We are new to Red Ear Sliders. I made the first mistake with impulse buying and listening to the woman at the festival who said they could live in the little container for up to a year with little care other than pellets. Since then I have been on your site continuously trying to learn more and more. Here's the story:
We purchased a red ear slider and a yellow ear (??) slider June 27. We were told they were 4 days old and would live in the little terrarium for up to a year. I knew that was not true, but thought they could live with our goldfish in a 20 gallon tank...not so. Once I got them home and started reading about the heat they require, I bought a 10 gallon with a floating dock and put them on the porch. I live in mid Alabama, so the temps right now stay about 90+ during the day. Water temps stay around 85-87 during the day. I have been using a regular 75 watt bulb at night for heat. Yesterday I bought a day heat light and night heat light as well as a filter.They get plenty of sunshine and I change the water every other day refilling about half full. I am putting Start Right (declorinator) from Wal-Mart and Turtle Fix from PetSmart with each water change. Oh...their tank is empty except a floating dock. We had gravel and large rocks on the bottom, but I took them all out after the water got so dirty with the tadpoles.
OK...now the problem. When we first put them on the porch in their own tank (away from goldfish) Slider (yellow) would not do much more than float in the water with his head out. I thought he was going to die from not eating. Groovy (RES) swam all over and ate baby pellets. I read on your site that they need protein so we got some tadpoles and put in there. Groovy (RES) chased and ate them happily. Then I had to change the water daily. I missed a day of changing the water and it became very dirty. After that I notice that Groovy had stopped eating and just basked all the time. If he swims he will stop mid swim, close his eyes, and just float...appearing dead. He will also do this while walking or climbing out of water...stop mid stride, close his eyes, and not move. After reading about eye infections, I bought turtle eye drops and have been using them. He keeps his eyes open a little longer now, but still sleeps almost all the time. I have put him in a separate container with food to see if he will eat or if I see poop and to hopefully prevent any infection from spreading to Slider (yellow). He does nothing but stay on the rock. I even tried to offer tadpoles again, but he was not interested and Slider (yellow) at them. I've offered baby turtle pellets, regular turtle pellets, shrimp, squash, English peas (inside, not hull), potatoes, tadpoles, cabbage, tiny piece of deer meat, and cucumber. He appeared interested in the peas and tried to eat a bite, but then fell asleep and stopped. He ignores it all. He has developed a white patch on his left cheek and doesn't like to open the inner lid on this eye very often (see picture). His shell does not feel soft except one piece under his belly on the left side under his front leg, but you can see in the picture that his bottom shell has not filled out like Slider's.
Slider (yellow) is now doing wonderfully. He swims, basks, and eats just about anything we put into the tank. Slider was the smaller of the two and now has grown to be the bigger. Groovy does not seem to have grown at all.
Thank you for any suggestions or advice.
- Groovy
- Slider