# Baby River Cooter Turtle Q's... Yeah I said Cooter..



## oscar119 (Nov 26, 2005)

Yeah I said "Cooter" , I feel stupid just saying it..

Anyone know anything about River Cooter turtles?

here's the situation..

My nephew wants a turtle because his fish died, and being the nice uncle I am I'm going to help him get one and set it up. It's either a RES or this River Cooter turtle because he's not getting something expensive. I will end up taking possession of the turtle if he ends up getting tired of it or not taking care of it enough. So I want a turtle that eventually could live in a pond when I build one with a nice basking spot for it. If he ends up loving it and keeping it for years then fine but I'd like to have a game plan just in case, because kids are kids.

So it'll live in an aquarium with him and then possibly a pond with me in the warm seasons and in an aquarium with me in a the cold seasons

I'm partial to the looks of a River Cooter so that's what I'd like to get him but wanted to know if anyone sees a problem with my plans for this turtle?


----------



## DiscusMel (Jul 21, 2004)

Cooters are kept pretty much the same as the basking
turtles like the sliders, my cooter loves lettuce with a 
passion but will eat most things.Its also been my fastest
growing turtle at 3in and not even a year old.Be warned
though if the cooter turns out to be a female it will grow
rather large.

So the biggest tank you can, the best external filter
you can, UV light, water temp around 75 and 80 for hatchlings
and a basking lamp with a temp in the low 90's.Feed once a day
with commercial pellets with as much lettuce etc as they like
inbetween.When they are approx 3in drop the pellet feedings
to every other day.The last thing you want is for the turtle to grow
too quick as this wil lead to shell deformities.

Heres my Suwannee Cooter


----------



## Kuda (Mar 7, 2006)

very pretty cooters ya got there :laugh:


----------



## oscared15 (Feb 3, 2006)

I have a friend that keeps a river cooter, the turtles nails are huge, doesn't look to hard to keep,
he has it in a custuom built encloser.


----------



## Kuda (Mar 7, 2006)

never heard of em but there very nice lookin


----------



## oscar119 (Nov 26, 2005)

Thanks for the replies..

DiscusMel, how large do these get? BTW, yours looks awesome.


----------



## king red belly (Apr 13, 2005)

Yea they are some cool turtles


----------



## DiscusMel (Jul 21, 2004)

Thanks lol the cooter is a firm fav cos its very very tame.

As for size, a female depending on what type has the potential
to grow to 16in (shell) so for the rule of thumb of 10g per inch
your looking at at least 150g when fully grown.It will take a long
time to get to that kinda size but mine has grown 3in in a year
so if it doubles again in the 2nd year (which i hope not







)
thats 6in and a 60g tank.

Heres a good page with pics of the diff cooters

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/world_of_turtles/


----------



## black_piranha (Jan 12, 2006)

cooters are pretty nice lookin


----------

