How to best keep red-eared sliders? Mastering the correct care method is key

I believe anyone who keeps turtles as pets knows the red-eared slider, but its full name is actually the red-eared slider, named because it has two thick red stripes on both sides at the back of the top of its head. Although red-eared sliders are not delicate, knowing the methods for keeping them is still very important. Below we introduce every aspect of red-eared sliders, so you know how to best keep them!

How to best keep red-eared sliders?

1. Feeding schedule

It is recommended to feed adults 3 times a week, but juveniles can be fed once a day. Red-eared sliders have very keen eyesight and sense of smell, so they are very good at grabbing food. Under artificial keeping conditions, they like animal-based bait, such as fish, pork, animal internal organs, mussels, snails, and bloodworms (chironomid larvae), red threadworms (tubifex worms), yellow mealworms (breadworms), maggots, etc. Food must not contain bones or spines, to avoid injuring the turtle.

It is best to feed fresh raw meat; after meat is cooked it becomes hard, and turtles do not like eating hard things. Red-eared sliders love shrimp meat most. When adult or elderly red-eared sliders are extremely hungry, a few individuals will eat plant matter such as vegetable leaves, rice, and soft melons and fruit, but this is relatively rare. Juveniles basically only eat meat. Red-eared sliders show no selectivity in feeding time and eat both day and night. In a hungry state they display food-grabbing behavior, and the phenomenon of larger ones eating smaller ones occurs.

2. Keeping juveniles

Young red-eared sliders can be kept in flat-bottomed containers; plastic basins, plastic troughs, glass tanks or boxes, and aquariums are all suitable.

Each juvenile should have five liters of water as activity space, and the water depth should not exceed the turtle's body length, so that when the turtle comes to the surface to breathe its feet can still touch the bottom. At the same time, you must make or buy a basking platform for them using bricks or stone slabs, so the turtles can bask their backs. Floating islands are not suitable, because juveniles often cannot climb onto them.

The water temperature that juveniles can adapt to is about 23—28°C. When it is cold, the air above the container should also be warmed; installing a hooded lamp on the keeping box can achieve both goals at once. If the water temperature is still too low, a heating rod can be placed in the water, preferably one with adjustable temperature settings.

3. Keeping adults

The keeping box needed for adult turtles is much larger, so that they have enough activity space. To create an ideal environment, a pair of grown red-eared sliders needs at least one hundred liters of water as activity range. A keeping box that is too small will quickly make red-eared sliders obese and sluggish; if one flips onto its back and falls into the water, it can drown because it cannot turn itself over.

The size of the keeping container can also lead to cases of poor shell development. Large plastic basins, aquariums, or large wooden containers lined with plastic sheeting can all serve as turtle-keeping troughs. A trough with a drainage hole is the most convenient, as it makes frequent water changes and cleaning easy.

To bring the water temperature in the keeping trough to the temperature red-eared sliders like, use a heating rod of the kind used for aquariums; when installing it, prevent the equipment and cords from possibly trapping the red-eared slider. An electric mat placed under the bottom outside the keeping box can also work; synthetic resin rubber can be laid under the electric mat as insulating material. But the water temperature should also not be higher than the outside temperature (about 25 to 30°C), so the red-eared slider does not catch a chill.

Notes on hibernation of red-eared sliders

1. How to get through winter

Generally speaking, red-eared sliders begin to enter hibernation below 15°C, and begin feeding when the water temperature rises above 16°C. Red-eared sliders are fairly cold-resistant; generally, as long as the water temperature is not lower than 4°C they can safely overwinter. When kept indoors at home, the temperature generally will not fall below this, but if they are kept on a balcony or in a garden pond, you must pay attention. Especially now that nighttime temperatures are low, cold-proof measures must be taken. It is best to move them indoors and place them in a clean plastic basin with no water in it, cover the turtle's body with some damp grass or a damp towel, and regularly spray a little water to maintain humidity, and they can safely get through winter.

2. Preparation for hibernation

Before hibernation, the turtles need to be fattened up. Starting in September, let the turtles eat their fill at every meal, 2 times a day, for one month, to store enough fat for overwintering. By October the turtles stop eating; then soak the turtles in warm water more often to stimulate them to defecate, clear the intestines, and expel any feces remaining in the body. This prevents feces staying in the intestines for a long time and causing intestinal disease. During the half year without food they live on this fat. If a turtle is too thin, or its eating condition is poor, or it is too small, then it needs to be kept with heating through the winter; adjust the temperature to 28°C, and the turtle will eat normally. If it hibernates in this condition without heating, because the stored fat is too little, it will very likely die because it cannot hold out until the temperature rises again.

