Red ear slider turtle. Need help.

my next door nieghbor found one of these beauties in his pool. he gave it to me and i have no idea what to do with it. i have already fallen in love with it and its in a little 1 gallon tank. what do i feed it? how big do they get? if you could just give me some info on exacly what i need to do. thank you

http://www.google.com/search?q=red+e...ient=firefox-a


Google....it does wonders!

http://www.redearslider.com/

:D

i would first get it out of that one gallon tank. if its i baby i would start off with at least a 30 or 40 gallon tank with a decent filter and proper lighting. i have my 15 year old, 11" female RES in a 90 gallon tank with a canister fluval and a mercury vapor basking bulb. it will cost you quite a bit at first but after you spend the initial several hundred dollars on a setup theyre quite inexpensive...

can i have a beta fish in the tank with him? and how do i tell if its male of female? also could i feed him crickets?

If you want a dead betta you can! Look at the links provided. That will help alot.

can i hold it?

Of course, but like any other animal, you should wash your hands thoroughly afterwards, and then use hand sanitizer. For some reason, people are panicking about these little guys carrying salmonella.

Oh, and they won't hesitate to go potty right in your hand.

Here's a link to a care guide:
http://www.petsmart.com/uc/petarticl...erTurtles.html

cool cool thanks for all the help. but i have two more questions. one how can i tell if its male or female? and also do i feed it on the inside or outside of its cage? because i know the crickets always drown them selves, so to avoid that issue should i feed it in an=nother container or what?thank you.

Since they hunt in water, they will feed in water... They eat fish too! I don't think your supposed to fed to many fish though, just ike a snack.

sliders lack saliva glands, so they will always need to be fed in water.

You will have to get some turtle food that floats for him. I think 90 gallons is a little large, my best friend's family has kept them in 50 gallons for their whole life (25+years). They will give him feeder fish once in a while and he will eat a bunch and let some grow until he decides they are large enough for him to eat. But really, the larger the enclosure, the better, I just think 50 is ok as well. They shouldn't cost several hundred dollars to keep initially, and you can often find tanks that people are trying to get rid of on craigslist for cheap.

the rule of thumb for res is for every inch long you will need ten gallons. Alot of people abuse this and it is the same as people putting ball pythons under bright heat lamps under display. They can live in smaller tanks but that will not make a happy turtle and can stress them out.

RES are not cheap to keep seeing that they need special lights and water requirments.I kept all mine in a huge backyard pond that i bought for them.Also, if it is wild, go put it back! Who knows what it is carrying and it is not good to take anything from the wild to keep. You can find a dealer to ship you a healthy res, they are very common in the pet trade.

how much do water filters cost?

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Originally Posted by pythontricker

how much do water filters cost?

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The cheaper they are the less they will work and the more your turtle tank will smell( badly). The best kind to get for turtles is a Canister filter, which run at around $120. Another type is a internal which are cheaper and do not work nearly as well.

Id get a Rena FilStar xP3 Canister Filter, which filter 350 gph.

For any tank you have you want the filter to be twice as powerful, so the rena is good up to a 175 gallon tank and keeps them spotless between weekly water changes.

trust me littleindiangirl, although smaller is possible, the bigger the better! and if you can get me a full and proper set up for a full grown RES for less than a couple hundred(even in the states) then send one over this way!

I had one of these for 2 years. It fed it grub worms and just kept him in a tub with mostly water and some land.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pythontricker

how can i tell if its male or female?

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Look at its nails, if it has long nails it is a male, if it has short ones its a female. Do you have any pics?

RES are wonderful turtles!
they can eat pinkies (what you feed msot snakes).
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Car...ear_slider.htm

they get around 8 or so inches, but females can vary between 10 and 12 inches.
Air Temperature: mid 70's - 80's
Basking Temperature: High 80's to low 90's
Water Temperature: ~ 72 to 76 degrees for sub-adults & adults, 78 to 80 degrees for hatchlings & smaller juveniles.
they will need a much bigger gallon aquarium or surface mount pond.

Mazuri and ReptoMin, Reptile/Pond 10, Cichlid Sticks, feeder fish, feeder crickets, earthworms, krill, blood worms, occasional crayfish & ghost shrimp, aquatic plants (such as Water Lilies, Water Hyacinth, Duckweed, Anacharis, Water Lettuce, Water Fern, Pondweed, Water starwort, Hornwort, Water oil, and Frogbit), some vegetables (such as Zucchini, Squash, Collard Greens, Beet Leaves, Endive, Romaine, Red Leaf Lettuce, Kale, Escarole, Mustard Greens & Dandelions) and some fruits (i.e. Banana). Many keepers use a good brand name commercial diet (usually Mazuri or ReptoMin Aquatic Turtle Diets) for a substantial portion (say, 25 - 80%) of the carnivorous portion of the diet, & round that out with treats of crickets, earth worms, crayfish, ghost shrimp & krill, & use Romaine lettuce (chosen over iceberg for higher fiber) & Anacharis as mainstays for the herbivorous portion of the diet. Since wild RES likely don't encounter fruits often we don't recommend use of Bananas & other fruits except as rare treats. Some people offer hairless mouse pups to turtles on occasion; never feed hairy animals to animals who don't naturally eat them (like RES) since hair is poorly digestible & can form trichobezoars (hairballs) & cause G.I. obstruction in some animals (so in theory perhaps RES).