i have a red ear slider turtle thats twelve years old. I recently saved him, he was living in a tiny tank. He is now alone in a thousand gallon indoor pond. He hasn't fully adjusted to his surrounding and I would really like to add another turtle to my pond. I have called a few pet store and everyone has told me something different. I would like to put a baby turtle in the pond.does anyone have any suggestions or ideas on how I should go about doing that.
will my turtle kill??
- Thread starter ninpikita
- Start date
First off welcome to AC ninpikita. 
I have a pretty good understanding of keeping and raising various turtle species and I find it's not the best idea to keep turtles of extremely different sizes together.
First of all baby turtles like to be kept at warmer temps than the adults. While most adult turtles like the water to be in the low 70's, babies should have a water temperature close to 80˚F.
Feeding time can bring up problems. A baby turtle can easily be bullied away from food by a larger adult and you run the risk of it being injured while feeding. It's not unheard of for a larger adult to accidentally bite the foot or even head off a baby that gets in the way while it's eating. I just think the risk is not worth it right there.
Now you do have a pretty large pond and you could probably make it work but if you decide to get a baby turtle it would probably be best to grow it out in a smaller tank or rubbermaid tub for a year so it gets some size on it. And if you don't want a baby there are plenty of RES adults out there that desperately need homes.
I have a pretty good understanding of keeping and raising various turtle species and I find it's not the best idea to keep turtles of extremely different sizes together.
First of all baby turtles like to be kept at warmer temps than the adults. While most adult turtles like the water to be in the low 70's, babies should have a water temperature close to 80˚F.
Feeding time can bring up problems. A baby turtle can easily be bullied away from food by a larger adult and you run the risk of it being injured while feeding. It's not unheard of for a larger adult to accidentally bite the foot or even head off a baby that gets in the way while it's eating. I just think the risk is not worth it right there.
Now you do have a pretty large pond and you could probably make it work but if you decide to get a baby turtle it would probably be best to grow it out in a smaller tank or rubbermaid tub for a year so it gets some size on it. And if you don't want a baby there are plenty of RES adults out there that desperately need homes.
It's normally recommended not to put a juvie with an adult RES. Even an adult of the oppostie sex can cause problems because males are so dang mean to their women. He's sure got room for some company in there though, doesn't he? Maybe someone will have ideas as to good pond-mates for him/her. Sliders will eat fish but there's lots of different kinds of fish that are faster than a turtle, especially in 1000 gallons. At least if he had something else in there it'd break up the boredom.