Bored Turtle

[mrrgrrnrr]

I have a nine year old female Yellow Bellied Slider that lives in a 75 gallon aquarium. She has all of the necessities - custom basking platform, good filter, good heater, good light, good diet, outside-the-tank roaming time, etc - but I've been having a hard time figuring out any extras for her and I'm afraid that she's becoming bored.

I've done pebbles when she was younger (ate them), sand (ate it), big rocks (slammed them around to the point I was worried she'd break the glass of the tank). I gave her a rubber duck but she ignored it and basically anything she can fit in her mouth she eats. My mother made her a toy that involved rubber bands which ended in a very expensive vet visit to get them pulled out of her stomach. Lately, she's taken to attacking her screen lid to the point that she began ripping pieces off and eating them.

All this to say, I feel like she's probably bored but I'm having a hard time finding anything safe for a 9 inch adult turtle. She also used to have a little cave to hide in but outgrew it and now I can't find anything she'd fit in. I'd love any suggestions for added features I could provide to make her life a little less dull, as well as a good place to hide if she wants to be left alone!

 

[Markw84]

I wouldn't describe your turtle as bored and needing more "toys". Your turtle is simply in too small an area for an adult slider. Turtles like slilders, cooters, maps are all excellent swimmers, lover open water and lots of areas to swim. I keep mine in a 10,000 gallon pond and they use every bit of it. Their natural habits of basking, diving and swimming when "threat" is perceived, hunting the bottom for bits of food, are all fun to watch. But none of these things can be done in a tank. I feel even a 250 gal tank is too small for the genus mentioned. They simply cannot act normally and develop peculiar behaviors like you describe and more. Like the old zoos where we saw tigers in a 20' x 30' cage. There simply is not the room they need to do what they are "programmed" to do.

Turtles in a tank also can become very sedated. Looking like rocks sitting in the tank most of the time. Everyone who comes to my place canot believe how active and interesting it is to watch the turtles in my pond. Is there any way you could make an outdoor pond for your slider? I'm of the opinion that is the only way to really solve your problem.

 

[Yvonne G]

I have a 600 gallon galvanized water trough for a foot long turtle. It has a 10' x 2.5' footprint. It may be 300 gallons, old age memory). There's a large plastic plant pot in the water, inverted with a brick on top, and a door cut out to make a sunning spot and a cave.

 

[mark1]

no doubt if you got room for an outside pond or a 10foot by 2.5 foot tub , go for that ....... if not try something like this picture , i've done similar , if you use the length side instead of the width side , a 75 gallon tank i believe is 4' long ? if you go out 18" on top from the back of the tank you would effectively have a surface area of 8 feet by 1.5 feet , half water half land ...... as far as entertainment , fish .........

 

[KarenSoCal]

I know nothing about turtles, but if they eat ghost shrimp, that would be entertainment for you both.

And you can easily raise your own ghosties for an unlimited
supply.

Same goes for mystery snails...they're not difficult to breed either.

 

[mrrgrrnrr]

I wouldn't describe your turtle as bored and needing more "toys". Your turtle is simply in too small an area for an adult slider. Turtles like slilders, cooters, maps are all excellent swimmers, lover open water and lots of areas to swim. I keep mine in a 10,000 gallon pond and they use every bit of it. Their natural habits of basking, diving and swimming when "threat" is perceived, hunting the bottom for bits of food, are all fun to watch. But none of these things can be done in a tank. I feel even a 250 gal tank is too small for the genus mentioned. They simply cannot act normally and develop peculiar behaviors like you describe and more. Like the old zoos where we saw tigers in a 20' x 30' cage. There simply is not the room they need to do what they are "programmed" to do.

Turtles in a tank also can become very sedated. Looking like rocks sitting in the tank most of the time. Everyone who comes to my place canot believe how active and interesting it is to watch the turtles in my pond. Is there any way you could make an outdoor pond for your slider? I'm of the opinion that is the only way to really solve your problem.

Yes, I would love to get a bigger tank in the near future as she had a growth spurt since I last upgraded but that is not what my post was about. Also I'm glad to hear that you have space for a 10,000 gallon pond, that sounds great. However I live in the city and that's not really something that can happen here, so that isn't particularly helpful for me.

She is very very far from "sedated" or looking like a rock - gets lots of comments for her personality, has an outdoor pool that she swims around in frequently and gets "outside the tank" time to explore very often. I am just trying to look for additional ideas for things I can add to her tank that she may enjoy but that will not prove to be harmful.

 

[mrrgrrnrr]

no doubt if you got room for an outside pond or a 10foot by 2.5 foot tub , go for that ....... if not try something like this picture , i've done similar , if you use the length side instead of the width side , a 75 gallon tank i believe is 4' long ? if you go out 18" on top from the back of the tank you would effectively have a surface area of 8 feet by 1.5 feet , half water half land ...... as far as entertainment , fish .........

Oh yeah I have a similar dock setup that I had custom made so her tank is able to be full to the brim (and should be able to transfer whenever I upgrade her tank size)!

 

[mark1]

Oh yeah I have a similar dock setup that I had custom made so her tank is able to be full to the brim (and should be able to transfer whenever I upgrade her tank size)!

difference is , one way enlarges the enclosure , the other doesn't .......

 

[Diane Berner]

Yes, I would love to get a bigger tank in the near future as she had a growth spurt since I last upgraded but that is not what my post was about. Also I'm glad to hear that you have space for a 10,000 gallon pond, that sounds great. However I live in the city and that's not really something that can happen here, so that isn't particularly helpful for me.

She is very very far from "sedated" or looking like a rock - gets lots of comments for her personality, has an outdoor pool that she swims around in frequently and gets "outside the tank" time to explore very often. I am just trying to look for additional ideas for things I can add to her tank that she may enjoy but that will not prove to be harmful.

 

[Diane Berner]

I would agree to put other food items like fish and ghost shrimp that she can hunt and chase around. I wouldn't put anymore "toys" in there. You can also put some anacharis plants in there for her to nibble on. These are aquatic plants that you can buy at a fish store or online. Thelse turtles also usually like night crawlers. I used to work at a pet store and had to take care of these turtles on a daily basis so these are just a few ideas to keep her amused.

 

[queen koopa]

I just got an 18 yr old slider that flipped out following me every time I walked in the room. Her previous owner said that was normal behavior and considered him to be “feisty”. She also would let him out to “explore” when they cleaned his very small tank it was 20 gal. I enlarged the enclosure to a 75 gal stock tank and provided hides and basking spots and do NOT take him out and let him know theres more things in the world - that tip I learned from Yvonne in a Sulcata post long ago. My turtle now does not flip out. You already know it, time for a bigger tank... your at 75 gal already... I understand the size constraints. But may be your only option if you want her behavior to change...

 

[queen koopa]

no doubt if you got room for an outside pond or a 10foot by 2.5 foot tub , go for that ....... if not try something like this picture , i've done similar , if you use the length side instead of the width side , a 75 gallon tank i believe is 4' long ? if you go out 18" on top from the back of the tank you would effectively have a surface area of 8 feet by 1.5 feet , half water half land ...... as far as entertainment , fish .........

Pretty sure my turtle would get out of that in 10 hours ?