Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: New member, long-time visitor

[feels]

Hello everyone.

I've been visiting these boards for the past 3 years, but I never registered.

There were times when my red ear slider was sick, so I checked up these boards to see how I could take care of him. It proved to be a great resource and my turtle is alive and well. Thank you all.

Since I've been attending university, I don't get to see him very often. Only on the weekends.

He's not like most turtles. He's more of a tortoise. There was a time when I kept him in an aquarium, but he didn't like it - always sleeping at the bottom, occasionally surfacing for air, despite the basking areas above water. It didn't seem healthy, so I decided to move him to a play pen consisting of rocks and a small wading pool.

Sometimes, he's very dormant and sleeping. Other times, he's climbing around and swimming. But I find that he's a moderate of conditions and requires very little maintenance. Some parts of the year, he refuses to eat no more than 5 baby pellets a month! Other parts of the year, he can gobble down as many as 40!

I was hoping that he would eventually outgrow his play pen, but despite a larger, new living space, he never grew any bigger than 4 inches in diameter. It made me worried, but it's been 4 years since I first bought him as a baby, and he hasn't showed signs of bodily dysfunction, except this one time when I almost lost him. But that's another story.

Anyway, I hope my sharing is an example of relief for many other turtle owners about unusual, yet harmless behavior. Best wishes.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

RES are not like tortoises, they require deep and large bodie's of water. Also small rock's can be dangerous if they can fit in your turtle's mouth. If your turtle decide's to eat them he could swallow them and die because of being unable to pass it.

What is his diet like?

How big is the aquarium or "pool" that you have him in?

Most people's turtle's stay active all year roung, unless they hibernate which isnt reccomended since it is dangerous and unless you are very experienced in doing that, you shouldnt be messing around with it. Do you have a water heater? What is the water temperature? I also think that after 4 year's he should be a little bigger than just 4 inches.


Anyway's welcome to the forum, my name is eddie

[DavidY]

Hi and welcome to the forum! Is that your turtle in your avatar pic? He's cute! Is your pen for him indoors or outdoors?

[feels]

xsavingsaturdayx: Over the years, it had me worried that he could not adapt to traditional living conditions. But I'm really content with his overall vitality. My friends' have 6 turtles squeezed in a 10 gallon fish tank with one floating island for basking. Each of them are about palm-sized after 2 1/2 years, much larger than my turtle. They're hardly fed and water is hardly cleaned. I would stay that they are subject to neglect, but they somehow still manage and thrive even in atrocious living conditions. My turtle, on the other hand, lives in a space equivalent to a 10 gallon tank by himself and is fed and his water is changed constantly. Yet he reached a limit of growth. Small as he is, he still nimble and agile and can correct himself immediately after flipping over during his climbs around his pen.

When my turtle was young, I tried to raise him to the standards that most people raise RES under. But he did not respond to those standards and would exhibit sickly symptoms. With my lack of knowledge and resources, I had to try an alternative method; and I found that he responded much better to drier conditions. Over the years that I have had him, he has displayed consistent patterns of behavior that corresponds to the season. Spring, summer, and autumn - climbing and swimming and hungry. Winter - sleepy and occasionally, active. It's worked this long.

Long-domesticated to his current conditions as he has been, I've concluded that changing his living conditions to a completely different set of standards is unnecessary and unwarranted when he is completely alert and responsive. It's beating a dead horse.

DavidY: Thanks! My turtle lives in my bedroom in a pen on the carpet.

[DavidY]

Well, it sounds like he has access to both land and water, so that's good. How much time does he spend in the water? He must be eating in the water, correct? You have a very interesting little turtle there.

We all have to take responsibility for the care of our own RES. First we take in the knowledge necessary to provide them with everything they need. Then we have to fine tune that to what works best for our particular turtle and our particular situation. Perhaps in your situation and with your turtle, a fine tuning wasn't enough. Only you know the best how your little guy has responded to the different adjustments that you've had to make. So I'm sure you are doing what you have found works best.

The main thing is that we do our best to keep our animals happy and comfortable as well as healthy. They are confined to our care so it is our moral obligation to give them an enjoyable life, not just an existence. And it would be a real shame if they were forced to live in misery or discomfort because of our ignorance or neglect. That's something we all need to keep in mind.

[SpotsMama]

Welcome to the forum Feels! I can tell that you care very much for your turle and have a special relationship with him.

What you said made me think of something. One of the common reasons for a turtle not growing or growing very slowly is internal parasites. I was wondering if you've had him checked.

I curious about his living quarters. Is he free to go in the water or come out as he pleases? How large is the pool of water?

