2. Ask yourself how much you know about the turtle you want to keep (habits, whether it is a conservation animal).
3. Do you have enough space (you need to calculate the size of the turtle when it grows to its maximum size).
4. Whether you have the heart and patience to raise them.
5. It's best to find an expert (at least) as a consultant.
How to buy:
If you decide to buy one or more Brazilian tortoises, the following characteristics should help you to buy a red tortoise or other varieties of colored tortoises:
One, observe the tortoise you want to buy carefully! Does it show any natural movement of avoidance (as long as there is room in the pot for avoidance)? Does it try to dive to escape when a person approaches the pot? Turtles that have difficulty swimming or diving, have clogged nostrils, or have swollen, dilated eyes are at the end of their lives and should not be purchased.
Second, most of the healthy tortoises have uninjured shells, that is to say, the shell shape is even and normal, no missing links. If the shell is "soft" to the touch, it is suffering from chondromalacia. This defect can be salvaged to a limited extent, but it is a lifelong condition of having a disproportionate carapace.
Third, ask the turtle seller to feed the turtles, and watch which one or how many turtles are the first to eat, this can also determine their health. You should be careful with tortoises that refuse to eat the feed, because they are either sick or have not yet adapted to the new feed.
Four, if you still like the turtles you see, you should also consider that these cute little guys will not be little guys forever, and in the future they will need more space. If conditions are favorable, they will grow very quickly, and under your care, the carapace length will grow to twenty-five or thirty centimeters! A growing pair of red tortoises will need about 100 liters of water to swim in, and they don't look so green and cute when they grow up. However, for those who love tortoises, they will always be cute. A deficiency of calcium and vitamins can cause "rickets", which is a condition in which you can press your finger on the back of the turtle's armor, causing a small indentation. This is called "rickets".
Maintaining water quality:
While Brazilian turtles are the easiest and least fussy aquarium animals to raise, there is one drawback: they excrete too quickly, and when the temperature is high, the leftover feed tends to rot, so the water is always smelly. Only two days after the water change, and then become a pool of muddy soup, even the Brazilian turtles are almost invisible, this is because of the single-celled algae reproduction, the water has enough nutrients, the temperature is suitable, green algae breeding extremely fast.
Several experiments have been conducted to try to keep the water clear with chemicals, but the results have not been satisfactory. The use of CHlNOSOL (one gram to 30 liters of water) kept the water clear and odorless for a week, but the debris and rotting feces stirred up by the turtles made the water even dirtier. Brazilian turtles live in this water quality for a long time, whether harmful coliform bacteria has not yet been determined, and there is no certainty that this water with chemicals have injured the internal organs of animals, so it is best not to use chemicals.
The easiest way is to change the water completely. Drain, pump and dump the old dirty water four hours after feeding. Then scrub the walls and bottom of the container with a medium-hard brush and water. To clean the container, place the turtle in a plastic tub or on land at the edge of the pool - where it can't run away, of course. Fill it with fresh water at the right temperature and then return the turtle to the water.
Some species of bog or aquatic turtles are not as comfortable with a complete water change, but the Brazilian tortoise will soon become accustomed to the practice and the disruption it causes. There is still a disadvantage of changing the water completely, it will induce the turtles to excrete feces in their intestines faster and make the water dirty again, so it is better to check the tank (pool) soon after the water change to remove the feces.
Hatchling rearing:
Hatchling Brazilian turtles can be reared without difficulty in a flat-bottomed container, plastic pots, plastic tanks or boxes, aquariums are very suitable, the water should not be too deep. A commercially available flat, shallow plastic tank with an island and a plastic coconut tree in the center is the least suitable because (1) it is too small. (2) It's impossible to add an electric heater. (3) Misleading users to use the island as a feeding place. Because Brazilian turtles feed exclusively in the water, the result may be that the island is stacked with feed while the turtles are starving.
There are some specific minimum requirements for an ideal breeding site. Each hatchling should have five liters of water to move around in, and the water should be no deeper than the length of the turtle, so that it can breathe at the surface with its feet on the ground. It is also important to make an island for them out of bricks and stones, floating islands are not suitable, as the hatchlings often fail to climb up them and the effort is wasted. On the other hand, we must be careful that the island and decorations do not become dangerous obstacles that can trap the turtles and drown them.