My new to me softie

[chefjamesscott]

I have a list of critters that I have wanted for some time, and one them is coming to me as a rehome/rescue of sorts.

I ran into a guy at the petstore, he was buying a bunch of goldies for feeders so I asked him what he was feeding. He told me a soft shell turtle.

Told him how cool that was to have one of those! Dropped a hint to him if he ever wanted to sell it to give me a shout as I have always wanted one of them, and he basically up and sells it to me on the spot the pick up date is wed night.

Just thought I would drop a thread out there to catch advice from yall.

I do not have the name of it but would think it to be a chinese soft shell, though will post pics of it when I bring it home.

So looking for thoughts and advice from any on here who have experience with them. Though I will also do some lookin on the forum and net for thoughts on this.

thanks in advance for your thoughts

 

[coura]

Hi just saw your private message, and this is one of the best soft shell turtle species to have. Just remenbar they are very territorial so you wont be able to keep more then one by aquarium. Your setput is more then fine for one, even a full grown female, just remenbar if yours is a female sooner or later she will need a place out of the water to lay her eggs, wich she produces with or without a male (of course they will be infertile without a mating). That may however be many years away if it is at all the case. Fill your tank like 70%, ad a big chunk of cork wich you will need somehow to make static for her to bask and ad a few inches of washed sand beach. More a filter, a heater set to 75f and thats it. For food NEVER use feeders, these are bad food for all turtles but for a softshell turtle these can be letal, because softshell turtles are unable to digest properly big chunks of food such as a woule fish and they literaly eat themselfes to death! Tetra reptomin, chiclid and koi pellets, herbivorous fish tablets, earthworms, shrimp, snails, crickets, grasshopers, mealworms and the ocasinal fish and chicken fillet in SMALL chunks make for well rounded diet. Dont forget to keep the water very clean.

 

[chefjamesscott]

Ok turtle is in my possession and the tank it came from was in my opinion a bit nasty

I will have pictures in a bit, its first home is a 4 ft 100g

be back later

 

[chefjamesscott]

Here is a pic of the water that the poor thing was living in

Make it a bit darker in real life I had to amp the flash to get my camera to take the pic. Is this a normal color for turtle water or no?

for size reference this is a down tube from an aquaclear hob filter

here is a pic of what looks to be a shell deficiency to me. I am going to do my very best to give this thing the greatest home it has ever had. It is 7 years old and I am looking forward to any and all advice you guys can give me.

My son called him a snake neck is this the normal length of a soft shell's neck.

Due to a emergency need to flip my 75g brackish at home over to full sw to move my engineer goby to from my 180, I had to then turn my 100g jack dempsy rescue tank into a brackish set up for my 2 knight goby and dragon goby, which in turn made me move the 6 jd to my 300g 8ft.

So I had to come up with a tank for this turtle. It will spend about a week in here till I get a better set up for it. I do have my 8 ft 300g trough but I want to get it coated to be water safe first.

The name we will give this is a toss up by my kids Franklin, Softie or Longneck.

What is the life expectancy of these ?

 

[coura]

Ok first that is not a chinese softshell turtle, is a male florida softshell Apalone ferox, a very nice turtle to have. Females of this species get BIG but I dont think your male is going to get much bigger, but because he has a bigger tank and care, ho knows, maybe he can get a growth spurt! The diet and conditions I already told you are valid as well for this species. Thats a minor shell deformity, dont worry about it. That is the normal neck length. As for longevity that is really a "life long pet" so to speak, he is there to stay in the long run.

 

[chefjamesscott]

I am very glad that this forum has such a wide diversity of people here took less than one day and you have given me a id on the species now I can do all the research.

That chameleon I used to have actually went back to her origional owner, I just felt that since he had placed an add looking and longing for another chameleon I should reuinte them.

I figure this 100g will be at the longest a 4 mth home. looking forward to this being a long life life long member of the family as it really was obtained for my 10 year old daughter who had a joyous flip when she came in tonight and saw it for the first time

Thanks coura

 

[coura]

Your son will have a BLAST with that turtle they are super fun to keep, just remenbar to not use feeders or any kind of woule fish, any kind of food that he would have trobble digesting like too much meat at a time, to keep the water very clean and to warn your son that this guys like to bite the hand that feeds them, other wise they are nearly bullet proof.

 

[cudamaster13]

Here is a pic of the water that the poor thing was living in

Make it a bit darker in real life I had to amp the flash to get my camera to take the pic. Is this a normal color for turtle water or no?

for size reference this is a down tube from an aquaclear hob filter

here is a pic of what looks to be a shell deficiency to me. I am going to do my very best to give this thing the greatest home it has ever had. It is 7 years old and I am looking forward to any and all advice you guys can give me.

My son called him a snake neck is this the normal length of a soft shell's neck.

Due to a emergency need to flip my 75g brackish at home over to full sw to move my engineer goby to from my 180, I had to then turn my 100g jack dempsy rescue tank into a brackish set up for my 2 knight goby and dragon goby, which in turn made me move the 6 jd to my 300g 8ft.

So I had to come up with a tank for this turtle. It will spend about a week in here till I get a better set up for it. I do have my 8 ft 300g trough but I want to get it coated to be water safe first.

The name we will give this is a toss up by my kids Franklin, Softie or Longneck.

What is the life expectancy of these ?

could be a american smooth softshell turtle or florida softshell how big is it i used to have a spiny softshell remember to put alot of sand in the tank so it can bury itself in the sand

 

[coura]

Its a florida softshell turtle Apalone ferox.