What does my red eared slider need?
Sandra R asked:
I got a RES about a month ago. He’s 4 inches long and 4 years old. He has a 20 gallon filtered tank, a basking dock and a UV lamp. I mostly feed him pellets, but I give him a big mealworm along with pellets every other day. My question is, what else does he need to stay healthy and happy? What should I be feeding him? Does he need supplements or anything else?
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I got a RES about a month ago. He’s 4 inches long and 4 years old. He has a 20 gallon filtered tank, a basking dock and a UV lamp. I mostly feed him pellets, but I give him a big mealworm along with pellets every other day. My question is, what else does he need to stay healthy and happy? What should I be feeding him? Does he need supplements or anything else?
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He needs to be taken down to a local pond and set free. Imagine that.
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I personally give mine a small piece of cuttle fish(just put it in the tank it’ll soon dissolve),frozen blood worms(they love carrying them around the tank),locusts or crikets are a excellent source or calcium,turtle vitamins are good,water freshener whenever you change the water and i use a complete turtle food that has krill,shrimps,pellets loads of different things its a blue tub can’t remember who makes it threw the tub away lol.You can get plants aswell which are always good but be careful here is a website that tells you some plants you can get that are safe
hope they enjoy anything else my msn is
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His tank is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy to small.
He needs a 55 plus size tank.
advice if I may?
The bigger the environment the bigger the healthier the turtle. Remember 10 gallons for every inch of turtle. I have used kiddy pools and plastic pond liners from most nurseries and worked great. Start out with a 55 gallon plus size tank.
Did you know that they need to bask under a reptile light UVA/UVB for up to 8 hrs a day for the vitamin D that they need to grow. So that means getting a turtle dock also.
Leave the heater on 75 to 78 degrees always. These turtles in captivity do not hibernate their eating may slow down some but they will not hibernate. These are not cuddly pets and will bite very very hard. Under 4″ they carry a disease called ‘salmonella’. So you must wash after every handling. These guys can become canabalistic and will kill the smallest turtle if there is not enough room and food.
And my pictures don’t lie. All ages and all sizes get along as long as their is allot for swim room and plenty to eat!
Their water needs to be clean otherwise they get sick easily from dirty water cause they poop allot. You need a good filter system!
Total Body length: 5-8″ average for males, up to 12 inches max for females. Life span: 15-25+ years
Males have the longer front nails and are used in mating. And are considered mature at about 5 yrs old. You can’t start sexing till about 3” across.
Gravel larger than they can swallow.
You need to feed them feeder guppies, goldfish or minnows for protein and calcium drop 20 or so in the tank and watch them disappear in a few days! When I got these two 36 yrs ago all we had in back then were goldfish to feed , so after 36 yrs and still going strong. They can eat goldfish!
This way when they swim for their dinner they get exercise also!
I also feed dried cubed blood worms or tubiflex worms at least 5 times a week.
They sleep at the bottom of rivers, streams. lakes or ponds or your tank to avoid predators like coyotes, foxes, owls, hawks, possums, raccoons and even some wide mouth bass.
TOSS in a bird cuttle bone in the water for calcium that will promote better shell growth, it will dissolve real slow and if they eat it that’s fine!!
They can have garden worms, meal worms, snails, crickets, flies, crayfish small frogs, slugs, tadpoles dragon flies and anything that moves, but only as a treat.
They need leafy greens Romaine, Butter lettuce. (Iceberg and cabbage are bad for them, any other leafy greens will do) for vitamin A that they need at least 3 to 4 times a week.
They love grapes and strawberries and squash..
You probably already know that they get sick easily, shell rot, respiratory sickness, lopsided swimming, coughing, blowing bubbles from their nose. Fungus white cotton patches on their skin?
**Swollen cloudy eyes which means lacking in Vitamin A. Which we all need for good eyes. Google ‘vegetables with Vitamin A.
Contact the “www.anapsid.org/societies, for a turtle vet / RESCUE in your city and state.
I wish you luck.