General Care Discussion :: found slider. need assistance. plz

[Argonitight]

Hi. brand new to this forum. i used to own 3 sliders. however they were 3-5 years old. i just recently found a 2 inch. slider. eyes not even open. slider. was directed tot his site by a means of research. and was wondering if anyone could inform me onhow to maintain his health at this age. i have never owned one this litte. stuff i need to know like. feeding. habitat. cleaning, and how it drink and how much water it can be in. i dont know if it can swim yet. it was crawing into the road near the driveway. alone. id realllllyy.. appreciate any help.. idk how long its been since it ate.

[AllTheCandies]

Mine are a bit smaller than that. It can definitely swim. If there's a pond near by, you're best bet is to bring it to that pond since that's most likely where it is from. But, if you choose to keep it, you're basically gonna use the same set up you used for your bigger turtles. If you still have all your old stuff, clean it up and use that. I feed mine Reptomin Baby. I cut the pellets into three pieces and feed each turtle one pellet. I also feed the tiny carrot pieces and romaine lettuce.

[happycamper]

Are you sure the turtle wasn't just lost? Is there a pond or anything nearby? If it's a wild turtle, you should put him back in the nearest pond...

I would read through the basic care, feeding, habitat sections on this site. They should help you with all the questions you have.

It seems to me that by the time a slider is 2" it should have it's eyes open. The habitat is going to eventually need to be at least 75 gallons, red eared sliders can grow to 8-12 inches. You are supposed to have 10 gallons of water for every inch of shell. These turtles are strong swimmers and need a lot of room, and an area where they can get completely out of the water and bask. Special lighting is necessary to keep the turtle healthy, a water heater, a heavy duty filter, and a well balanced diet are all important. They drink the water they swim in... they are aquatic turtles that occasionally bask.

It costs a lot of money to create the appropriate living conditions for these turtles.

[Argonitight]

i checked for a good bit and i am unaware of any bodies of water around my area. so i have absolutely no clue where he/she could haev came from. i cleaned out a 10 gallon. put a 78-80 degree water heater in there. have the water depth at around... 4-5" or less or so. also have a rock for it to get onto. bought a Rvb light earlier today. all i need now really is to just get foliage. i gave it a pice of bannana it ate some of it.. ya he can swin. and his eyes are open. quite active really. ty for the posts.

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

His eyes where not open? Are they puffy or look normal?

[AllTheCandies]

thats so weird. I wonder where he could have come from? It's good that he's active tho! Good luck