Habitat - Indoor :: Toys!

[IshMaster]

Today I was staring at my turtle while waiting for her aquarium to fill and I thought, "Would she love something fun?"

So I took a hamster ball, never been used, and placed her food inside it. She had a time trying to get it out but I eventually gave it to her. She seemed so curious afterwards, going around the tank as if looking for something to help her.

I also put in a new decoration, a small turtle made for fish aquariums. It is painted but I am pretty sure it is non-toxic. It was safe for our fish a few years back. Anyways, she is definitely intrigued by it, making sniffing like motions towards it.

My question is, does anyone else have some interesting toys they use with their turtles or just ideas?

[LOBO]

well my friend who owns what will be my turtle when i move, just put a marble in the tank. u can barely make out the marble against the other big shiney rocks but somehow he turt finds it and has a hell of a time playin soccer. sometimes it looks like she's fighting it and trying to outsmart it

[IshMaster]

Aw. As long as the marble is big enough that sounds like it would be fun.

[marisa]

They're naturally curious creatures. Anything new that's put in my RES's tank (or even something not new that's been put back in after a cleaning) will, for a while, be a source of curiosity and will be sniffed at and inspected.

[BATMANandROBIN]

this is a good question that I have always wondered.

I want to get some kind of toy for my 5 turtles but don't know what to get?

maybe a shell?

[wezeles]

they like any type of bubble toy aswell..

alot of people use the same animated bubble decorations found in aquariums... even just a bubble disk or wand for them to swim theough they will enjoy...
i have a pirate theme in mine with a boat that just sprays constant bubbles, treasure chest that opens all the time. and a skull that i shaved so it actually is forced to stay open untill the turtles close it... the boy loves to close the skull whenever he notices it open for too long...

only downside is they do move these alot i usually fix them on a semi-daily basis... but its worth it to keep them occupied i know id get bored if i was stuck in my house most the day...

[SpotsMama]

Wezeles - that is a really attractive tank, really beautiful....BUT that gravel on the bottom sure is a health hazzard for the turtles. Turtles in an aquarium tend to eat anything they can get in their mouths....including gravel. We could show you some threads with really sad stories about turtles that ate gravel just like what's on the bottom of your aquarium and they got stopped up inside and died.

Since you obviously like to have a nice looking tank, why don't you think about substituting large river rocks for the small gravel. You can make it look nice and also much easier to clean with fewer but larger rocks.

EDIT: Hey Wezeles, I just saw from another post that you've already changed out the small gravel and the photo on here is just an older shot. I'm going to leave my comment for future readers who might not know about the hazards of gravel.

[wezeles]

good lookin out sportsmama
they never ate it, but it is a big risk to have. i changed it just to help keep the tank cleaner gravel is a nightmare with turtles. the large river rock will give enough room for the "debris" to still get its way to the filter.

[erinemcgreevy]

I gave my turtle a large marble and a ping pong ball to play with, except he doesn't.

[nicole101294]

i wanted to put pebbles into my tank, but will it be very hard to clean?

[LOBO]

having pebbles will make it harder to clean but also u should be careful that they r not so small that the turtle might swallow them.

[hdaisog]

I'm also trying to figure out what to give my turtles.

I have three with distinctly different personalities. The youngest (Maggie) likes to play with everything including the tubes for the filter. The other girl (Lucy) likes to eat everything. She tries biting everything in her tank. I can't put any decorations in there because she will eat them.

I need a toy that is fun, durable, and too big to be eaten. Lucy is a big girl so I think I'll try a big shooter marble or something.

I would also like to try stuff that floats. Any suggestions?

[scripta_elegans]

I have tried to give mine toys, but they still prefer to disassemble the filter intake, or pull up air tubing, or tear up real or fake plants. lately they've taken to butting the perimeter of the above tank basking area. I think they're checking for weakness. I have used A LOT of glue lately.

[erinemcgreevy]

Ping Pong balls float.

[hdaisog]

I thought of ping pong balls but the way they tear apart a fish, I wasn't sure if they would pop the ping pong ball and eat it. I've never been bitten by them so I'm not sure of the strength of their bite, but I'll try the ping pong ball one day while I'm home and see how it goes. Thanks.