PetLvr.com - [The Blog]

Hello! I’m Gemma Argent

As an introduction, I’d like to say that I have been around animals my entire life. Animals, simply put, are a part of my life. I went to college initially as a pre-vet student, but ended up changing that to a major in wildlife biology and environmental resource management. Growing up, I had a sampling of the usual pets; guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, gerbils, turtles, fish, chameleons and cats. Then when I grew up and moved out of my parents home, I decided to try something a bit more exotic.

My First Iguana

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By David Rumsey

Most of the tortoises are aquatic reptiles, which need to be in the water while feeding, in order to be able to swallow. In most of the cases, even if you put their food on land, they will drag it into the water and only there eat it. You can leave alive animals in the turtle’s water, in case those are aquatic, too. In case you feed your turtle on insects that are not aquatic, don’t let the food on land for more than a few minutes. You should remove it and than place it again on the ground next time you feed your turtle. Adult tortoises need to eat about three times in a week, but cubs must be fed every day.

* Make sure the temperature is sufficiently high; if not, your turtle will not eat.

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Post Hibernation Anorexia (PHA) in Tortoises

By Matthew Homfray

Post hibernation anorexia (PHA) is a very common problem in pet tortoises at this time of the year, and can be frustrating to treat. Prevention is much preferable to treatment, and with the correct husbandry, dietary practices and hibernation preparation, this is easily achievable.

Sadly, post hibernation problems recur each year. Many pet tortoises are still kept by owners who are ignorant of their requirements regarding heat and UVb light provision, and the fact that many tortoises can cope with poor husbandry for relatively long periods before showing clinical signs can mask the problem.

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The Truth About Turtles

By Van Whitsett

It can be hard to talk about turtles properly in North America because what we refer to as turtles is not really what a turtle is. While traditionally we use the word to describe those shelled reptiles that live by the water it really refers to any shelled reptile there is. In this part of the world we generally refer to the land turtles as tortoises.

So though we separate the species in our minds by assigning different words, they are really all one. These are little guys that are born with a shell. It is a bony leathery shell that grows with them and is pretty much carried with them for life.

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