Unexpected surprise...

[Smile]

I come home and find these little guys along with a letter from my grandmother... Just to be sure, these are red eared sliders, right? I'm 99% positive they are.

Here's one of them

Here they both are near an open window...

Here's the thing. The good thing is that they're tiny now so I don't need a large enclosure right away, but I can't afford to get a 20 gallon tank and a UVB bulb for them right now... What can I do for them? I have heat lamps, but there's no way for me to put it on them and so I can't heat their water... she got them from a lady selling them in these tiny containers with just a tap of water in it. Here are a few questions I have for the time being.

1) Like I said, I have no money to get them a large tank and water heater right now. What can I do for the time being? I'm planning on moving them to a larger container for now and getting them out of this small one.
2) I have Mazuri tortoise diet as well as tortoise grassland food, can they eat these? I have a sulcata tortoise, which is why I have these available. If not, what can they eat? I can supplement it with calcium.
3) Like I said, I have a sulcata and he has a UVB bulb inside his tank. Would they benefit from it if I keep their container next to his tank? It's warmer there too.
4) If I were to leave them next to an open window, would I need a UVB bulb at all? It's not sunny outside right now, but I still have them near an open window.

I'll probably have more questions later. For now, I have to find something to put them in and a way to heat them up..

 

[Smile]

Just got them into a larger food storage container with a rock and they're swimming around happily now. So cute.

 

[Irwin4530]

There are some fantastic enclosures made from water troughs....Google it


If I were you i'd skip over the "buying several different sizes of aquariums to fit their growth spurt needs" and start looking on craigslist for old preform ponds or water troughs......at this point even a Rubbermaid container or kiddie pool would work well.

 

[mike taylor]

Go to Wal-mart and get a big plastic tote for like ten dollars . Put a basking spot and a uvb lamp . I would skip the fish tanks . Them more room the better .

 

[Smile]

I'm not worried about housing at the moment... I have them in a decent sized container for now. Can I feed them Mazuri or no? Also I don't know if you read, but I can't afford a UVB at the moment.

 

[Irwin4530]

Can you get them outside at all? Is it warm enough?

 

[Irwin4530]

Mazuri aquatic...yes.

 

[Jabuticaba]

I'm not worried about housing at the moment... I have them in a decent sized container for now. Can I feed them Mazuri or no? Also I don't know if you read, but I can't afford a UVB at the moment.

I'm not sure if they'll do well on Mazuri. But I do know they can only eat while swimming, so the mazuri would need to float. I've never fed Mazuri, so I wouldn't know if Mazuri floats like aquatic turtle pellets.


May
THBs: Darwin & Merlin
Aussies: Dax, Vegas, & Cricket
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES

 

[Smile]

I tried feeding them the Mazuri but they don't seem to care for it or the piece of romaine lettuce I put in there. I did put a piece of grocery store ham in there and one of them is eating it! I have to go to the pet store this weekend to get a rat for my snake and thought I'd get some live fish to give them; would guppies do? How do I keep the guppies alive in this container? I remember I bought them all the time while I was younger and they always died on me for some reason... unless I had them in a tank with gravel.

 

[Jabuticaba]

Mazuri aquatic...yes.

Cool! Didn't know they made the aquatic kind, too. Good to know!


May
THBs: Darwin & Merlin
Aussies: Dax, Vegas, & Cricket
IG: @AUSSOMEAUSSIES

 

[AmRoKo]

Slider turtles especially young ones are very carnivorous, when you go to the pet store you should also get them zoomed hatchling turtle food which is very good for babies. Also you can get them live or dead bugs (they sell already dead ones in jars next to turtle food) and you can get them small guppies/minnows whatever those feeders they normally sell are called just make sure they are small enough for the turtles to eat.

 

[Smile]

Slider turtles especially young ones are very carnivorous, when you go to the pet store you should also get them zoomed hatchling turtle food which is very good for babies. Also you can get them live or dead bugs (they sell already dead ones in jars next to turtle food) and you can get them small guppies/minnows whatever those feeders they normally sell are called just make sure they are small enough for the turtles to eat.

