Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: Hi, I'm Nubi's owner

[alicia]

Hi all! I have a 4 inch and 4 month old slider named Nubi. She was bought after we got 2 other sliders. Exchanged her for small pebbles which weren't suitable and now she outlasted the 2 other sliders! Sally drowned cos the rock fell onto her =(( and Charlie had breathing difficulties from the start.

Why we named her Nubi? Well, she was the newest to the addition so instead of calling her Newbie we had her named sounded a little like a Star War's Jedi

Now, Nubi has no problems without any company in her own territory. She has 2 aquariums - one for basking and feeding. The other which is bigger for marathon swimming. As the aquariums are plastic we clean it everyday as we don't have a filter. Futhermore, we put her at the balcony so the electricity plug for the filter presents a problem. So better without! We have good weather here in Malaysia, so she has natural sunlight and basks in the sun from 9am to 2pm. She climbs on the rock and sits there 2 - 4 hours (I see her doing that on weekends, other days I'm at work dunno how long she spends there)

We feed her with chicken liver, squid, spinach (her fav, she doesn't take any other) and the normal conventional stick food from the pet shop.

A few questions I have:

1) how much of food should I give her a day.
2) She has green algae on top and bottom of her shell. How do you guys clean that? Now I scrub her with a toothbrush and doesn't work. Friend suggested to buy an algae killer and put a drop in the water with her in it. Is that ok?
3) The pet shop sells the floating rocks, are that good for RES? Cos I see it going round and round while the slider sits on it. Won't the slider get dizzy?
4) Nubi cuts her tail, cos when she sees us she jumps from her rock. If I buy the long ones will she climb down or still jump from it? Any experience?

I am glad we have a forum just for RES! Thanks to the owners!

[steve]

Hi and welcome!

A hatchling should be fed pellets that would be roughly the same size of it's head everyday. After that, every other day is fine. You can offer some vegetables every day and treats should be rare. Please read the sticky in the Feeding Forum for an idea on what you can feed.

Be very careful when exposing your turtle to sunlight (indoors or outdoors) when she's inside any kind of tank. Direct sunlight quickly heats up water and air, much faster than you think.

Changing water everyday is not a substitute for a filter, unless you have access to clean and untreated water - like from a stream.

Do not feed her spinach! Young or old, do not feed a turtle spinach! It blocks the absorption of calcium and will cause a shell or bone disease. Romaine lettuce is a preferred vegetable.

How much algae is on the shell? It unusual for a captive RES to have a lot of algae, do you have a pic? And I personally would avoid using an algae killer.

Skip the floating rock, besides those should have a suction cup to keep it in place. And if she is cutting her tail you should use a different kind of rock, what are you using?

[marisa]

Welcome. I've spent time in your country and have happy memories of being there.

Nubi's shell length is 4 inches at 4 months of age? (or have you had her for 4 months?)

How big are her tanks (in gallons or liters)? Since they're plastic, I'm thinking they're rather small... What is the water depth in them? You said she's cutting her tail when she jumps from them--it sounds like either the rocks are abrasive (not good to have) or the water level is low.

If Nubi's getting algae on her shell, how much algae, if any, is there in the tanks? If the tanks are in the sun or bright light, it will contribute to the formation of algae. Since you said Nubi is getting algae on the bottom of her shell, I'm thinking the water must have some algae in it. When she basks, can her underside fully dry off? I wouldn't use chemicals to try to get rid of it, but I'd like to know a little bit more about your set-up before suggesting what to do about it. At any rate, having a filter to move the water around would help.

Floating basking areas can be hard for a turtle to get on, especially larger turtles. If I were going to use one, I'd make sure it could be anchored in one spot.

Try to get her eating other leafy greens rather than spinach. Can you get any watercress or red-leaf lettuce where you are? If you don't, it would also be good to keep some pieces of cuttlebone (the stuff for birds) floating in her tank for added calcium (take off the shell that's on one side, though).