Several years ago my wife got me an RES for christmas; he was a fresh hatchling, no bigger than a silver dollar. I've kept him since then, but he just hasn't gotten as big as I thought red ears did (based on the ones I see in ponds locally).



He's about the size of a decent sized saucer but not the size of a dinner plate--maybe 6-7" across? He's a bigger than my hand but not by too much. I've had UV on him the whole time, and I have tried to feed a varied diet.



When he was real little I ground up pellets and did those (dusted with calcium and vitamins) and fruit flies. When a bit bigger I moved him to whole pellets, rosy red minnows, and grated veggies and fruit.

Nowdays he mostly eats pellets and veggies (a mix of berries, apples, spinach,grapes, etc) and the odd snail but seems to ignore fish most of the time (although I do keep feeder minnows in there, I only have to replenish them once a month or so). I still dust but not ever feeding.

I've always kept a haulout but it has changed from a floating "turtle log' that zoo med makes to a large piece of cork over the last couple of years. He has a basking spot, and a pair of 4' UV lights on him. The basking spot is in the mid 80's, the water temp is basically room temp. I keep an external power filter for filtration. I've figured he's probably male due to the tail and elongated claws and the plastron shape, so I know he won't get giant, but I was under the impression he should be bigger than he is now; am I mistaken,or am I screwing up care somewhere, or does it just take longer? He's probaby 4 years old now.

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