Member With a Red Eared Slider Turtle??

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
A long time ago there was a post about various pets and there was another member on the board (I believe lived in ohio) who also had red eared slider turtles and had a really nice set up for them.

Well, we are feeling pretty bad for our turtle Carmen. She is rapidly outgrowing her tank again and we don't have room for a larger one. Nichole is looking for her a new home. I was wondering if the poster with the red eared sliders would like to have her as I recall their set up for her turtles as being rather awesome.

Carmen is beginning to look a bit peaked, and I think it has to do with space issues and such. Now that spring has arrived Nichole has taken her out to sun a few times and has been supplimenting her diet with worms and crickets hoping to improve her appearance and overall general health. Now that it has finally stopped raining again, maybe she can once again get a few hours of sunlight.

This turtle doesn't fall under the state guidelines as she is an adult over 8 inches, so there would be no hitches with that. Carmen is 5 years old.

I can't believe I've grown fond of a turtle. I hate to see her go, as does Nichole, but we also hate to see her miserable too.

I remembered the member here and thought I'd attempt to keep her in the "family" if possible. sister in law's turtle also outgrew his tank and has gone to live with the owners of the mexican restaurant in town. (also good friends of ours) But they didn't have room for 2.

Hugs
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
Daisy,

I have had turtles (terrapins) for years and years. Actually that's how I have the gold fish in a tank named fishy - Myrtle would not eat him. He survived grueling 110 degree days and came out nearly un-brain damaged. He has had those 2 stints of attempting fishercide - but other than than and swimming upside down on occasion he's normal.

I would love to have Carmen - but I think the absolute BEST thing to do for her at this time of the year would be to find a nice, quiet river and allow her to go back to being wild. I have quite a bit of knowledge on rehabitating turtles and it does not take much. They find their way easier than most other pets. And she'll be free and grow huge, and swim and mate and do all the other things turtles should do. We have a ceremony and bbq when we cut a critter back into the wild. It makes us feel good - table decoration is always a picture of the turtle. I have to coolest one of myrtles belly - it's a smiley face -perfect spots.

If you can't do that - go to WM and get a kiddie pool - find some flat rocks and make her an island to be able to get out of the water. Don't fill it up to the top and don't put the island near the edge. Put it outside where she can have sun 1/2 the day - and buy her feeder gold fish 10 for $1 and let them loose in her habitat. Make sure she has a cave to go to under the island turtles like to sleep in tight places. It makes them feel secure.

In the winter - you would have to heat a pool that size - but my best wish for Carmen is BE FREE!! and if you do it NOW she'll have plenty of time to adapt to the winter coming.

Hugs - best of luck - IF I were closer I'd be tempted to come get her - but you know I'd let her be free.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Star

I'd love to let her free, and we have a perfect State park nearby. About 8 yrs ago Nichole netted a baby snapping turtle. We kept Squirt for a couple of years. (who'd think a snapping turtle could turn out to be sweet?) But then helping him to hybernate was a problem and we let him go in a nice spot at the state park.

But I'm leery of letting Carmen go free. Red eared slider's aren't native to ohio, so I don't know how she'd fair in the wild here.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Sorry Nichole said they are native here, just too domesticated to be set free. Carmen hasn't even had to hybernate.

The pool is a great idea. Now we're trying to think on how it'll work with the dogs and the cats. Especially the stray cats in the neighborhood. Although heating it in the winter would be a big issue.
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
Oh, my...no turtle experience, but can tell by your post you really care about Carmen.

Have you tried calling a vet or the humane society to get their advice on letting her out on her own?

I know I would love nothing better than seeing my birds fly like they should...but it would be disaster for them. They'd probably not find their way back, and don't have the life skills to live in the wild.

I'd most likely be afraid of Carmen, but hugs to all of you and I hope she finds a good home.

Abbey
 

dreamer

New Member
I'm afraid I have no great ideas, but, the subject line caught my eye....
We have a red eared slider, it is maybe around 15 years old, (maybe a little more)- we got it in Indiana at our river property - it had come out to our driveway, and was size of a quarter..... we brought it home and it has lived in a tank in our living room ever since. Ours is not social, BUT we love him to peices. Ours also has one goldfish that is now maybe 5-6 years old or so, that he refused to eat out of all the feedr fish we have put in with our turtle over the years....so we say bob the fish is roadhouse the turtles pet.
Our tank is not so wonderful, we have had difficulty (we are NOT creative) in setting up a proper habitat, but, roadhouse has been very forgiving and is now size of a dinner plate. Over the years I have tried a few times to find a vet to help us out, but I have not ever found one around here. Someone I worked with had several red eared sliders, and a pond building nursery landscape place a mile up from me has on their display lot a pond with a whole bunch of red eared sliders. Last winter I asked them what they were gonna do with theirs over winter, but at the time I asked they still were not sure-----(and I have not yet been there this season to ask again) Good luck with yours!
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
I live in SoCal and we have an oldish red eared slider female we took on about 8 years ago from someone, who inherited her from someone else, etc.

