Hello as you know I am very new to this but not to having turtles.... my mother actually had the turtles first.... started with a male red ear slider (not sure how old he is, may look back in photo albums to try and figure it out)... then after a couple of years she got a female red ear slider.... they used to be together but then he got to frisky and she wasn't too interested and we didn't want any little turtles so they each had their own tanks. I actually took care of them for my mom. Then back in 99 my son and I were visiting a friend in the DC area... a new development and my son was roller blading on the blacktop when he found a little turtle the size of a quarter... the temp was in the 80s and with the new development had no idea where to try and set it so.... not sure if it was the right thing to do but we took it home to NW PA. Well it turned out to be a female eastern painted and she is now much larger. Well mom passed away last year and all of them are still in my home.... by the way my home is somewhat of a zoo ( we have 5 dogs, 2 cats the 3 turtles and a rabbit)..... don't worry we have a very large house and they all actually get along.