# Red Ear Slider Care?



## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

I'm considering a red eared slider turtle, the only thing that I really know is that they need to bask and that they produce a lot of waste. Can someone tell me how to take care of one?


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

They get pretty big 10–13 in for females and males 8–10in. Therefore they require a big tank. They need a heating lamp and a ramp to climb out of the water to dry off and bask in the heat. They are kinda easy to take care of but the size of the tank needed is fairly large. They are super messy and need an insanely good filter. They also smell so if you cannot handle it then they aren't a good choice for you. I personally think that fish are more entertaining and easier to maintain but that's just me.  hopefully something in there helps you out.


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## Fish_Man (Apr 9, 2010)

Joeee said:


> I'm considering a red eared slider turtle, the only thing that I really know is that they need to bask and that they produce a lot of waste. Can someone tell me how to take care of one?


Its better if you look into other types of turtles since they do grow really big and really fast.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

if your heart is set on a RES you might want to consider adopting one from THS or a turtle rehabber. Get an idea of what you will be dealing with in just a few months/years.

RES are always being dumped and neglected in horrible ways because people just don't realize that they get much bigger, this happens to many other turtles as well, not just RES but they are the more popular/cheaper turtle.

Good for you for asking questions instead of just coming home with one. :3
http://www.redearslider.com/


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

I always thought they would grow up to just 4 inches... Lol


Is there any type of turtle that grows to a maximum of 4-6 inches? I want something small.

Could you recommend some places where they dump off turtles? I'd feel guilty buying one knowing that there are some out there that people don't want.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

Joeee said:


> I always thought they would grow up to just 4 inches... Lol
> 
> Is there any type of turtle that grows to a maximum of 4-6 inches? I want something small.
> 
> Could you recommend some places where they dump off turtles? I'd feel guilty buying one knowing that there are some out there that people don't want.


Map turtles go up to 5 inches, which is pretty small for a turtle. They are harder to find, make sure you study their physical features to be able to distinguish them from other turtles.


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## Fish_Man (Apr 9, 2010)

Joeee said:


> I always thought they would grow up to just 4 inches... Lol
> 
> Is there any type of turtle that grows to a maximum of 4-6 inches? I want something small.
> 
> Could you recommend some places where they dump off turtles? I'd feel guilty buying one knowing that there are some out there that people don't want.


All turtles grown more than 4 inches.. don't let those people in the store tell you.. "oh this will always stay small"

I did a little research and found out all turtles grow and none stay "small".. also thanks to Hitch on this forum and gave me some info on turtles and you really need to think long term commitment if you want a RES since they will grow really big so either invest in a really big tank now or get a different type of turtle. I'm still doing a bit more research myself on which one I want.
They aren't as cheap as RES but at least they won't grow as big.

Check kijiji, some people give them away or sell them for $20. Keep in mind that these people are selling it cause it outgrow their tanks and its probably 6-8" already


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

Fish_Man said:


> All turtles grown more than 4 inches.. don't let those people in the store tell you.. "oh this will always stay small"
> 
> I did a little research and found out all turtles grow and none stay "small".. also thanks to Hitch on this forum and gave me some info on turtles and you really need to think long term commitment if you want a RES since they will grow really big so either invest in a really big tank now or get a different type of turtle. I'm still doing a bit more research myself on which one I want.
> They aren't as cheap as RES but at least they won't grow as big.
> ...


Not all turtles get super big. For map turtles, "Females reach a body size of almost 30 cm, while males rarely exceed 12 cm" Just make sure you buy one that you can clearly sex.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

You can get a Mud, musk, reeves, yellow eared slider, yellow bellied cooter very easily these days. They're all more interesting than a red eared slider IMO. As far as which ones truly stay small you'd have to ask turtle people on a turtle forum. Some really do only hit four to six inches but you should give the turtle a lot of space regardless.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

AquariAM said:


> You can get a Mud, musk, reeves, yellow eared slider, yellow bellied cooter very easily these days. They're all more interesting than a red eared slider IMO. As far as which ones truly stay small you'd have to ask turtle people on a turtle forum. Some really do only hit four to six inches but you should give the turtle a lot of space regardless.


The only reason that I wanted a RES is because I thought that they'd grow to a maximum of 4 inches. Luckily, I found out I was wrong before I had actually purchased one.


