I was reading a poster in the University of Delaware biology department. Apparantly a Grad student was keeping Red Eared Sliders and he learned a lot abotu husbandry and decided to make a poster.
The turtles started out in a 2'x2'x4' plexiglass aquarium. They had standard acommadations, dock, lamps, hiding places. 3 water changes were done a week and no filter was used. The turtles were stressed and hid when visitors entered the room and did not like being handled.
The student recognized this and did a major overhaul. He upped the tank to 2'x4'x8', this gave them plenty of swimming room. Put in a high quality biological filter and made a sloped dock. The filter made the water much easier on them and the sloped dock gave them a sense of security knowing they could easily slide into the water.
The turtles quickly lightened up to humans. They tolerated being handled and were eager for food. They were released into a pond at a zoo and are the only turtles in the pond which will stay on the side when humans are present.
So cage setup has EVERYTHING to do with the happiness of your turtle. Having a sad turtle is like having no turtle at all so I recommend reviewing your current setup for flaws.
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