Should I get guppies or tiny crickets for them tomorrow? I've only seen one of them eat since they've been here and it wasn't much. Also, are there any diseases or anything that can be passed on through contact by them to my sulcata tortoise? I've been putting letting them bask under my sulcata's MVB light for 2 hours a day and they seem overly active under it, so I'm assuming they enjoy it.

 

[AmRoKo]

Should I get guppies or tiny crickets for them tomorrow? I've only seen one of them eat since they've been here and it wasn't much. Also, are there any diseases or anything that can be passed on through contact by them to my sulcata tortoise? I've been putting letting them bask under my sulcata's MVB light for 2 hours a day and they seem overly active under it, so I'm assuming they enjoy it.

You could actually get both. I have fed pre-dead crickets but I think most get live, the only reason I haven't gotten live crickets is because you have to cut them up small enough for the babies to eat and I'm not cool with doing that, I can cut up the already dead ones lol. Because the turtles are babies they will have a little trouble catching the guppies but it will give them something to do. Also you have to remember they are babies so they aren't going to eat nearly as much as a big fatty adult slider. Sliders are very hardy so I think even though you have babies try not to worry to much.

Since you have just gotten those babies and don't know whether they are carrying anything yet (parasites/some sort of sickness etc.) I would make sure to not let them touch/come into contact with anything you use for your sully just to be safe. You should try getting a separate bulb for the turtles or if getting another MVB is to expensive right now you could go get a normal flood light to use as a basking light. I use normal flood lights from a hardware store + uvb tubes anyway for both tortoises and turtles currently (MVB's never work for me).

One more thing - make sure you have enough water for them (about 4-6 inches) they can't eat unless they are in water also sliders are very good swimmers.

 

[Smile]

Hmm... I put some minnows big enough for them to eat inside their enclosure and they don't seem to care for them, but will occasionally sniff them. How do I keep these minnows alive for the time being until they start to get interested in them? I don't have any fish food...

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Fish will eat turtle food. Feed the turtles earthworms, snails and slugs as well as turtle pellets. Just when you get fond of the fish, the turtles will eat them. Do have a powerful filter and a basking dock where they can dry off.

 

[Smile]

Threw some baby reptomin in there for them and nada. I'm about to set up a heat lamp for them in a few minutes since the temperature in NYC has decreased a lot and hopefully that'll get them going. I can now tell them apart and have names for them (Herbie and Pumpkin), and so far in the 11 days that I've had them, I have only seen Pumpkin eat a few times... I have yet to see Herbie eat. Really hope both of them make it since they seem to love having each other's company.

 

[Smile]

Great news! I added a heat lamp today and it's keeping the water relatively warm enough not only for the turtles, but for the minnows to thrive as well. Not only that, but one of the minnows sort of "died" during today's water change and both turtles grabbed it and started eating it! They didn't eat it all though but I'm confident that as the days go by, they'll start to eat more and more (my tortoise was the same way when I got him back in July, the only difference was that I had the necessary supplies to house him effectively).

 

[Irwin4530]

Pictures (she chants!)

 

[Smile]

Here are a few picture. Not the best set up in the world, but it'll do for a few months. For some reason they prefer to bask on the rock instead of on the plastic lid under the lamp where it stays much warmer... will they eventually learn to bask on the lid instead of the rock? Also, any tips on how to get them to eat more? I got 10 minnows for them two weeks ago; three of the minnows are gone but they've only eaten two of those... I also bought a small container of reptomin for them but they don't seem to care for it (I have caught them trying to bite it once, never again). I have had red eared sliders in the past and every single one of them got very excited once they knew it was almost feeding time or heard the reptomin can shake... these two are odd.

 

[Hermes]

A couple of my family members own RES and I've seen those turtles eat very random stuff even if it's not the healthiest for them but my aunt feeds them the floating pellets that they sell at every pet store its a green can with a picture of a res on it, and she gives them bread and small pieces of boiled chicken and they go crazy for both, my cousins step mom also has a couple of RES and she keep goldfish feeders in their tank and gives them lettuce or other greens and sliced ham as treats (they eat them from her hand) but down in Florida people feed them bread in the canals and most water turtles seem to go for it.