my new red ear slider

[Minos90]

I found a large female red ear slider about 1 month ago. I live in southern California. I tried contacting different apartments near to where i found it to see if anyone lost it but i never got an answer. Also humane society was of no help. Since im going to keep her i want to know how i can construct a nice outdoor pond for her and an indoor enclosure for the nights. Also it stays warm during summer and am wondering if it would survive outside all night.

I want to know which water pump and filter i need to sustain the pond and what to feed it. Ive had it in a kiddie pond with a flat rock so it can bask and just been feeding it pellets from LLL reptile. All info is appreciated .

 

[tglazie]

Sorry no one has replied before now. I hope I can be of some help.

Red eared sliders are among the most hardy of turtles. They call them rats with shells for a reason. These robust turtles can survive in aquatic habitats from Florida to Washington State as a result of human introductions. These animals are so tenacious that they have almost completely displaced native turtles in the Pacific Northwest, South Korea, and many locales throughout Europe.

So, that having been said, yes, they can be allowed to remain outdoors at night. However, you must ensure that they can remain safe from predators. If a raccoon happens into your yard, he will dip his little paws into the pond in an attempt to fish something out of it, and if your turtle is within reach, make no mistake. That raccoon can pull your turtle from the shallow water and make a meal of your pet. Preventing this involves creating a large and deep aquatic habitat, preferably one that is over a thousand gallons. Depth is also essential in allowing turtles to escape the heat of the sun. Here where I live in South Texas, the ground bakes at over a hundred degrees in the summer time. A kiddie pool left out in this heat will quickly warm the water into the upper eighties/lower nineties, which promotes disease growth and uncomfortably high temperatures. Seeing these turtles in the wild, they regularly swim in waters in excess of ten feet deep. If you want to get super serious about keeping aquatics, I'd recommend setting up an in ground pond with a liner. There are numerous web resources that discuss in detail pond maintenance and construction. You just have to do a little google research. As for the pump and filter, depending upon how handy you are, you can set up one yourself. There are a great many resources online for that as well. If you're not, most hardware stores or aquagarden supply stores sell filters. Get one that can tolerate some solid material with a powerful enough pump to ensure water circulation. Also, position your pond with electricity in mind. Running naked cables to a distant outlet is a giant pain. I set my pond adjacent to a tool shed that is wired with electricity. I have the entire filtration system housed inside the shed, with in flow and outflow pipes that are properly weatherproofed and insulated. Ultimately, that's the thing with turtles. Housing them outdoors can be much more expensive and labor intensive than doing the same for tortoises.

As far as the diet goes, shoot for variety. A large turtle like yours needs some serious veggies in her diet. I don't know if duckweed or water hyacinth are legal in your state, but both of these are consumed with relish. I grow some of these in a separate pond in which I also breed mosquito fish, crawfish, and water beetles, all of which feature in the diet of my painted turtles. Lacking this, try mustard greens, collard greens, anachris/elodea, and romaine lettuce. Most of the diet should be veggies at her age, with a protein component offered twice per week.

T.G.

 

[cdktorts]

Filters and pumps all are dependent on how big of pond u building for your turtle. Check on you tube their are a ton of options, you can build or reviews of other pumps and filters.
As food I feed mine a mix of turtle food from petco. She also loves carrots and a few times a month a few dozen feeder fish. Good luck

 

[Alex Z]

Congrats on the rescue....I researched quite alot myself for my 3 I have...you can by spotting the place for the pond in your home....size and length....then from there begin taking measurements...