to day?

Water quality comes first. A turtle eats, poops and swims in the same water, so the size of the tank and the strength of the filter matter more than anything else you buy.

• Tank: as large as possible, planned for the adult size. VCA's minimum is 10 gallons of water per inch of shell (about 15 liters per cm), water at least 1.5 to 2 times as deep as the shell is long, 4 to 6 shell lengths to swim, and a dry basking area of 15 to 25% of the surface.
• Filter and water changes: a powerful filter, and a partial water change every week. The RSPCA suggests 20% a week, and VCA says at least once a week, with many owners changing half. Warm the new water to the tank's temperature first.
• Water tests: a test kit for ammonia and nitrite shows when the filter can't keep up. When either is high, the RSPCA advises changing half the water every day until they come down.
• Water temperature: a submersible heater with a thermostat and an aquatic thermometer. VCA gives 24 to 28 °C by day, and says the water shouldn't drop below 18 to 21 °C at night. The RSPCA suggests about 25 °C for hatchlings and 22 °C for adults. Ask your vet which suits your species and its age.
• Basking spot: a dry platform the turtle can climb onto completely, under a heat lamp. The RSPCA aims for 30 to 35 °C there, with a thermometer you check every day.
• UVB: a reptile UVB lamp over the basking spot, 12 hours on and 12 hours off, in RSPCA guidance. VCA puts it 30 to 45 cm from the turtle with no glass or plastic in between, and says to replace it every 6 months or as the maker directs, because UVB fades before the light does.
• Food: VCA says meat should be no more than two-thirds of a juvenile's diet and about half of an adult's, with good turtle pellets as part of the protein and dark leafy greens such as romaine, collards, endive and dandelion for the rest. Avoid iceberg lettuce and raw meat from the grocery store, and never feed processed foods.
• How often: young turtles every day, adults a good portion every 2 to 3 days, according to VCA. The RSPCA feeds adults every 2 days, only what they eat in 5 minutes. Feeding in a separate tub keeps the main tank cleaner.
• Supplements: some vets suggest a multivitamin once a week and a calcium source such as a cuttlebone about twice a week, as VCA notes. Ask your vet what your turtle needs.
• A nesting area for females: an adult female can form and lay eggs with no male, and an inadequate nest site is a common cause of egg binding, according to VCA. Ask your vet how to give her a place to dig.
• Winter: VCA advises keeping the temperature and light steady so a pet turtle doesn't hibernate, because brumation suppresses the immune system. If your turtle lives outdoors where winters are cold, ask your vet before letting it brumate, and only a healthy turtle should.
• Hygiene: wash your hands with soap and water after touching the turtle, its water or anything in the tank, and keep the turtle and its tank out of the kitchen.

Where is it legal to keep a red-eared slider?

It depends on where you live. The red-eared slider has become invasive in many countries, and wherever you are, never release a turtle into a river, lake or pond.

• Brazil: the native tigre-d'água (Trachemys dorbigni) is wild fauna, legal only from a breeder or shop authorized by IBAMA or your state's environmental agency, with the invoice (nota fiscal) and the certificate of origin, as O Povo explains. The red-eared slider is exotic and has been found living loose in a stream in southeastern Brazil, according to a 2009 study. Rio Grande do Sul has banned raising and selling any Trachemys turtle, native or exotic, since April 2015 under Portaria SEMA 46/2015. A tigre-d'água bought there before then stays legal if it is marked and has its invoice or certificate of origin, and giving one away or releasing it needs the state agency's authorization. Santa Catarina's Portaria IMA 19/2020 bans owning, buying, selling, breeding, releasing or giving away the red-eared slider. A legal one that was already in a home may stay there, microchipped and without breeding, and the native tigre-d'água is sold there only microchipped, by authorized breeders. Ask your state environmental agency what applies where you live.
• European Union: Trachemys scripta, every subspecies, has been on the EU list of invasive alien species since 2016, under Implementing Regulation 2016/1141. Regulation 1143/2014 bans keeping, breeding, selling and releasing it, but lets an owner who had one as a pet before the listing keep it for the rest of its life, in a tank it can't escape from and without breeding. Each country sets its own procedure.
• United Kingdom: in England and Wales, GOV.UK guidance lets you keep a slider you had before 3 August 2016 for the rest of its life without a licence, in a tank it can't escape from. You must not let it breed, sell or exchange it, or release it, but you can give it away.
• Japan: since 1 June 2023 the red-eared slider (アカミミガメ), including the yellow-bellied and Cumberland sliders, is a conditional invasive alien species (条件付特定外来生物). The Ministry of the Environment lets families keep the turtle they have with no permit or notice, and give it free to a few people, while releasing, selling, buying and importing it are banned, with penalties.
• United States: the CDC notes that a federal law bans selling or distributing pet turtles with a shell under 4 inches (about 10 cm), and that releasing a pet turtle may be illegal in some states.

Elsewhere, check the rules where you live before you buy, sell or give away a turtle.

How do I keep my water turtle's health record?

VetVitae, a pet health record app, keeps your water turtle's weight in grams and warns you when a weigh-in is 10% below the highest of the 3 months before it. It also keeps eggs, brumation and the enclosure setup, from the basking temperature to the UVB lamp and the day it went in.

It also suggests turtle routines like Partial water change every week and Check temperatures every day, and reminds you when the UVB lamp is due for a change. See reptile records. VetVitae is free on iPhone, Android and the web.

This guide is general information, not veterinary advice. Your vet knows your pet.

Questions