For sliders I would give them about 4-5 inches of water but

make sure there are areas that they can easily get out of the

water to bask as well as some floating fake plants that they

can rest and hide in. I got my sliders as hatchling and never

heated the water. It depend on your setup for them. If they

are in a 10-20 gallon enclosure the basking lamp will heat

the water during the day naturally and the water will cool at

night. In the winter months, when they were tiny, I kept a

red bulb on during the night over the water to take the chill

off. Red bulbs tend not to disrupt their sleep patterns.



My hatchlings are now 7 years old and 2.5 lbs. They have

never been ill and are very healthy. I currently am raising

a southern painted who is not 1.5 years old. I am raising him

the exact same way as my sliders and have had no problems with

him. In fact, my big turtles are now outdoors for the summer

so my baby is enjoying the 120 gallon aquarium



Just to clarify, this is for red ear sliders, not the other

turtles you referred to. Sliders do well in deep water.



Hope this helps and here is a picture of my girl slider.

Linda

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]