Yellow Bellied Slider question?

Question

How old does my yellow Bellied Slider have to be so he can be considered an adult?

How much should he be growing per year?

Can a turtle's growth be capped by tank size?

Answer 1

Total Body length: 5-8" average, up to 12 inches max. Life span: 15-25+ years

Males have the longer fore claws.. And are considered mature at 5 yrs old. You can start sexing at 3” accross.

**The bigger the environment the bigger the healthier the turtle.The biggest enviroment like a pond or 125 gallon plus tank you may get that huge slider YOU must have a great filtration system.

Unless you get them from, a breeder and they know the exact size and age they are selling you no one can say.

The aquatic turtles very rarely get to that size of 12" plus. Most people stunt their growth by keeping them in a small enviroment and don't feed fish with no UVA light or veggies.

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!

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.

I wish you luck.

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