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## Fish_Man (Apr 9, 2010)

Philip.Chan.92 said:


> Not all turtles get super big. For map turtles, "Females reach a body size of almost 30 cm, while males rarely exceed 12 cm" Just make sure you buy one that you can clearly sex.


I never said all turtles get super big 

Just said RES do.

Also from what AquariAM said and the talk I had with Hitch, Mud, musk, and reeves are good turtles to pick from. s

Still wondering which one I want out of those three.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Ya.. there really arnt to many out there that stay small that are legal to keep in the pet trade. There are some fantastic natives here in canada but they should stay right where they are IMO.

I have two male turtles myself. One RES and one Yellow cooter. I really love them both but its been a lot of work getting their set ups the way they should be. Even for males that are on the smaller end need some good space. I have mine in separate 40 gallon tubs and thats not even close to what they should be. 

So if you can make sure to get all your dry goods figured out before hand and your hot spot. The turtles diets can sometimes change depending on what type you get, the turtle pellets are an okay staple but for an adult RES for example should have lots of greens in its diet along with proteins, someone once told me greens are around 75% of their diet. 

Something most people don't really think of when they see a turtle. 

I feed my guys lots of duckweed, plant clippings and some fruits here or there. The RES is picky while the Yellow will eat anything LOL So turtles come with their own little personalities and challenges. 

I sorta wished I could have had a different type of turtle but I bought the yellow when I couldnt seem to find any maps that year and then a week later someone brought in a bucket with a female RES and a tiny male RES. The man said if I didn't take them at the store (superpet) he was going to cook and eat them. O_O

Unfortunately we didn't have room for a female RES that barely fit in a five gallon bucket but I said I would take the male. The store doesn't take in RES anyways.

And everyone knows I am a softy/sucker for little things in need. lol

Eehh well sorry for my rantings.. LOL I just see a lot of RES dumped down at the brickworks and other places, or they just get the shitty end of the stick a lot of the time.


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## Fish_Man (Apr 9, 2010)

Ciddian said:


> Ya.. there really arnt to many out there that stay small that are legal to keep in the pet trade. There are some fantastic natives here in canada but they should stay right where they are IMO.
> 
> I have two male turtles myself. One RES and one Yellow cooter. I really love them both but its been a lot of work getting their set ups the way they should be. Even for males that are on the smaller end need some good space. I have mine in separate 40 gallon tubs and thats not even close to what they should be.
> 
> ...


ewww people eat turtles....


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

I am sure they do.. lol. I just hope that guy was just trying to make me feel bad so I would take his turtles.


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## Fish_Man (Apr 9, 2010)

Ciddian said:


> I am sure they do.. lol. I just hope that guy was just trying to make me feel bad so I would take his turtles.


hope so....


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

I have eaten snapping turtle chowder and it was very good. Not all RES will grow large. It depends on how much you feed them. We had a female for 18 years that never got any bigger than 8". She would not eat any greens, but she loved snails.
It is actually illegal to import RES. The law is circumvented by importing eggs and hatching them for sale.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Joeee said:


> The only reason that I wanted a RES is because I thought that they'd grow to a maximum of 4 inches. Luckily, I found out I was wrong before I had actually purchased one.


Nope. 



^
Or why not move on up to the big leagues


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Thanks for the links AquariAM.

A turtle forum (literally turtleforum.com) community has recommended several turtles, out of them my favourite is the Southern Painted Turtle. I've also just found out about Yellow Blotched Sawbacks (which look pretty badass). They've also recommended a Reeves turtle but I find their long necks to be pretty gross. I think I've seen a Reeves turtle at Dragon Aquarium, I've seen a few species though.


Does anyone know of any Yellow Blotched Sawback turtle breeders? Or any breeders of turtles in the GTA?


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

I doubt you'll ever get a sawback turtle here. I've certainly never seen one. 99% sure menagerie has a southern painted turtle and a reeves turtle in stock.

You know there are also several terrestrial turtles and tortoises that you may not have considered like the box turtle family. Land turtles are not as active as water turtles, but you may find them interesting and they're at least worth a look. Many top out around six inches.










Just remember all turtles live a long time. A bare minimum of 20 years is not an unreasonable lifespan to expect from most aquatic turtles. Most box turtles will make it past fifty. Some will make it into their sixties and seventies. Some tortoises available can reach 200 years of age+. Look into the lifespan of the turtle you get as well as the maximum size-- if you plan on keeping it for it's full life span you may be in for several decades of turtling.

