Turtle help

[gypsy2621]

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Glad to hear he is eating a little. I am sure it makes you happy also.
and chicken livers

I dont blame him one bit for snubbing them lol.

Do you have a friend who has/had a fish tank who might possibly have a spare heater? even one of the el cheapo ones will work temporarily.

Heat lamps are good for warming the top of the water but does little for anything deeper than the surface. and the risk of one blowing up is huge if the cooler water hits the hot bulb, ( been there accidently did that and scared the widgets out of myself).
Enjoy your turtle they are a lot of fun, easy to maintain once you get the hang of it.

 

[lizbert2k]

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Great! Looks like warming him up a little helped- and its always good to have confirmation that its just the temperature messing with them and not disease. I love the fact that you are reaching out for information- feel free to ignore the hateful comments. Its obvious you care about your pets and want the best for them. We don't pop out with the knowledge of the universe fully formed in our noggins. We have to learn, we have to ask and even then the experts we seek out may be completely off base. Heck, the very people selling iguanas to us still recommend feeding insects, even though it can shorten their lifespan by 2/3.( Unlike just about every other reptile they do best on a vegetarian diet)

Be careful feeding them raw meat. It does appeal to them, but reptiles can also get and transmit salmonella. If you do feed raw, remember to wash your hands thoroughly every time you handle him- ok, that's a good idea regardless of what you feed him. You may also try him on feeder fish if you want to entice his appetite, but feeder fish have the possibility of introducing parasites. Plenty of turtle keepers do this without issue, but you should always be aware of the potential problems when introducing new food items.

Many turtles do enjoy fresh greens with their diet and they can be a great source of nutrients and calcium if you give the right ones. I would not feed romain or iceburg lettuce. They are both very low on nutritional value. Collard and Mustard greens are great. If you want a great pond plant that is safe a nutritious for them to snack on, water lettuce is pretty good, though the roots will muck up your filter. My little guy loves them.

This is a really good resource for researching reptile care. Melissa Kaplan's advice kept our rescue iguana happy and healthy for 9 years after we got her and she is very interested in providing proper basic care information for other reptiles as well. http://www.anapsid.org/reslider.html

Make sure you have a heat lamp and UV lamp over your little guys basking spot- where he climbs out of the water. If the water is a little colder in winter it actually encourages them to hop out and spend a little more time under the lights soaking up warmth and those UV rays.

The reason everyone is pushing UV light, and full spectrum UV if you can get it where you are, is that it is vital to calcium absorption, keeping bones and shell strong. Reptiles without it are prone to a form of osteoporosis or brittle bone disease. But turtles, and sliders especially, are pretty rugged little reptiles and tolerate a period of learning and adjusting by their caregivers very well. With a couple of minor upgrades you should be fine!

Good luck with your critters, McCord6!

 

[cochinbantam-lover]

I have had my 2 RES for about 4 or 5 years now and there are times when they just don't want to eat. I would try different feeds for them but nothing interested them. When they decided it was time they started eating again.
Is he behaving as usual, and is the shell ok? Check for like any kind of fungus or etc. If there is a fungus I have some suggestions for you. I also agree, a heating pad under the tank sounds dangerous to me. Good Luck!

 

[McCord6]

I have 2 tanks. I went ahead and cleaned up the 2nd one and set it up outside. During the day, I put him out there and he seems SO happy with that. At night, I bring him inside (it's getting REALLY cold here) and make sure he stays warm. He is eating both gold fishe pellets and turtle pellets now. He still refuses the turkey orgins but at least he is eating something. My son dropped a bit of northern beans and rice in his tank earlier while leaning over to look at him (actually dumped his WHOLE bowl in the tank!) while I was on the computer doing job applications for Hubby. Ratty ended up eating most of that, the rest I cleaned up. At least someone didn't complain about the beans and rice for dinner! LOL!

Cochinbantom-lover-
He looks fine. His underbelly and markings on his face are bright yellow. He is pretty lazy as always but he did dig up the pebbles in the tank and formed a big hole where I had a "roosting" spot for him. I added a log to his tank outside and he been using that for roosting instead of the pile of pebbles.

I was told that you can tell if a slider is a male or female by looking at their claws. If they have LONG claws, it's female...if short claws, it's male. Is that true?

 

[FireTigeris]

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no

you have to look at the plastron

 

[cochinbantam-lover]

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Yes I think this is true, because just from my experience with mine, Chester the male is smaller than Tina the female and has longer claws and a longer tail! He can be a real pest sometimes too.

 

[cochinbantam-lover]

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Yes I think this is true, because just from my experience with mine, Chester the male is smaller than Tina the female and has longer claws and a longer tail! He can be a real pest sometimes too.

Ooooooopsie, that is not true, sorry!