Tell Me About Your Red Eared Slider Setup

[eeyipes]

My son's class has two red eared sliders as classroom pets. They are to be raffled off individually among kids in the class at the end of the year. My son has been asking me if he can put his name in for one, but I've got a few doubts about keeping a turtle. I've never had one before.

Right now the two turtles are housed in a 10 gallon tank with maybe an inch or two of water. I realize they need much more than that.

What is the bare minimum to house a single turtle? Would a 50 gallon glass tank do? I would plan on an eheim canister filter for the setup.

What is your preferred water heating method? Inline heater? Something else?

What is your preferred material/methods for constructing a basking area?

I would also really love to hear some detailed descriptions and photos of rubbermaid tub setups, since I'm thinking it would be a cost efficient way to offer more than 50 gallons. Are they sturdy? Do they leak?

And last question ... I have an 80-100 gallon preformed pond outside by the patio. If I fenced this area in with some chicken wire, could Mr. Turtle spend summers, or at least some daylight hours, outside?

Thanks for all your advice!

 

[cellodaisy]

I've never kept RESs, but my understanding is that they can get quite large. 50g might be enough water volume, but the dimensions of the tank would be important. (A typical 55g tank would be too narrow front-to-back to be comfortable for an adult RES, I think.) Lots of people do use plastic tubs and stock tanks with great success.

This is a great resource: http://www.austinsturtlepage.com

The most important things that I learned in keeping my turtle are:

1) Many so-called UV bulbs are worthless. Make sure you have a quality bulb that emits both UVA and UVB, and make sure there is no glass (or anything else) between the UV bulb and the basking spot, because UVB is blocked by just about everything.

2) Most commercially sold turtle foods are way too high in protein and low in calcium. After researching the dietary needs of my turtle (an eastern painted, not a RES), I made my own jello food with a mix of good veggies, phosphorus-free calcium powder, and a little salmon to make it tasty. Milo loves the stuff and has had much healthier shell growth since I switched to that from the commercial stuff.

In my (very limited) experience, turtles are a lot of fun, surprisingly active and interested in people, and very easy to take care of once you have the proper setup. Just make sure your kid knows that hand-washing is mandatory after touching the turtle or its tank because there is always the risk of salmonella.

Good luck!

 

[nguyendetecting]

males and females will vary by size, males will display longer frontal claws and will be much smaller. So hopefully you get a male if you do get one. I've had a red ear slider female and a yellow bellow slider for about 3 yrs now. I should of bought the biggest turtle dock to start with( I have 3 now, small, med, xlrg). I'll post of pic of their current set up outside. The last tank I had them in was a 75 gallon and they were out growing that, in a small tank aggression issues can arise.

The pond is a 160gallon preformed pond, with a converted exlarge turtle dock as a ramp leading up to a small portion of dirt where they can sun and she can bury her eggs if she wants. I would take you better picture of the ramp but it's raining =/.

 

[eeyipes]

Thanks, that's a great site! Now that I've looked at more photos I'm thinking they might be painted turtles, not red eared sliders.

 

[cellodaisy]

Thanks, that's a great site! Now that I've looked at more photos I'm thinking they might be painted turtles, not red eared sliders.

That would be good news, because painteds stay smaller. Their needs are almost identical. The only real difference I've read about (other than size) is that RESs become almost completely vegetarian as adults, while painteds tend to stay more omnivorous throughout their lives.

You'll have to examine them pretty carefully to know for sure, because they do look quite similar. If you can post pictures, I'm sure the turtle-keepers here who are more experienced than I am would be able to ID them for you.

 

[jay2487]

With RES's you need to use the 10 gallon per inch of carapace diameter rule. A full grown female usually needs a 100 gallons of water minimum and a male needs at least 75 gallons. Now that is water not tank size, if you aren't going to fill it all the way up you need to keep that in mind. A good way to get a little more swimming room is to build an above tank basking area. There are a million HowTos on the web with a million different styles, but basically, if you get the basking platform on top of the tank as opposed to in it, you get a lot more room. The worst room killer is stacking things up to water level for a basking platform. If your going to have the platform in the tank, buy a floating one, most all pet stores carry them and they aren't that expensive. Just make sure the turtle can get completely out of the water, even his bottom side, or his shell may rot.

 

[Bonne46]

Correct with the above comment. Per inch equals to 10g's of water.

You can put the turtle out in the pond like you mentioned, you just want to make sure no animals can get inside it. I would cover not only the sides but the top as well.

Do you know how big the turtles are right now? If so if you get a picture or even a good discription on the turtle I can tell if its a female or male.

Heater doesn't really matter which option you choose from, if you get a in-tank heater I would just get a cover for it so the turtle won't burn itself if they rest there legs on it.