Oh and if you go with a water turtle, you want to overfilter as much as you can. A friend has a 10" RES. The amount of waste it produces is not imaginable. It's insane. A full size Eheim classic (the super monster ones that are after the 2217) or a Fluval FX5 would probably just get you by for a 50ish gallon turtle tank for a small turtle. And that's kind of a small tank IMO. I know that sounds insane, it's what I would do though. Imagine a 12" pleco and how much that would poo and then multiply that by like four and you have a 12" turtle. It's just wrong.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

AquariAM said:


> I doubt you'll ever get a sawback turtle here. I've certainly never seen one. 99% sure menagerie has a southern painted turtle and a reeves turtle in stock.
> 
> You know there are also several terrestrial turtles and tortoises that you may not have considered like the box turtle family. Land turtles are not as active as water turtles, but you may find them interesting and they're at least worth a look. Many top out around six inches.
> 
> ...


My plan for filtration may be sufficient, I'm not necessairly sure because I haven't tested it.

I saw these $65 turtle canister fitlers at PetSmart, I'll probably use that and something that's like the Whisper filters that you put inside the tank. Instead of the carbon in the Whisper filter, I'll replace it with a sponge so I have a secondary biological fitler. I'll most likely upgrade to a larger filter later on.

And yes, I doubt I will ever get a sawback because I realized that they're categorized as endangered and people have been selling them up to $1500. I'm kind of disappointed, that turtle looks badass.

The lifespan is sort of a problem, I plan on going off to university in 2011 and I don't trust my parents to take proper care of it. I'd either have to take the turtle with me or trade it in to Big Al's or something like that. I'd hate to release it, for the more obvious reasons I don't need to bring up and because I had another fish dream. The dream involved releasing a turtle into Professor's Lake and after I left it got out of the water and began looks for me and was hit by a car. 
(Yes, I know I'm weird)

I think that I'm going to go with the Male Map Turtle, I've heard that Dragon Aquarium stocks them. The only problem (other than the scamming problem that Dragon Aquarium has a tendency to try to do with local breeders) that I have with them isn't a minor one. I saw that they keep their turtles in these small about 2.5G enclosures with barely any water in them above their Ryukin tanks in the middle. I don't know if they let them bask either, hopefully Big Al's in Mississauga will stock them sooner or later.


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

Unfortunately, Canada does not have a good turtle/tortoise/terrapin supply.

So you would be very lucky if you can find a sawback, and spend a leg and an arm for a sawback.

A good turtle forum to go to is Austin's turtle page <--- just google it.

Reptilescanada is also good place for turtle (well all reptile) classified in Canada, and most of the sellers there are breeders of various reptiles and most ship.

I didn't read through all of posts so I dont know how many gallons you are planning, but here are some aquatic turtles that you can look into.

1) Common Mud turtles
2) 3 stripe mud turtles
3) stinkpots (common musk)
4) razorback musk turtles
5) reeves ---- but since you dont like them
6) MALE of: maps, painted. Problem with these is that it is a hit or miss to find a male..since most of the ones you see available are juvies, so you cant be sure about their sex. As for some painted, they are illegal to keep here since they are native (might also be true about some of the mud/musks in the list though I am not sure which ones---since I have kept all of them before..lol)

of the above, the cheapest would prob be the common muds at about 30-40 a pop, the most expensive being the razorback musk, which go between 90-130.

I would highly advice you to stay *away* from any of the box turtles and tortoises. Though the eastern box and 3 toed box grow to only 4-6" carapase length, being land turtles, they need a lot of roaming space.....so unless you are prepared to provide 6' by 6' indoor enclosure with good ventilation and high humidity, they are not the turtle for you. Ditto with the torts (plus, with torts, they cost a fortune for a baby, and the smallest you can find in Canada--greeks and russians, would need a huge enclosure).

If you can provide the lets say 75-120 gal of space for a turtle, I would HIGHLY recommend you to look at diamondback terrapins (the only ones you can easily find--since there is a local breeder of them--are Northerns). They grow to 9" for male and 12" for female, but they are truly beautiful turtles.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Just called in to Big Al's Mississauga location, I found out 2 things:

1. They do livestock trade-ins
2. They are setting up a Map Turtle tank, their next shipment is next week and the map turtles will cost $45

In case anyone is interested.


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