Red Eared Slider
- Thread starter Kwatson
- Start date
Noelluene
Active Member
If apart from their colouring they are healthy (eating well, tough shell, basking regularly...), then you shouldn't stress yourself over it.
jeff kushner
Well-Known Member
I kept those guys for decades and love them.....active, cool to watch little guys.
I am not an expert, just did it for a long, long time so my info may not be correct and I ask the mods to say something if they see something....
IMHO; Your lighting might have something to do with coloration but I saw it once in a while too, from one that had been nice and color-rich red or yellow slider. They are fine & active and eating aggressively but their color just fades to a grey-like.
You might want to try the vitamin D they have at Dollar Stores, it comes as a liquid gelcap, easily punctured and squeezed out over food. Direct ingestion and they will only process what they can process of vD.
Another thing that worked for getting them lots of calcium fast was cooked ham. They go nuts for it and it doesn't mess up your tank. Those two things were the only supplements I ever needed.
Varied diet helps too.................but be careful of floaty sticks....I still swear they caused >10% of my dead turtles!
jeff
I am not an expert, just did it for a long, long time so my info may not be correct and I ask the mods to say something if they see something....
IMHO; Your lighting might have something to do with coloration but I saw it once in a while too, from one that had been nice and color-rich red or yellow slider. They are fine & active and eating aggressively but their color just fades to a grey-like.
You might want to try the vitamin D they have at Dollar Stores, it comes as a liquid gelcap, easily punctured and squeezed out over food. Direct ingestion and they will only process what they can process of vD.
Another thing that worked for getting them lots of calcium fast was cooked ham. They go nuts for it and it doesn't mess up your tank. Those two things were the only supplements I ever needed.
Varied diet helps too.................but be careful of floaty sticks....I still swear they caused >10% of my dead turtles!
jeff
This is not correct. Vitamin D can be overdosed given this way. The body stores vitamin D and has not regulatory means of limiting D when dietary. You may be confused with Vitamin D3 through UVB exposure. The body does self-regulate the conversion in the skin and cannot overdose that way.
Ham is not a good source of Calcium. It does contain some calcium, but not a great amount in turtle requirement terms. It also contains a great amount of fat and a terribly high amount of sodium. Not a recommended food on my list.
jeff kushner
Well-Known Member
Wow Mark, I had no idea......so I and other appreciate that you took the time to correct it. I admit, just because I did this or that, just means I followed what was intuitive, to me at the time, NOT what was actual science....I can appreciate knowledge, thanks!
