What Kind Of Soft Shell Is This?

[skairdykat]

Hi,
We recently were giving this little guy off my father-in -law. He beleives it to be a soft shell turtle. An advice on care etc please? I know they grow quite big and live for around 30yrs but what type of food etc do they like? We have been giving him bloodwrom and got some dried turtle food but he doesn't seem that bothered about it.
Thanks in advance

[adamntitch]

no idea on species but there better off on sand am sure as they love to burrow and the gravel can scratch there soft skin and shell

[Akro]

looks chinese but i could be wrong

[Akro]

i feed my chinese softshell reptamin pellets as his main food but i add in a variety of other pellets and dried shrimp, tubifex worms, live locusts and crickets, prawns, and once a week i give him a pinky mouse.

Softshells need great water quality so make sure you keep on top of water changes and provide a good external filter as soon as you can.

Keep the lil fella alone because they are generally aggressive to each other and other species.

I find them to have fantastic personalities and in my opinion they make a great pet.

[AnythingWithAShell]

I think it's a spiny soft shell. I'm not great on IDs, but the spotty bits look like the pics I've seen of a spiny!

Definitely change to sand asap, and be wary of having anything sharp in the tank, as it can damage their shells, which can lead to infections. As has been said, always keep alone and make sure your water quality is tip top

Very cute turtle by the way

[Pelusios]

It's a Chinese softshell turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis).

[James_T]

Originally Posted by Pelusios

It's a Chinese softshell turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis).

I agree.

[SteveCourty]

There cool I want one

[AnythingWithAShell]

They are very cool. I want one too!

[skairdykat]

Thanks for the help everyone.
It's funny you should mention sand and external filters because we were talking about changing to those yesterday before i found this forum. He/she has been hiding under the gravel and i was worried about him hurting himself.
He is very timid of us though. When we go near the tank he will shoot of in the opposite direction. Is this normal? I thought they were aggresive....is that just fear aggression?
I'm glad you have said not to get another one because we were going to get one next week but won't now as we don't want them fighting.
We do have a couple of goldfish in there but he seems scared of them too lol.
I suppose as he gets bigger though he may eat them.

The kids have named him Crush, after the turtle in Finding Nemo