Turtles????

[Oddyse]

Im thinking about yellow belied sliders, anyone have any experience with these? They dont have to go in with the ducks, it would just make life a lot easier

 

[carolinagirl58]

sliders are omnivorous, but it is very unlikely they will bite a duck. Snapping turtles will, but I doubt a slider will. They will eat fish and other aquatic creatures though.

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-yellowbelly.htm

 

[spish]

YBS get big...hang on i'll upload a few pics of mine...

 

[spish]

sliders can and will bite ducks feet off.......

yellow eared slider

yellow bellied slider

red eared slider

this is the size people think they stay at...how wrong they are

this little guy is about 5 years old...the ones above are 20, 22 and 25 years old..

turtles are a long term commitment......we get so many brought here at between 3 and 8 years old as people get 'bored' and dont realise how long they live. its heartbreaking. we have 23 aquatic turtles at the moment.

 

[Oddyse]

OH MY GOD! I never realised they get that big! I better start building a turtle house then!

, saying as my duck house is finally finished this will be my next project. Didnt realise they get that big though, and saying as thye get so big I wouldnt trust them with my ducks, just in case

 

[carolinagirl58]

Splish, your turtles are beautiful! Mine are teeny compaired to yours. Have you had them since they were little?

 

[watchdogps]

GREAT PICS, Spish! Wonderful examples of just how big they can get. You obviously take great care of them too, since most people have killed them in just a few years!

 

[Oddyse]

Spish, do you have any websites or anything I could go to to find out a bit more about them? Like space needed, how much water, how much land, feed, temperatures etc. Many thanks

 

[xchairity_casex]

why not try getting a tortiose instead? they are lot easier to care for then a turtle and not stinky. i have a russian tortiose who is going on 11 years old shes pretty small and hardy. keep it indoors obviously. they do need decenct sized cages but those are way easy. just a large plastic pan will do as they really dont need a lid(unless you have a dog) you can also use a large long storage tote (not the tall one but the short longer ones) i use alfalfa pellets for her bedding and its safe for her to eat she gets hay in one corner and since i keep my room at 80 degrees year round i dont need a heat lamp jsut a uva/uvb bulb and she eats fresh dark leafed lettuces,veggies and fruits every 2 or 3 days along with a cod liver oil supplement. i soak her in water for an hour a day where she goes potty so her bedding only needs to be changed once it starts getting old and dusty.
and shes got tons of personality she adores being talked to so i read books to her or magazines or whatever im reading and she comes over to stare at me and she will stay and listen to the story untill im done quite a few times ive sat down for 4 hors reading to her and she stayed put listening. when she was younger i used to let her run freely around my bedroom she wasnt like a rodent who chewed on things so it was no problem i still get her out sometimes to let her run around but not full time since im in the basement and half the floor is cement and i dont want her to scrap her shell along that.

 

[spish]

Quote:
this is possibly the best site i could recommend http://www.happyturtlespub.org/ there is also a forum with fantastic people there (they can answer all your turtly questions) they've been a great help to me when ive needed turtle help