rescueing a red ear turtle need info about them

[rubbermate]

hello I know this forum is for different kinds of torts but on tuesday im picking up a baby red ear slider turtle that is not getting good care. the people im getting it from has it in a small tank with no tank heater no basking light or a spot to get out of the water. what I need help with is getting info on how warm there water is supose to stay and if they can have "land" in the tank to walk on, what do they eat or can I just feed goldfish and turtle pellets and any information to make the life of the turtle better then what it has right now . thanks any info please help

 

[dmmj]

Babies like live food. So I would stick for now with bug insects and bait shop minnows. Gold fish are very fatty for a RES. You can feed it pellets to round out it's diet but it may not eat a lot of them. They also need a area to climb out of to bask and dry out.

 

[ascott]

YAY....love these little turtles...they have HUGE HUGE personalities....

Water heat about 78ish with a tank heater
As large a tank as possible to allow lots of swimming room
As Captain said they need to be able to get out of the water and dry off....if not, they can develop a host of shell issues...
They should have a basking heat lamp as well as some uva/uvb exposure. They will need a GOOD pump/filter as they are dirty little buggers (they are to the turtle world what goldfish are to the fish world...dirty dirty dirty...LOL)

They LOVE LOVE LOVE to eat and will lead you to believe that they have not been fed, for years....hahaha, this is one of the funniest turtles for this, IMHO....

I currently have a tank with a dock.. and on half of the length of the top I have a tank topper (and old guinea pig top cage removed and adhered to the top rim of the tank via aquarium glass adhesive) their lights rest on the top of this tank topper.... which allows them to fully extend their heads upward as they stretch out their little footsies to assume the flying turtle pose while they dry off and bask on their dock under the lights....and I simply placed a home made wire flat topper on the other half of the tank top ....I don't do way fancy here but clean and effective...no rocks, to fake plants but you of course should do what you like.....

They are a very forgiving turtle as well, so even if their care was not so great you have great chance of bringing them around.....also, my gals love the freeze dried mix of shrimp/cricket/mealworms and they also love when I drop in their tank spring mix/herb mix---as they age they start to enjoy greens as much if not more than the meaty goods....

Good luck and have fun and ask away...when you get them I would love love love to see pics...

 

[rubbermate]

well I went and picked up the turtle and came home pissed at how some people treat there pets. the poor thing was stuffed in there garage where in surpised the little guy didnt freeze to death I have a appointment set with the vet for him cause he has lumps on both his ears the water he was in was soo dirty that you could see the bottem of the tank which was only a ten gallon and had only 2 inches of nasty water and no way for it to climb out and dry off. im glad I got him when I did, wish it was sooner that I rescued him, I might have to pawn a few things to get money for his care and tank essentuals he needs but thats ok I get paid on the first I just hope I can get him healthy agian I feel horrible for him and mad mad mad at people who get animals and misstreat them

 

[Laura]

Its amazing how some animals survive thru this type of thing.. and howothers who are loved and cared for fail to thrive.
I hope it does ok.
the swellings can be abcesses and tricky to deal with.
Be sure to find a good reptile vet. NO vitamin injections!

 

[Utah Lynn]

I hope I'm not out of line here, But I think the TFO is about All tort's and turt's. Go to TORTOISE FORUM, scroll to specific species: Water Turtles.
Good Luck with this rescue and Thank You for that.

 

[Yvonne G]

I hope I'm not out of line here, But I think the TFO is about All tort's and turt's. Go to TORTOISE FORUM, scroll to specific species: Water Turtles.
Good Luck with this rescue and Thank You for that.

You're correct, Lynn...in fact, I've moved this thread to the water turtle section!

---

Hi Shara:

What a nice thing you did! I'm sure your new turtle is going to thank you every day for improving his life.

Yes, the turtle needs to have a place where he can haul out of the water, sit under the light, dry off and warm up!

Do you know what they were feeding him? Goldfish wouldn't be a good idea. They contain harmful doses of different chemicals not good for your turtle. He will eat bits of chicken, bugs, worms. You can float a lettuce leaf in there occasionally, and a slice of zucchini. they LOVE water hyacinth. And pellets are ok too, but not every day.

 

[dmmj]

I can second the water hyacinth, many years ago I got a huge amount of them from someone giving them away,next day they were all gone, eaten.

 

[redbeef]

Hi Shara,

that's awesome of you to take on this guy, they are pretty cool turtles and generally seem pretty hardy as well...when my RES first found me, i did a lot of reading of caresheets at chelonia.org and austinsturtlepage.com to get a feel for them, but there is also a lot of info and some experienced keepers here on this forum as well.

one of the first things I realized was that if money was an issue and i wanted the most bang for buck out of an enclosure/habitat for a water turtle, a stock tank was much better than an aquarium...but if you're planning on keeping it indoors, there is an aesthetic aspect to consider and an aquarium might be the right way to go...that said, my 150gal stocktank only cost me a little over $100...and i got some basic pond filtration equipment at Lowes for a total of ~$45. The rest of the enclosure I have or am building myself, but you do have a lot of options for saving some $$ if you are a little creative and handy at DIY.

good luck!

 

[ascott]

PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES!!!! oh yeah, PLLLEEEEEZZZZZ

 

[nikki0601]

PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES!!!! oh yeah, PLLLEEEEEZZZZZ

I like to feed my hatchlings zoo med hatchling turtle formula, I have never had luck getting my hatchling or babies to eat live food but after they are a couple months old I treat them with baby shrimp, meal worms, krill, crickets, etc, all freeze dried and they love it.. I keep my water at 78.8, for basking I have the zoo med floating docks with 100w basking bulb above, they love love love to bask and its important that they are able to get out the water and dry out completely and warm up, for uvb I use the 10.0 repti hood lights.. I usually take my babies out of their tank for meals, its helps monitor whos eating what and helps to keep the tank clean.. thats about it, not very hard to give a baby turtle the right care.. Oh yeah, hatchlings need hide spots in the tank, caves, fake plants things like that, in water as deep as u can provide, and for substrate just remember no gravel or small rocks, nothing small enough for the baby to swallow, I like large river rock or sand, but sand is hard to keep clean.. heres a couple pics, one of a basic set up I have very young hatchlings in then something a little fancier for my yellow bellies who r a few months old

 

[rubbermate]

Im ganna get pics put up hhere soon after I get my camera back he has a vet appointment on the 28th for his ears and a general checkup both of his ears are absessed .. Im trying all I can to get him better. Hes only about 4 inches long and I transfered him out of a small 10 gallon tank to a long 40 gallon breeder tank which gives him more room for now till I can save up and get a bigger tank for him so hes happyly swimming around and enjoying his time in the light

 

[rubbermate]

I have a picture of peter piper ( my 2 yr old named him lol)

http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb480/rubbermate/Snapbucket/1B3FB0AC-orig.jpg

and another picture of goliath my sullie checking out peter my res this is befor goliath ran off to pout cause he was not happy about the new addition ( no I did not leave the turtle on the floor like that I just wanted to introduse them lol )

http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb480/rubbermate/Snapbucket/16ECF540-orig.jpg

 

[Momof4]

He looks pretty good. I see the abcesses, poor little man. He is going to be one spoiled fella when he gets all fixed up!