She lives in a smallish (100 gallon or so) pond on the second floor balcony off our master bedroom year-round :D (Decided to keep her there because we have no fence around our yard and are in a semi-rural area, with lots of predators that love to eat turtles).

As for hibernation, she just sits on the bottom of the pond from about October to February, coming up for a gulp of air occasionally.

I'm sure ours would acclimate to the wild with NO problem at all. And my main message here is that yours would likely do fine as well. There are numerous red eared sliders that have been dumped at local parks with ponds and small lakes, and they do just fine adapting to their wild surroundings, even though they are not native. While I don't condone dumping unwanted turtles, if there is already a location in your area that has a community of sliders living there, I think that might be a good place to set yours free, that is if you can't find a suitable adoptive home for her.
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
Yikes. We difficult child has 2. One is a year old, the other is a hatchling!

Better write my will to include the turtle directives.
 

dreamer

New Member
really, I am a little surprised ours has lived this long. Got him a new home in the fall, and warned the kids he might expire after due to shock.we neglected him for a year, his filter broke and I did not change the water and his heater broke, too......and his basking area - he keeps destroying it so mostly is now an aquatic reptile.....
early on he developed an eye problem in one eye, we treated it for 2 years with something (cannot remember at the moment what we used, some kind of reptile eye drop) but when dog also had his eye issue (nonfunctional lacrimal gland in one eye) and then son had his eye injury, the turtles eye problem fell in priority....and then difficult child one time dropped turtle cuz he bit her, and she worried about salmonella, and then now, I am fairly sure ours has developed soft shell? Yeesh......
But Roadhouse continues to live on and seems happy enough.....he happily comes to investigate us and the dog and kitties when we are near....
His appetetite sure has grown along with him, and he will eat a whole dozen feeder goldfish in minutes....he hates crickets and worms.....ignores greens....
I tried before we had him to have fish, I failed miserably with fish many times over.....(altho difficult child has had her betta now for well over 3 years) - our turtle provides many many many hours of relaxation pleasure, us watching him swim in his tank.....it is hypnotizing, mesmerizing and calming, he is so graceful. His home dominates our living room due to the size of his tank in relation to the size of our living room.....and he draws attention from anyone who comes over. It sure was a surprise to realize just how much pleasure he did bring us and continues to give us.
I would love to one day be able to create a large pond in my yard that could handle all seasons and be a habitat for critters like him. Actually, LOL, where my mom and pop are buried turned out to be by coincidence, at the edge of a turtle refuge......amidst thousands of red eared sliders! We did not realize it when mom buried her husbnd there, but when we went for mom, the cemetary had upgraded and renovated the area some and it was so awesome, all the turtles.....the cemetary created a very long gentle waterfall next to mom, going down, ending in the turtle pond, which they have now officially named "Turtle Pond"

Turtles......LOL a walgreens in a nearby town got rejected to be built becuz it would have disturbed a turtle habitat.....my brother in law was not very happy, he was going tobe pharmacist manager of that one, and it would have been so close to his home, BUT, LOL- I thought it was appropriate to not build the new walgreens------there were 3 others all within like 2 miles of where they wanted to put the new one (altho technically they were all different "towns") . So- the turtles won out. Yes, the turtles. Fascinating lil guys...... :)

Still, after all this time, when I wake in mornings and leave my room, one of the first things I do on my way to kitchen is to peek in at turtle, to make sure he is fine. I hope to be still doing this when I am very old and very gray......LOL. and already the kids are all fighting to claim him as their own once I am no longer here.

Only one time did I take him out in yard and put him in a wading pool.OMG! the bugger took off like wildfire! it was SO hard to get him back into possession to bring him back in the house! I am sure HE loved it, but.......it was nearly the death of me. He sure cannot build up THAT kind of swimming speed in the house in his tank!

So, we have the dog.....bichon & poodle----my first lap dog, and such a sweetie......and the 3 kitties-----a breathe of fresh playfulness - they are our youngest babies.....and the rabbit, I am not crazy about him, maybe becuz easy child got him in a fit of rebellion.....altho I take care of him (of course) now, LOL.....(I think he is a dwarf of some type?) and the turtle and turtles pet fish, and difficult children betta......
and son wants a bird. LOL. I never had a bird, am not against birds (my mom was terrified of birds, LOL, my dads wife bred some kind of bird) I know nothing about birds, BUT......I figure with 3 kitties, a bird might not be real safe? So for now we stick to thebirds in the yard......of which we now have plenty......1 cardinal for sure, a pair of doves, for sure......at least 4 crows, several finches, wrens, robins, blue jays.......those are the ones I see every day a lot......
and soon, our butterflies and hummingbirds will be visible again.....

