Keeping Red Ear Slider Turtles- Some basic questions?

Question

I have grown bored of my fish tank and want to keep some RES. I am planning on having a tank but what size? I also want to have a basking area for the turtle(s), should I buy a commercially made one or build one myself? If so, any website with guidelines would be helpful to build one. I'm thinking of buying a glass fish tank (or would acrylic be better?) I know they usually come with a hood but I think this would interfere with the heat lamp, would it not? What should I use in place of it? How long should both the UVA and UVB and heat lamp be kept on for each day and in what position on the tank!? What type of heat lamp and hot? I'm thinking of using a canister filter, an underground heater real plants. What would be the the best type of bottom for the tank, sand or rocks? What type of structure would be the best for inside the tank also such as things to hide in and decorative things, I'm thinking of building a rock cave in a corner to hide in, I'm very big into making the tank look as natural as possible with no visible heaters, filters and other things. What other things should I put in the tank to keep them occupied? Should I use a basking platform outside of the tank off one of the sides or sitting on the water inside the tank? Now to the feeding I have heard tooooo much about feeding and want to give them the most variety of food, I've read what and what not to feed them for fruits and veggies but not for pellets and such. I need to know what kind of pellets, when, what time, when to feed live foods and when to feed live fish and such and when to feed fruits and veggies. I'm planning on putting small guppies in the tank for looks and some snacks for the sliders but please I need a really detailed time and type of food schedule for different ages and times of year. Is it better to keep more than one slider, like 2, so the one won't be lonely? If you guys have any pictures of good tank setups that would be really really really appreciated I'm better at designing my own after looking at others. Thanks for the help!!!

Answer 1

First things first...ONE turtle will be best. Reptiles don't get lonely. They will very likely fight over teritorry. RES are an aggressive species, and perfectly happy as solitary pets.

Tank size...you need 10 gallons per inch of shell. A full grown slider can be as much as 12 inches long. That means you may eventually end up needing a 120 gallon tank. Another good reason not to get two. not may people have room in their house for a 240 gallon tank.

the filter should be able to move the volume of the tank 5x in one hour (gph)

Most of the time the big tanks don't come in kits. if you don't want the hood, dont buy it.

Many people do make the choice to build their own docs especially as the turtles grow. I will be inculding a really helpful website on RES that has alot of information on "above the tank basking areas".

You can use LARGE rocks, or sand as substrate, but NOT gravel. There is a very real impaction risk with gravel.

I feed my turtle Reptomin pellets. She gets "the amount that would fit in his head if it were hollow" once a day, untill she reaches 4". Then I will cut back to every other day. She also gets leafy greens like red leaf lettuce and dandilion greens. Rosey Red Minnows and guppies are OK as occational snacks, but too high in protien to be fed more then one a month. Goldfish are too fatty and harbor parasites.

this post is getting quite long, so I will leave you with a pic of my set up:

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg251...

This is my set up. Its a 75 gallon tank. I have a Mercury Vapor Bulb for heat and UVB. I have a fluval  FX5 canister filter on it. The 250watt Visither Stealth heater fades into the background and does a nice job of keeping my water temp around 76F

This web site is really helpful:

http://www.redearslider.com/

Answer 2

If you have allot of $$$$ and start out with a 55 gal plus size tank and great filtration system for Aquatic turtles I say do it!

They are the cutest!

Sliders, cooter, painted, map, yellow bellied all are basically the same and require the same basic care. I have had my 2 slider  girls for 36 yrs. Plus an 8 and 5 yr old and now a 2 yr old adopted from this site.. Been in a pond for almost 7 yrs now. They are VERY social answers as you see by my pic's, they best have plenty of room and fish to eat or they will become canabalistic and rip, shred and kill for space and food.

I have used kiddy pools and plastic pond liners from most nurseries..

The bigger the environment the bigger the healthier the turtle.

Walmart 55 gallon with hod and hood light and filter for 153.00

You'll have to buy a UVA reptile lite, and place approx 12" from the top of the turtles shell.  Buy a turtle dock, I am not sure how you could build one. Remember they do climb!

Did you know that they need to bask under a reptile light UVA 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.

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

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! This way when they swim for their dinner they get exercise also! They is no feeding schedule. I have done this for 36 yrs with my gals. I am no expert but my gals have never been sick. I have been blessed.

At night they will sleep at the bottom of the tank like they do in ponds,lakes rivers and streams to stay away from predators. Owls possums, raccoons, foxes, wide mouth bass coyotes etc etc..

I think my 2 girls are still alive is cause they have always had each other.

But then a 55 tank is to small for 2. Just know they are skiddish and will zip ionto the water when they see ya coming thinking your a predator.

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 worm, meal worms, crickets, flies, crayfish and  anything that moves!

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, Swollen cloudy eyes means lacking in Vitamin A. Which we all need for good eyes. Google ‘vegetables with Vitamin A.

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 5 yrs old. You can start sexing till at  3” across.

I wish you luck.

PS..they are real keen on decorations they will up root the plants looking for worms like in their natural enviroment.

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