Red Ear Sliders & Yellow Belly Slider Care Sheet

[MsTurtle]

Red Ear Sliders & Yellow Belly Sliders Caresheet:

This care sheet is compliments of Travis. The Forum would like to thank Travis for all of his hard work!

[MsTurtle]

Red Ear Sliders & Yellow Belly Sliders Caresheet:



Housing:
When choosing what to keep your turtle in you must first find out what size container or aquarium you will need. The rule to find out is 10 gallons per inch of turtle shell. Example: A Turtle that measures 4 inches will need at least somthing around 40 gallons of water. Two turtles both 4 inches will need a tank around 80 gallons. With a container or aquarium the water can be filled almost to the top or as high as you can make it even with a baby slider. Also water should be maintained at a temperature of 75 °F

Substrate:
With keeping a turtle some people will find the tank plain if the tank has nothing on the bottom so most will put stones or rocks, with this you must remember whatever you put on the bottom of the tank should be as large or bigger then the turtles head because anything smaller has a chance to be eaten by the turtle. If the small rocks are eaten the turtle it could become impacted with stones.

Lighting And Basking Area
The basking area should be a dry spot of land that the turtle has easy access to that is as big or bigger then turtle, increase size with more turtles. Turtle docks are commonly sold in petstores and make good floating basking areas but 2 or more large turtle start to sinkthe dock. This area should have two types of lights in the area also. These bulbs should both be turned off at night, but if you want to look at your turtles at night, use an Exo-terra night glo bulb or dim light

1. A bulb that produces heat so that the basking area stays at around 85 °F(You can buy a heating bulb like Exo-Terra that last very long but be warned if they get water on them they break very fast and turtles splash from jumping off basking area so make sure bulb is out of range. Also you can buy a normal household bulb thats around 75 watt or more and it will produce enough heat but they dont last very long but there cheap unlike the heat bulbs

2. Uva/Uvb bulb of 5.0, these are very specific fluorescent bulbs that are designed to produce the same uva/uvb that the sun does. This is very important to turtle growth, helps them absorb Vitamin D3 for the metabolism of calcium in bodies. Also a note with these bulbs if you have glass or a very fine screen in front of the bulb it block most if not all of the rays from getting to the turtle

Feeding:
What to feed your turtle? Well first you can feed your turtle reptile pellets, like reptomin etc. With these the correct amount to feed your turtle is to pretend that the turtle head was hollow how much could you fit in there and the answer is the amount you feed your turtle.

Next besides pellets like us they should get there fruits and veggies also. So here is a link to list of appropriate fruits and Vegetables you can feed your turtle.

http://turtlesale.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=692a9476ce8495937466a8b10d04615d&topic=20035.msg148861#msg148861

Snacks - Fish are a great snack to feed feed your turtle a couple times a month but when choosing what fish to feed your turtle you should look for feeder fish like Guppies, Red Rosies, Tuffies which are healthy to feed to your turtle, goldfish are cheap but the reason not to get is the fact that they are high in fat and should be avoided as a fish to feed your turtle. Also the dried shrimp is another nice snack that will get any turtle to eat

Filtration
Well with all this water your gonna need a good filter. The best rule to follow with turtles is double the filtration power because turtles are very messy. Example: If you have a 20 gallon tank you are gonna want a filter recomended for a 40 gallon tank.

So there are many types of filters out there but which is best?

Canister Filters (These are by far the best filters for a tank. They are powerful canister filters that sit outside the tank, they are the most expensive to buy but are sure to keep water clean)

Sponge Filters (These are the underwater filters that go in the tank and use sponges to clean the tank, They are at best only used for smaller tanks and have to usually be cleaned more often)

Power Filters (These are the filters that sit directly on the rim of the tank, These are a great second choice for a filter and most common used, but they have there limitations that the water needs to be higher for them to run)

Underground Filters (These are filters that are situated under aquarium gravel and stones and filter waste through stones. These are the worst choice for a filter and are not effective in anyway with keeping the water clean with a turtle, avoid these)

With filters you must watch, some have powerful intake areas and can suck baby turtles against them and trap them causing them to drown

Sincerely,
~Travis~