Ordered Something Pretty Cool Today...

[samseal]

OMFG- are you mad?

 

[RandomWiktor]

Most people buying the turtles from him aren't buying them as pets... they're buying them to stock in ponds and kill for turtle soup later
I don't think many of them will be wasting away in tanks all their lives.

Ah; I'm so used to everyone wanting to keep any dangerous animal they can get their hands on as a pet that I didn't really consider that these are food animals. I suppose then, that its better to breed them captively then take them away from wild populations allready suffering from 'hunting' (whatever you'd call catching and eating a wild turtle), pollution, development, cars, etc.

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

Wait a sec, are you going to keep one of these in your 55 gal forever, or temporarly? I think once it gets around 10 inches you should move it into something bigger. The width of a standard 55 gal is only around a foot and a half. If you are planning to keep him in that, he wont be able to turn around, and i really think even a 4ft tank would be too small for one.
I really hope you have another habitat plan for him when he gets big. Those things are so cool though.

 

[Trevelyn1015]

it will go into a stocked tank (thousands of fish) out in the middle of the country, with other alligator snapping turtles, red eared sliders, musk turtles, etc...

you name em, we've got em...

we used to kill the ones in our stocked tank, because they were eating so many fish, but now that the fish population is so high and well established, he won't make much of an impact...

and that is like 10-15 years from now...

for now, initially, he will have his own 10 gallon tank... then he will move into the 55 gallon tank with my other turtles and native fish(all too big for him)...

once he gets there, i will figure out how to keep him well fed... i have a 10 gallon tank that i breed minnows in, and i catch them in the local creeks. i would guess i have about 100 minnows, and my other turtles do fine catching and eating them...

like i said already...

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

Well, just tell me what ur going to keep him in when he gets huge. If i read that right, does that mean hes going into the "stocked" tank? If so, how big is this tank?