Q: Despite the popular perception that turtles are easy to care for, they in fact require specialized, daily care to survive and thrive.  Your turtle may live 25 years or longer, depending on the species, so you should be prepared for a long-term commitment.   Many turtles require live food, such as mice or insects, to thrive. If you are uncomfortable feeding your turtle live animals, you may wish to reconsider your choice. A small aquarium or plastic habitat will not be sufficient for most turtles. Due to their specialized needs, setting up a proper environment for a turtle is likely to cost you between $500 and $1200, depending on the species. You will also need to provide adequate clean water (and space) for them to swim in, as well as enough dry ground for them to roam about and bask on. Specialized lighting and water filtration equipment will also be a requirement. Turtles can carry salmonella, a bacteria which can cause infection and illness, especially in children and elderly people. This is a serious health concern, and if any at-risk individuals are present in your home you should strongly reconsider purchasing a turtle.  Remember that you do not need to touch a turtle to contract salmonella from it. Mere proximity to the turtle may be enough to risk infection. Turtles are shy, quiet animals. They will withdraw into their shells if startled and may remain like this for some time. They can, however, learn to recognize their owners and will often swim to the surface or near the glass when you enter the room.  Turtles will also learn when it is feeding time, and may become especially active at the appointed hour. Turtles are not social creatures. They will not display affectionate or playful behavior. It is normal for them to sit still a lot. If you are looking for an active, affectionate pet, turtles may not be for you.
A: Think about the care requirements for a turtle. Consider the space and cost requirements. Look into the health risks of owning a turtle. Recognize normal turtle behavior.

Q: Earplugs are an effective way to help block outside noises while you sleep because they muffle and reduce distracting outside noises.  earplugs may be a bit uncomfortable at first until you get used to wearing them. There are many different kinds of earplugs, but simple earplugs are available at most local pharmacies.  Look for earplugs that that are rated NRR 33, which means that they reduce the noise in a room by 33 decibels, since this reduction should provide enough relief for most sounds.  Be sure to wash your hands before inserting your earplugs, and replace the earplugs regularly or clean them according to product instructions. Earplugs are most effective when worn properly.  For best results, roll the earplug into a thin cylinder, push it into your ear, and hold it there until it expands to fill your ear canal. While earplugs are a safe solution for blocking out noise, they do come with some risks Don’t ever force the earplug deep within your ear.  You want to be able to remove the earplug easily by pulling outward and twisting.  Putting them too deep in the ear canal can cause pressure that can rupture your eardrum. One other concern with ear plugs is that blocking noise means you may not hear a smoke detector alarm, a break-in, or your alarm clock. It may seem odd to cover up distracting noises with more noise, but white noise makes it less likely that you will notice outside noises. This is why you don’t hear the faucet dripping in your house during the daytime, but at night it’s the only thing you hear.  White noise is any type of constant noise that does not have a recognizable variance or tempo so that you don’t really notice that you are hearing anything at all.  You can buy white noise machines, phone apps, or use objects around your home.  Some popular white noise sounds include:  A fan Falling rain Ocean waves crashing If white noise doesn’t work for you, there are other types of noise you can use to help block out noise at night.  White noise is one aspect of the “colors” of noise, which include other color groups of sounds.  Blue noise is a more whimsical version of white noise, including sounds like birds chirping or children laughing.  Pink noise includes warm, echoing tones like the sound a conch shell makes when you blow into it.  Many people also find ambient music or the murmuring sounds of people talking around them comforting, so you can also try leaving your television or radio on quietly as you try to fall asleep to see if that helps.  Since leaving the TV or radio on all night can disrupt natural sleep patterns, it is recommended that you turn on a timer to automatically shut the device off after a certain amount of time. If you can, turn the brightness down on your TV so that the light from the TV doesn’t disrupt your sleep. When choosing ambient music, first try listening to it during the day to see if it relaxes you before trying it out as a sleeping aid. If the noise at night is so great that simple white noise or earplugs are ineffective, then it might be a good idea to invest in more high-tech products for blocking out noise.  There are a wide variety of products available online, so do a bit of research to find out what will work best for your needs. Keep in mind that these high-tech products can also be expensive, but the investment may be worth it to you for a good night’s sleep.  Some of the most common noise suppression products include:  High-tech earplugs that contain a tiny acoustic chip that allows quiet noises to pass through but blocks loud noises outside of a set decibel level.  This is great for people who still want to be able to hear if their child is calling for them or their partner is speaking to them but want to block out the sounds of honking cars or construction work. Noise-cancelling headphones that use microphones to detect patterns of ambient sound and create an “anti-noise” signal to cancel out those sounds.  This works great for constant, low-frequency noises like that on an airplane, but is not necessarily the best choice for noises that cause sudden decibel spikes. Earpieces that work much like an earplug by blocking outside noise, but that also include a small speaker inside to channel white noise or ambient music directly into your ears.  This product is great for people who want to totally block out outside noise, but who also find white noise soothing. For some people, blocking out distracting noise at night is as simple as dealing with the experience instead of reacting to it with frustration and desperation.  Similar to relaxation techniques used throughout the day, being mindful of the noise and your reaction to it, and then altering this reaction can often help people get a good night’s sleep.  The goal of this is to reduce how much you allow yourself to be upset by noise at night, which can be done several ways:  Concentrate on your breathing and take slow, deep breaths in your nose and out your mouth.  Focus on the way your diaphragm and lungs fill with air and listen only to the sounds of your own breathing. Try focusing on fully relaxing each part of your body, one body part at a time.  Start at your feet, working your way up the legs, torso, outward to the arms and fingers, and then the neck and face. Try adopting a new attitude towards the noise.  Forgive whoever or whatever is making the noise, and remind yourself that you will become accustomed to it with time.
A:
Wear earplugs. Cover up the noise with white noise. Play something distracting. Invest in high-tech noise suppression products. Try mindfulness-based noise reduction techniques.