Caring for a Slider Turtle?
Asked by
EnzoX24 (
1991
)
June 17th, 2008
from iPhone
So a friend of a friend gave me a Slider Turtle today and I bought a bunch of stuff for it like gravel, tank cleaner, and plants. He gave me food and a tank for it. Well I still have a few questions as it seems he didn’t know how to really take care of it, which is probably why he gave it away for free.
How many times a day do I feed it and how much? I give it food and it never stops eating. Is it still hungry or is it one of those animals that will eat as long as long as there’s food in front of it?
Also is it ok to take it out of its tank and run around my front yard for a while?
The last thing I wanna ask is would it be ok to take it on a 6 hour car ride to college? My college is 6 hours away from my house and if it can’t stay in my dorm it will love with my girlfriend in her appartment. Does it need to be in water for the travel or can it stay dry for the ride and be put in its tank when he gets there?
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6 Answers
Since these are all rather simple questions… I believe you has some reading to do.
The most important thing is to give him something to crawl out of the water and dry off on. Otherwise he will get all icky.
I used to feed mine frozen/dried shrimp once a day. he never complained.
Before handling him too much, remember that turtles habor Salmonella.
And intense turtle love for their owners.
I have a rock in the water for him, but it doesnt seem to support him. He gets on it and slides off. The next sized rock isnt big enough for his tnk, but the tank seems to be the perfect size for him. Is there a way to balance out the weight on the rock to make it stable for him to lay on?
I found a piece of flat slate at the pet store, and siliconed it to the top of the rock at an angle. It gave him a ramp to slide up on and a nice flat place to hang out… You have to wait for the silicone to cure before you put the contraption in, ‘cause wet silicone is toxic.
I also forgot to mention that he ate three goldfish, two fiddler crabs, and a crayfish before I realized what a hunter he was. Good luck!
What kind of rock is it? I guess I should have been more specific. The rock I have floats on the water and two bars hold it to the side of the tank to keep it from floating away. Did you permanently attach the rock to the tank?
Also I bought gravel for his tank today and I noticed he keeps eating it. Within the last 15 minutes he must have eaten 4 pebbles. Is this natural or is he just hungry?
I actually had a real rock, one that sat on the bottom of the tank and was tall enough to poke out of the water.
As for eating gravel, dunno. Don’t remember mine eating any. I can only quote my brother, caught eating dirt- “It’s crunchy!”
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