Turtles can be fascinating for people looking for a pet other than a cute cuddly cat or canine.
While owning a cold-blooded creature may not require as much hands-on time as a furry animal, turtles require owners to pay careful attention to their living conditions and diet.
Veterinarian Gillian Hung, at Happy Pets Veterinary Centre in Tai Hang, identifies some common problems to ensure your turtle lives a long and healthy life.
In Hong Kong, the most common turtles are red-eared sliders and Chinese striped-neck turtles. These breeds are semi-aquatic and can vary in size. Some hatchlings are only four to five centimetres long, but as they get older they can grow larger than the size of your hand.
'In the right conditions and given the correct diet, they can easily live to 30 years old,' Hung says. 'They aren't difficult to keep if you get the initial set-up right. But if you don't get the right equipment like a UV [ultraviolet] light you can get problems. Some people just put their turtle by the window, but you can't get UV light through glass.'
In setting up the tank, water quality is important. 'How often you change the water depends on how big the tank is and how many turtles there are,' Hung says. 'In general, change the water every two to three days.'