Plus we have attracted a stray CAT...(a nasty feral one who keeps trying to get in thru our screens and has destroyed 3 so far) and a raccoon........(grrr he likes our garage) and every single year we have a nest of baby rabbits in our back yard.......yes every single year we have been here, 20 years.........nevermind we are IN town, nevermind we have a dog.......nevermind I mow frequently------and most of the time we wind up with a nest of baby squirrels in our attic, in spite of the fake owl, mothballs, talk radio on 24-7 in attic, and floodlites on 24-7 up there.....

and of course thru the years we have had our share of guinea pigs, mice, voles, hamsters, gerbils, angel fish, goldfish, salamanders, frogs, even.....etc etc. The turtle remains.......always always. :)
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
LOL dreamer about him taking off outside. Nichole Used to think turtles were slow. Carmen showed her otherwise. *snort* So much for stereo-types. lol Nichole put her into the grass and Carmen was off like a shot. Nichole had to take off after her. We now use a rodent enclosure meant to let small critters enjoy the outdoors/grass without getting away.

A good thing for soft shell....Go to walmart back where the fishies are. They'll have in a package what looks like a white turtle. I believe it's calcium. Put it in his tank. It's supposed to desolve, but Carmen never gives it a chance. She has hers eaten within an hour. Doesn't hurt her. But I only buy one every 2 weeks. They're cheap and help rid soft shell.

Carmen rarely gets feeder fish. She gets the dried turtle food cuz we can't afford to keep her in feeder fish. She gobbles them up too fast. So it's a good thing she likes worms and small insects too.
 

dreamer

New Member
Daisylover, thanx for the heads up on that stuff..I will try it....our turtle gets dried turtle food daily, and feeder fish maybe once every 2 months or so..or when I am out of town.LOL- they used to last a few days, but, now, he eats them all right away. He hates crickets, tho....goofy turtle. fits right in, just as picky as my dog and my kids. The cats are the ones who will eat anything and everything, they especially love my dogs food, and my poor dog hates most food, LOL.
The rabbit - he surprised me, he does not like broccoli or asparagus at all, altho he does like carrots, apples and celery. BUT usually we feed him rabbit pellets and alfalfa and timothy hay.

2 of our cats have a particular fondness for candy.....they steal it out of the candy dish and bat it around the house, and they also love to steal lollypops and QTips and bat those around, too. DUreing the holidays we had a small dish of Hersheys KIsses, and it was awful, even tho I had them in top shelf of our entertainment center, somehow the kitties still managed to keep getting those.....thank goodness they never ate any and neither did dog, becuz some dogs die from chocolate.....
UG! Many years ago, we had a wonderful golden retriever/lab- she was just a puppy....for chriistmas I was making my 30 pounds of various flavors of fudge? I set it in garage on tables to hold? Goofy pup got to it, and ate maybe 6-8 pounds of the fudge, and worse, it was wrapped in plastic wrap and she ate the plastic wrap, too! I was CERTAIN she would die. To our amazement, she did not even get sick! Boy did we get lucky!

Abbey? are you SURE you would want us to babysit birds for you? Our kitties are still very energetic and playful..LOL-Shadow uses the toilet, and even FLUSHES it! Taught himself, he thinks he is human....Kilo does what I call "hit and run" he gets these intense immediate love needs, races p umps on my chest, snuggles his head into my neck, purrs so loud, and within 90 seconds he leaves just as fast as he arrived.....and Spooky? she is the runt, half as small as the other 2 cats (all from same litter) She is so delicate and loving and sweet and calm, BUT.she holds her own when she decides to beat up the 2 boy cats, even tho SHadow is easily 3 times bigger than her and Kilo while he looks identical to her, he is twice as big. Shadow is so food aggressive, abnoxious, even. When I cook, he comes to kitchen and when he stands on his back legs, his head reaches the kitchen counter! He will even steal food right out of my dogs mouth! Shadow has also self taught himself to OPEN our screen doors, and the kitties are declawed, so they are not allowed outside at all--so we have to be very careful .......
I am not at all sure a bird would be very safe here.
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
Oddly enough, our birds LOVE cats and dogs...even big dogs. Also, they wouldn't go down without a serious biting fight. I remember one time years ago when a Lab, just being curious, came up to Abbey to sniff her. Well...he left with a nice slice in the nose. Poor guy. He ran away whimpering.

Abbey
 
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