It's the day of the 3 wise men for us today and I woke up to find 4 RES, one for each kid in the family. I don't know what to do with them now. Help please!
Do you plan on keeping them? Sliders can get to be about a foot long, and need huge tanks. They can also be quite messy eaters, so you need a strong filtration system. I've had one for about 25 years, I can't imagine keeping 4!
If you can, put in enough water that they can fully submerge but give them something to get onto so they can get fully out of the water to dry out and bask under a heat source. They need to bask under a heat source and they need uvb. A mercury vapor bulb will give them both heat and uvb.
Without filtration, the water will have to be replaced at least every other day, if not daily. @Anthony P might be able to give you more info on foods and water temps.
If you have room for a couple large plastic kiddie pools, you could put for now all of them in one or get two and put two in each.
Let us know what your long term plans are for them. To keep or rehome?
I think that I'm going to keep them for now and then try to find a place to rehome them to. I made a basking area temporarily out of what I had. This is just temporary though.
They can't stay in those tubs. I have 4 red ear sliders myself and it takes a lot of effort. They must have uvb/uva lighting and should not go long without it. You will need a 50+ gallon tank for them right now and within 2yrs or so more than a hundred gallon if not a pond. They will need a dry area big enough for all of them to completely get out of the water and completely dry themselves out. Also they can live 25+ yrs so if your not ready to provide all this for them or make this commitment you should find someone who can asap.
Make sure to mount the heat/uvb lamp where it stays 80 no higher than 85ish for now because it's going to heat the water in those small tubs and they won't be able to get to a cooler spot. So you don't want to keep it at the normal basking area temps till you have a bigger tank
They seem to hate the basking spot, they never climb up and when I do put them up they just get back down. So they know how to get up but they just don't want to. Should I wait for them to adjust or should I force it?
Or find a used tank through craigslist. Give them time to adjust. Aquatics hate their environment changed. It will take a few days for the adjustment period. You will need heavy duty filtritation. Cost alot but works great are fluval fx4 and/or the fx6 series external canisters. I have both and are the best in the industry. If you are really handy, you can diy. Many videos can be found in youtube on how to make your own canister filter. Its the cheapest option.
Ok thank you very much
They like they're environment now and they're starting to bask so that's good.
Sorry I don't live in America so I can't go to petco or anything like that. I have placed them in a bigger tank now.
I have been cleaning the tank every other day but I will either make or buy a new filter.
Thanks a lot!!