General Care Discussion :: Adding another turtle

[kmast32]

Hey turtle people, I recently found a baby red eared slider on the sidewalk at my office. Took him home and currently have him in a 10 gallon with a basking light, rocks, UVA/UVB light, water heater and an anubias plant from my fish tank. He is eating as expected, very active and seems healthy.

I am aware of the tank size requirements for a RES, but I am curious as to the concerns about adding another RES to my tank. I'd like to do it while they are still young so they are used to each other as they grow.

My questions :

- I know baby turtles are prone to getting sick, is this a major concern when adding a new turtle?
- Is there a way to sex small turtles easily?
- Are there any tankmates (fish, crayfish, whatever) that will not be eaten? I was thinking maybe neon tetras as they are fast, but would love something that helps clean waste

Here he is shortly after finding him last week, had to make a temporary enclosure out of a pizza box, coffee cup lid and a green plastic plate so he could live on my desk for the day, this is not his current habitat lol-

[steve]

Hi, there is no guarantee that a RES will get along with another in a tank, and males almost always need to be kept alone. Unless you have the space and resources for two full setups, I would not recommend on a tank mate.

Any new turtle should be isolated and under quarantine for 30-90 days.
There is no way to sex a hatchling.
The turtle will be the dominant species in a tank, so nothing is safe. Offer fish a lot of space and hiding areas, and they will have a better chance.

[PokePony]

Honestly, I think it's always better to have a "playmate" for your reptile when possible. It's very interesting to see your pet interact with its environment, and you can only observe its most natural behaviour if it's not alone. I believe that social interactions is beneficials to reptiles, but that's me ^^

I know it's not a common thing amongst turtle parents, but from what I've read you have a higher chance of successfully having two RES together if your tank is big enough and if they are introduced as babies. I would say, if you do get another one, be prepared to separate them when they will be older if needed.

I have two and so far besides very minor disputes it's working pretty well. Since there is one male and one female, I plan on separating them when they'll be sexually mature because I don't want to deal with hatchlings.