Pet aquatic turtles including red-eared sliders are among the most commonly kept reptiles but suffer high mortality rates from inadequate husbandry. Meeting their complex environmental needs requires informed, committed owners.
Aquatic turtle welfare failures are systemic and persistent. Small turtle bowls, inadequate filtration, and absent UV lighting are the norm rather than the exception in turtle keeping by uninformed owners. The resulting suffering is slow and often invisible to owners who do not know what healthy turtle behavior looks like. Turtles in inadequate conditions develop vitamin A deficiency causing swollen eyes, metabolic bone disease from calcium deficiency, respiratory infections from inadequate water quality, and chronic stress from insufficient space. The longevity of aquatic turtles makes poor husbandry a multi-decade welfare problem. Improved point-of-sale information, mandatory care sheets, and size restrictions on tank sales accompanying turtle purchases could address welfare failures at the source.