3. Checking during hibernation

If the keeper wants to check the turtle's health during hibernation, do so at most once a month; only in very special emergency situations should the keeper disturb a hibernating turtle. Such checking can only be occasional and must never be done frequently, otherwise it will disturb the turtle's hibernation and prevent it from fully entering the hibernation state, making it hard to achieve the purpose of letting the turtle hibernate. If disturbed too many times, it is very likely to increase the mortality rate of the turtle during hibernation.

4. After hibernation

In addition, if a turtle that has just woken from hibernation has no interest in food and refuses to eat, the keeper need not feel surprised or shocked. A turtle that has just woken from hibernation, like many people just waking up, will feel dizzy and disoriented and needs some time to adjust; it is just that turtles need much more adjustment time than people, roughly 1-2 days, or even longer.

Many turtles that have just woken from hibernation look skin and bones, or as if malnourished; generally speaking, this is normal. At this time the keeper needs some patience; the first few feedings should be small and of high quality, with an appropriate amount of nutritional medicine and antibiotics mixed into the feed. Gradually increase the feeding amount, and after a period of time, feed according to the turtle's maximum food intake, so the turtle recovers as quickly as possible.

Tips for choosing and buying red-eared sliders

1. How to choose

A healthy turtle's shell is hard and complete without defects, the body is thick, the shell is bright and light green, the eyes are bright and wide open, the nostrils are clean and unobstructed, the back of the head and the limbs can extend and retract freely, it will compete for bait, and some will climb onto other turtles' shells to rest; when placed in water, the good ones sink. In short, choose lively, energetic turtles. The detailed methods are as follows:

① Carefully observe whether it shows natural avoidance behavior. When a person approaches the basin, does it try to dive away? Turtles that have difficulty swimming or diving, or whose nostrils are blocked or eyes are swollen, are near the end of their lives; never buy them.

② The shell of a healthy turtle is mostly uninjured and even and normal in shape. If when touched the shell feels “soft”, then it has soft-shell disease.

③ You can feed a little bait and watch which one comes over to eat first; this can also help judge their health condition. Be cautious about turtles that refuse to eat the bait.

④ You should also consider that these cute little things will not always be so small; in the future they will need a larger space. Under better conditions, they will grow quickly, and under your care, the shell length will reach 25 to 30 cm.

2. Distinguishing male from female

Generally speaking, for small juvenile turtles (individual weight under 250 grams), because they are not yet sexually mature, the sex is difficult to identify. Some dishonest sellers say when selling juvenile red-eared sliders that the sex can be judged by the pattern on the plastron; there is no scientific basis for this. For turtles of the same age, the female is always larger than the male. A common red-eared slider male reaches sexual maturity at an individual weight of 300 grams, and the female at around 500 grams. Other turtle species have different standards depending on the breed.

① Female turtle: the base of the tail is thin, the cloacal opening is relatively close to the rear edge of the plastron, and the notch formed by the 2 anal scutes of the plastron is relatively shallow, with a relatively large notch angle. The shell is relatively short and wide, the plastron is flat with no depression in the center, the tail is thin and short, and the cloacal opening is located within the plastron. Or, if you press the turtle's limbs with your fingers so they cannot extend, and liquid is secreted from the cloacal opening, then it is a female turtle.

② Male turtle: the shell is relatively long and narrow, the center of the plastron is slightly sunken inward, the tail is thick and long, the base of the tail is thick, the cloacal opening is relatively far from the rear edge of the plastron, and the notch formed by the 2 anal scutes of the plastron is relatively deep, with a relatively small notch angle. The shell is relatively long and narrow, the center of the plastron is slightly sunken inward, the tail is thick and long, the base of the tail is thick, and the cloacal opening is located outside the plastron. Or, if you press the turtle's limbs with your fingers so they cannot extend, its reproductive organs will extend out from the reproductive opening, then it is a male turtle.

③ For most adult turtles of the same year, the male is thinner and smaller, while the female is rounder, thicker, and larger.