General Care Discussion :: MY BABY RED EARED SLIDER HAS GREEN EARS!!!

[yertle_the_girl_turtle]

How is this possible? I just got my two baby red eared sliders. All the ones in the store were the same breed; red eared sliders. But, untill recently, I've noticed that one of mine has greenie-ish yellowish ears. Is my turtle O.K?

[Starchick]

Can you post a picture?

[marsspyder]

my little melissa had yellow ears. it was just the way she was colored and how she got her name(my friend melissa has white blonde hair) they were bright sunshine yellow
this was how she looked-i know she's blurry but you can see her ears



this was how she looked when she was sick...napping on her little rock...poor baby girl. gain you can see her ears. they were bright yellow




(may she rest in peace, poor little greenie)

[marisa]

Not all RES have red ears. The stripes can be different shades of red, they can be orange and some don't have red ears at all.

[yertle_the_girl_turtle]

Sure... let me try to get a pic. of him or her ... tis too small to determine the gender ... Phoey. the camera is full.

[grey goose]

My Gomie had orange ears when I first got him. They turned red as he grew.

[yertle_the_girl_turtle]

OK. Maybe Emmerald's ears will turn red. But, if they stay greenish yellowish, that's ok too. I think...

[yertle_the_girl_turtle]

Can you post a picture?

Yea, I'll try... It's hard to do when they're so tiny...

Emmie's basking... You can see her ears really good in this pic!

Still basking.. She's just ssoooo cute!

[DavidY]

If you can't afford a bigger tank, you could get one of those 20 or 30 gallon Rubbermaid tubs. You will need to make some kind of raised platform so the turtles can climb out of the water and dry off. Make sure your basking light is aimed over this basking area. Also make sure you get one of those spiral bulbs that provides UVB and put that next to the regular light bulb that you use for heat/light. The next thing you will need to buy is a filter to keep the water clean. If the air temperature in your house is below 80 degrees, you will need to buy an aquarium heater to keep those babies warm. Otherwise, they will get sick.

Keep asking questions and take a look at the really good articles on this website (www.redearslider.com) to learn more about what your turtles will need to stay healthy and happy. You will need to plan to spend some more money to get the filter, lights and a water heater.

[yertle_the_girl_turtle]

Once again the fault of my mom. Hey,- if she won't come to the computer to read about it, I'll take the computer to her!!! MUAHAHAHA!!! *accidentaly prints out whole website* Oops... well, now she'll be stocked on info.

[fishandcandy]

The three most neccesary things are a big tank or container, some kind of dry land area, and a lightbulb to get warm under.
Hopefully your mom will fall in love with your cute little turtles and want to buy them everything they need!

[yertle_the_girl_turtle]

She keeps saying how cute they are, but she refuses to hold them. Oh, but she can unclog the toilet. But, she just can't touch the turts. *Sighs* How crazy can she possibly be?

[SpotsMama]

I can't quite make out what's in the pictures, but it looks to me like when you say your turtle is basking, he/she is still in the water. Is that the case?

When a turtle is basking, he/she is supposed to be completely out of the water. The turtle needs to be able to completely dry off - top and bottom. It's extremely important that they dry off like this just about every day or they will quickly develop shell rot.

For this basking on the dry platform to work, the temperature on the basking platform needs to be warm and a certain kind of light (UVB) needs to be provided.

I'm sorry if this is repetitious - some of the other people mentioned the same things - but I just want to be sure you knew how important it is for the turtles to be able to dry off every day.

Turtles really need two separate environments - a water environment with deep, clean water and a dry area that's like being in the sunshine - warm and with good UV.

[pumpkinsherbet]

those markings are beautiful!

my little ones have variations in colour as well as markings -
john's is red red, solid all the way through the blotch
aeryn's is more of a red orange, and fades out to an orange colour towards the back end of the blotch.

i don't know what causes the lighter colour, though - incubation temps maybe?

[Breigh]

A lot of people confuse RES turtles with Cumberland sliders as well. Cumberland sliders can often have a reddish tinge on their ears but not RED like on RES.