Yellow-headed side-necked turtles are not suitable for dry raising. They are highly aquatic turtles and like to live in deeper water. In the wild, they all live in the deep water of rivers and lakes. And their usual eating, activities, excretion, etc. will be carried out in the water. Although they prefer to climb to the water to bask in the sun when they are young, they can't leave the water for a long time, otherwise they are prone to dehydration. If they get sick, they need to be raised dry. However, this dry culture is not raised in a dry environment, and it allows them to leave the water and absorb the efficacy better. Although they are raised dry, the humidity of their living environment should be above 50%.

The yellow-headed side-necked turtle belongs to deep-water turtle, so the water level needed is deeper. However, in their infancy, they are small in size and poor in physical strength, so it is best to raise them in shallow water. In infancy, the yellow-headed side-necked turtle can level the water level with the height of the carapace. When they grow to about 10 cm, they can be raised in deep water. When they are adults, they can control the height of water level to 2-3 times the height of their carapace.

Although they like to live in deep water as adults, breeders still need to prepare a balcony for them to climb up and bask in the sun at any time.