- Oct 11, 2011
- 2,199
- 130
- 173
Name: Red Slider
Experiance Needed:
Lots of research, make sure you have a setup before you bring one home.
Temperament:
They actually learn to recognize their owners, and will swim up to you when they see you for food. They can be very friendly.
Colors: Just one color- brown shell, yellow and black skin, yellow and black undershell, and bright red patches on the side of their heads.
Diet: When their younger, they eat more insects, such as crickets, mealworms. When they get older, they eat more lettuce, and water plants. A good healthy diet would be a mix of commercial turtle pellets, and insects and plants (the ratio depends on age). Some people aslo feed feeder fish from pet stores. Feed younger turtles every day, and older turtles every other day. Turtles can not regulate their own diets- they will eat and eat. You can tell if your turtle is overweight by seeing if it is too fat to pull itself into it's shell.
Note: Turtles have to eat their prey in the water! They have no saliva.
Enviroment:
They need a good sized tank. The little bitty turtle you buy at a pet store is not going to stay that size. They get up to 10-12 inces. Males are smaller. Measure the shell leanth, and multiply it by four. That's the number that the leanth of your aquarium should be. (A 10 inch shelled turtle should have a fourty inch leanth tank). They will need a floating turtle dock, or sloped gravel and a rock, for basking. A UV light needs to be placed over the rock. They love to bask. The water temperature needs to stay from 70-80.
Family:
They should not be bought as surprise gifts for children. Your child has to understand that these turtles can live to be 70 years old! This can be a lifetime commitment. If you are going to buy a turtle for a child, you have to understand that you will have to take care of it once the child leaves for colledge, and the child may lose intrest before that. Turtles are not dogs- but in my opinion they are very intresting to watch. Just seeing them eat and bask is enough entertainment for me. They are very beautiful animals and can make good family pets but it has to be discussed first.
Other Notes:
Turtles can also be housed in ponds, with koi and goldfish. Do not keep turtles and fish in the same aquarium unless the fish are twice as big as the turltes head! Anything the turtle can eat it will! Also don't house turtles with fish with long flowing tails. Those tails WILL be nibbled.
Experiance Needed:
Lots of research, make sure you have a setup before you bring one home.
Temperament:
They actually learn to recognize their owners, and will swim up to you when they see you for food. They can be very friendly.
Colors: Just one color- brown shell, yellow and black skin, yellow and black undershell, and bright red patches on the side of their heads.
Diet: When their younger, they eat more insects, such as crickets, mealworms. When they get older, they eat more lettuce, and water plants. A good healthy diet would be a mix of commercial turtle pellets, and insects and plants (the ratio depends on age). Some people aslo feed feeder fish from pet stores. Feed younger turtles every day, and older turtles every other day. Turtles can not regulate their own diets- they will eat and eat. You can tell if your turtle is overweight by seeing if it is too fat to pull itself into it's shell.
Note: Turtles have to eat their prey in the water! They have no saliva.Enviroment:
They need a good sized tank. The little bitty turtle you buy at a pet store is not going to stay that size. They get up to 10-12 inces. Males are smaller. Measure the shell leanth, and multiply it by four. That's the number that the leanth of your aquarium should be. (A 10 inch shelled turtle should have a fourty inch leanth tank). They will need a floating turtle dock, or sloped gravel and a rock, for basking. A UV light needs to be placed over the rock. They love to bask. The water temperature needs to stay from 70-80.
Family:
They should not be bought as surprise gifts for children. Your child has to understand that these turtles can live to be 70 years old! This can be a lifetime commitment. If you are going to buy a turtle for a child, you have to understand that you will have to take care of it once the child leaves for colledge, and the child may lose intrest before that. Turtles are not dogs- but in my opinion they are very intresting to watch. Just seeing them eat and bask is enough entertainment for me. They are very beautiful animals and can make good family pets but it has to be discussed first.
Other Notes:
Turtles can also be housed in ponds, with koi and goldfish. Do not keep turtles and fish in the same aquarium unless the fish are twice as big as the turltes head! Anything the turtle can eat it will! Also don't house turtles with fish with long flowing tails. Those tails WILL be nibbled.