[feels]

Well, it sounds like he has access to both land and water, so that's good. How much time does he spend in the water? He must be eating in the water, correct? You have a very interesting little turtle there.

We all have to take responsibility for the care of our own RES. First we take in the knowledge necessary to provide them with everything they need. Then we have to fine tune that to what works best for our particular turtle and our particular situation. Perhaps in your situation and with your turtle, a fine tuning wasn't enough. Only you know the best how your little guy has responded to the different adjustments that you've had to make. So I'm sure you are doing what you have found works best.

The main thing is that we do our best to keep our animals happy and comfortable as well as healthy. They are confined to our care so it is our moral obligation to give them an enjoyable life, not just an existence. And it would be a real shame if they were forced to live in misery or discomfort because of our ignorance or neglect. That's something we all need to keep in mind.

Thanks for the encouragement. The last paragraph, in particular, really spoke to me. Four years ago, I was really juvenile and ignorant about raising a turtle. Two years back, I almost lost him because of assumptions that I made, but seeing him in his sickly state really broke my heart and convicted me to be more caring and observant for his sake.

SpotsMama: Hm. I never considered internal parasites before. Could you give me some leads on where I could read up more about them?

Currently, he lives in this flat terrarium...
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/215057/product.web

I filled it with small pebbles, a plastic container for water (which he uses as a deep wading pool), and a handcrafted ceramic piece that I made at my university for him to climb on and seek shelter in.

[DavidY]

Yikes, well that terrarium is really small for a 4 year old RES. Even a 4" turtle should be in something like a 40 gallon tank. Also, small pebbles will kill your turtle if he eats them. That could also be part of his problem if he has any rocks stuck in his stomache. It may not be enough to fully block his digestive tract but enough to prevent him from getting enough nutrition.

I hate to say it (and I know you won't want to hear it) but from reading everything that you've posted now, it really sounds like your turtle and your friend's turtles have been struggling to barely survive. I definitely would not say they are thriving by any means. In order for a turtle to thrive, they really should be living in an environment as close to what they would truly thrive in in the wild. As I mentioned before, we are really obligated to provide them with the very best care that we possibly can (within our means), and the best way to do that is to mimic their natural habitat as closely as possible.

Your friend's turtles are no more thriving than a group of turtles would be if they were living in a filthy pit in some dirty landfill or sewage treatment facility. RES turtles are sometimes able to adapt to some harsh conditions much like humans can, but that doesn't mean they are happy. Animals will do their best to survive even when they are miserable. And that is what those turtles are doing, merely surviving. There are too many people who keep their pets in horribly sub-standard conditions and it's a crime (literally).

It sounds like you're trying to do much better for your turtle and that's good. But I think maybe the reason he got sick before was because the conditions still weren't correct. Also, baby turtles can be more delicate and can get sick more easily than older turtles. At the time, putting him in a setting where he was able to be out of the water more and able to dry out was the right thing to do if he wasn't able to do that in his old setup. But now that he's doing better again you really should try to get him back into a more natural setup.

I strongly recommend that you read all of the information in the following links and try to gradually introduce him into a more suitable environment. I think you will notice a big difference and a much happier turtle that eats and plays regularly every day...

http://www.redearslider.com/index_basic_care.html
http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html
http://www.redearslider.com/index_habitat.html
http://www.redearslider.com/index_water_quality.html
http://www.redearslider.com/index_lighting_basking.html

Good additional reading that I also recommend can be found here...
http://www.redearslider.com/index_basic_info.html
http://www.redearslider.com/index_health.html

I hope you like to read! I know it may seem like an awful lot of information but turtles are not easy beginner pets at all. They require an awful lot of special care in order to healthy and happy. Once you have the setup just right, there's not a whole lot to keeping them except to feed them and change their water and clean their filter a couple of times a month. Then you can really enjoy a happy and healthy turtle!

[SpotsMama]

On internal parasites, there are many different kinds - round worms, tape worms, protazoa, etc. The treatment depends on the kind of parasite. So, only a vet who can diagnosis the situation can determine the appropriate treatment. Here's a good link on the subject - down towards the bottom is a detailed description of internal parasites:

http://www.angelfire.com/al/repticare2/page10.html

On your turtle's habitat, I think David is right. One of the things I've read over and over on here is that, when people correct their turtle's habitat, they see a change in their turtle's behavior almost immediately. They say their turtles seem "happier". How can a turtle seem happy? It's hard to say but they get more curious, livelier, excited to see you.

[iac637]

many times with parasites it is easily fixed by antibiotics that the vet will give him. The vet can also try to help with the growth problem they did with ours that wouldn't grow and now he is growing.