I got 3 Red ear slider turtles i need help?

Question

what do they eat do they need some land do they mostly swim in water yeah so please give me info even where to get them !!! Thanks for looking here!!!!

Answer 1

Well Pops you have a biog family and they need 55 gallon to start and then..one over a 125. Unless you can afford the big tank now?

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.

Did you know that they need to bask under a reptile light UVA/UVB for 8 to 10 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.

Their water needs to be clean otherwise they get sick easily from dirty water cause they p**p allot.

Total Body length: 5-8" average, up to 12 inches max. 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.

You need a good filter system! Gravel larger than they can swallow.

You need to feed them feeder guppies, goldfish or minnows for protein and calcium daily drop 20 or so in the tanks 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!

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. 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, 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.

You probably already know that they get sick easily, shell rot, respiratory sickness, lopsided swimming, coughing, blowing bubbles from their nose.

**Swollen cloudy eyes 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.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29035692@N0...

Answer 2

Why do you have three red-eared sliders when you do not know these things?  You can get all of the above at a pet store.  You need an aquarium, a heating lamp, some sort of land surface, and a book about these animals so you can learn more about them.

Answer 3

Well i have two. I got them like a little aquarium. They need light. I made like one side with rocks so they can like chill and the other side with water. They like to swim obviously because they are turtles but still give them a area where they can just relax and there is like ground.

Answer 4

res like almost all of their tank to be water.  so fill the aquarium at least half way full.  water temp plays a key part in keeping res healthy.  it must be kept at about 80 degrees or they will fall sick and likely die.  so make sure to buy a water heater. also be sure to clean the tank once a week.  in one corner of the tank needs to be a basking area.  this area needs to not take up much of their swimming room but it should be able to fit all 3 of them on it.  over the basking area should be a uv bulb.  the uv bulb is also vital to keeping them healthy. it should be turned on in the morning and turned off at night.  they eat live foods(crickets, mealworms), pellet foods(high in calcium and vitamin a) , and some enjoy lettuce.  feed them as much as they can eat in 10 minutes.  its a good idea to feed them seperately to reduce the risk of aggression.  you also may want to feed them in a different water filled container other then their aquarium to cut down in waste in the tank.  

things i recommend-

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.js...

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.js...

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.js...

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.js...

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.js...

more res info-

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?...

http://animal.discovery.com/guides/repti...

Answer 5

uvb heat lights

20g long tank

filter

they'll eat frozen blood worms, pellets, nibble on romaine....

i dont have a list of everything...but prepare to spend 2-300$

go to petco

why didnt you look it all up BEFORE buying turtles?

Answer 6

This is a lot of reading, but you need to do it all.

Yes, they need a turtle dock (floating platform which is held to the tank with suction disks so it doesn't take up swimming room).  These run $10-$25 depending on size.

They need heat for the water and basking area on the dock, as well as UVB light (change every 6 mo.).  A big tank... a very good filter.

You can get everything at the pet store, or tanks can be found on Craigslist.com, and food comes from the pet store and the grocery store, depending on what type.

I'll post the basics below.  You have a lot to learn.  Turtles are not cheap pets, and eventually you're gonna need a lot of space for three of them.

List of turtle safe foods:

Plants and insects from the wild shouldn't be used.  Wild insects and outdoor plants can have mold, bacteria, fungi, parasites and pesticides.  So, please don't get food items from outside.

Besides commercial pellets, a list of meat products would be:

Earthworms, rosy minnows or guppies (goldfish are high in fat and shouldn't be fed often), boiled chicken, gut loaded crickets, Phoenix-Silk-Butter worms, frozen Tubiflex or blood worms, krill, shrimp, snails...

A list of several safe to eat water plants would be:

Anacharis, Duckweed, Water Lettuce, Water Hyacinth...

A list of vegetables would be:

curly kale, collard-turnip-mustard greens, dandelion flowers & leaves, romaine/red leaf lettuce; watercress; parsley; Swiss chard; shredded carrots; shredded squash (yellow; pumpkin; butternut, acorn; etc.), shredded sweet potato...  Just about any good veggie you can think of.  

But please do NOT use:

White potato.  Iceberg lettuce - it has no nutritional value.  Avoid too much spinach & broccoli as they bind calcium.  Brussel sprouts & cabbage should not be used.  And never Avocado as it is toxic/poisonous to most animals.

Fruits such as:

Cantaloupe, apple, pear, peach, orange, grapes, mango, grapefruit, etc. may be offered a few times a week as a treat item.

A big tank (the bigger the better).  An adult female can get 10-12" long and require a 100-120 gal. tank or pond.  If you start small, you'll have to keep upgrading as the turtle grows.

Rules of thumb are: 1.) 10 gal. of water per inch of turtle shell length (if it's a 5" turtle it needs a 50 gal. tank), and 2.) a filter which can clean 3X the actual tank size (so if the tank is a 50 gal. the filter should be for a 150 gal.).  Turtles are very messy creatures.

For each extra turtle add 1/2 again the amt. needed for one (so, if you need a 50 gal. tank for just one, then you need a 75 for 2, and a 100 gal tank for 3).  Crowded turtles will fight as they get older.

-A turtle dock for basking.

-Heat light for basking.

-UVB light for basking.

-Submersible heater to control water temp.

-Good digital probe thermometer or Infrared temperature gun to measure the water and  basking temps.

-Sea salt (use 1 level tbsp. per 10 gal. to control algae and bacteria)

-Please don't use gravel (it's an impaction risk)

-Water dechlorinator

-Bird cuttle bone (put in the water) to provide needed calcium

Habitat:

http://www.redearslider.com/index_habita...

Feeding:

(younger turtles eat more meat than plant/veggies, so the percentage of which depends on age.)

http://reslider.free.fr/backup/feeding.h...

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/ca...

General care and info:

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Info/in...

http://www.redearslider.com/

http://www.turtle-care.com/

http://theturtlesource.com/

http://www.petturtle.com/care.htm

Behavior:

http://redearslider.com/unusual_behavior...

Determining gender:

http://members.shaw.ca/turtles/sexing.ht...

I'll post some links below on illensses/ailments so you can see what to avoid.

Most important to these guys is water & basking temperatures, diet, and clean water.

Enjoy your new turtles and I hope this has been helpful.