General Care Discussion :: Friend rescued a red-eared slider, not eating, we need help!

Taking care of your turtle's overall health.

Post Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2018 4:07 am   Friend rescued a red-eared slider, not eating, we need help!

So just to give a slight backstory, my friend is currently in university, studying abroad in China, and her and some friends were at Wal-Mart when they saw a turtle being kept in a tiny plastic container with no room to even really move around, so they bought him on a whim because they couldn't stand to see it like that. As much as I disapprove of buying any animal you know nothing about on a whim, or buying from stores that obviously care so little for animals health and well being, I'm happy they were able to rescue him from the terrible conditions he was in.

My friend messaged me asking if I knew any information on how to take care of him because I'm her go-to reptile friends, so I helped out where I could though I'm not super great with turtles (lizards, tortoises, and snakes are more my route but I still do know quiet a bit on turtle care and obviously the pieces I didn't or wasn't sure about I helped her research). With the research and time I've put into helping her we were able to find out what type of turtle he was as the store didn't even tell them that, and got her to get him the right set up, the right lighting, and the right amount of water, etc. gave her a food list of things red-eared sliders can eat and what they should stay away from.

He seems okay, and he looks overall healthy to me in the photos she's sent me, which given the conditions he was being kept in still has me quiet shocked, but he still isn't eating anything they try to give him and I was wondering if there's something we can do?
My friend knows very little about reptiles and how to find forums like this which is why I'm posting for her, I'm just trying to help her out with this turtle because I'm really passionate about reptiles in general but especially the mistreated ones since there's no regulations for these animals, so I want this little guy to thrive and I really could use some advice and help because I'm sort of stumped here.

Thank you for any information, at the moment any and everything is helpful to us because we just want to help him be happy, thrive, and live his best life now that he's able to be in a good environment. And if there's anymore info you guys need let me know and I'll add whatever I can, the only info we're not aware of is obviously his age but he's definitely a baby by his size, he's about palm sized I'm guessing by the pics, maybe a bit bigger but not much, so I'm sure he's pretty young we're just not sure of any time frame that I can relay to you guys.
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Post Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2018 6:26 pm   Re: Friend rescued a red-eared slider, not eating, we need h

How big is the turtle? Key things to look into are temperatures and what food is being offered. Younger turtles also need more privacy and should not be handled unless necessary.
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steve
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Post Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 2:01 am   Re: Friend rescued a red-eared slider, not eating, we need h

steve wrote:How big is the turtle? Key things to look into are temperatures and what food is being offered. Younger turtles also need more privacy and should not be handled unless necessary.


I'm not completely sure the exact length but he's palm sized based on looks, he's just a baby I'm just not sure how young. They have a land area and water area for him but if he needs anything to help with the privacy lmk and I'll inform her, I'm not sure what sort of items he needs. He's not handled much to my knowledge, they've just been trying to get him to eat. I asked her today and she said he's been eating a little, I gave her a list of foods red-eared sliders can have so I know he's being fed the right stuff. I'll ask her about temperature though because I'm not sure on that, what should he be at?
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Post Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 6:16 pm   Re: Friend rescued a red-eared slider, not eating, we need h

She should look over the basic care section: http://www.redearslider.com/index_basic_care.html

Temperatures should be around 76-78F (24.4-25.5C).
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