Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I recently purchased two sliders. I love them to death like they are my kids! I was wondering if it is bad for the two sliders to travel back in forth to two different tanks. I am going away to college this month and want to take them with. the problem is I have breaks from school and will be staying at home for weeks at a time. Is it really bad for the turts to travel from my dorm room to my house. Please let me know..i am VERY stressed over the situation. Thank you!
-Ericka-

if ya ask me take them.
if there aint anyone to be around to care for them right, why leave them? they're yer kids!

If I had to go somewhere for a long time, you bet Donnie and Jessie would be coming..along with all their stuff!

I had my turtle in college. The thing is, I didn't know how to care for it at the time so it was only in a 10 gal tank for about a year and a half and then was moved to a 20 long for another couple years. Mine is a painted though and not a RES. A RES needs more space than a painted does.
Before Binx was mine, he was my friend's turtle (her boyfriend caught him as a hatchling for her). Anyway we called the college and asked if we could have a turtle as a pet when we were there. The policy was, only fish. But since he lived in a tank of water like a fish they said yes. We called again to be sure and we got a big NO. We brought him anyway and thought if we got busted we would say someone at the office said it was ok. We kept him in our closet so during fire drills and inspections the RA's wouldn't find him. It worked for a year and then my friend moved and left him with me. I moved to another room and decided to let him come out of the closet (lol) and my RN found him and loved him. She said she didn't care that I had him but later told me that she was talking about him to someone and they told her we could not have him. She still said I could keep him though. Anyway my point is, find out if you can have him at college before you cart him there and find out you can't have him.
Also a full grown female RES needs at least a 75-90 gal tank and that's way too big to be carting back and forth. On short weekend breaks I had my RA feed my turtle and on long breaks I would bring him home. It was easier with a 10 and 20 gal tank. Maybe you can see if your family can care for him while you are at college and you can visit on breaks. Unless you have your own place at college and have a 90 gal tank there and a 90 gal tank at home (so you don't have to cart the tank around too), or the college agrees to let you have a 90 gal tank, maybe it would be best to leave your baby home.
I don't know the details so you do what you feel is best.

Remember that they can travel in a smallish Rubbermaid container, and can live in a larger Rubbermaid while you are at home, if you do decide to take them back and forth. Do you have artificial plants or a floating cork bark in their tank? If so, take some of those with you when you take them home with you. That way, they'll have something familar in their environment to keep them calm. If you don't have any plants, you can get the artificial silk ones at a dollar store or Wal-Mart and just float them in the water for cover. Make sure they travel with the turtles where ever they go, and the turtles will feel more secure.

Katrina

If you are going to travel with them, don't put them in a container of water for transport. Just put them in a container with a moist towel or something along those lines....may sound obvious, but when I first got my turts, I had them in this little plastic critter cage to ship them up from florida, and since I didn't know much about the turt, I didn't how long they could be out of water, etc...and needless to say, they kinda "bounced" around in the water during the flight...I felt horrible for them. They don't even begin to fit in the critter cage now....sighs...
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~walnut~
Turtle Pics
1 Dog- Mollianna Mae
1 Cat- Macey Montana
2 Red Eared Sliders- Gator and No-No
2 Beta- Swamp and Swims
4 Fish- One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Good advice. You can also use damp sphagnum moss.

Katrina