Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What other kinds of reptiles and/or amphibians can be kept with red ears sliders? I have a 75 gallon aquarium with one RES and was just curious as to what else could be in there with him.

In my experience, RES's are quite aggressive turtles. I experimented with keeping 1 with a 3' alligator for awhile and while my alligator showed no interest in the turtle, the turtle showed otherwise. He chased the gator around and like to bite his tail and toes. I removed him immediately and set him up in a separate enclosure. I personally wouldn't keep anything else with RES's. But someone else might have a different opinion.

Chris
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Chris Law
U.A.P.P.E.A.L. (Uniting a Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League)
Herpetoculture Element Representative

View my website: www.herpfanatic.com

you should be able to keep similarly sized water turtles with them. even two RES may not be able to be kept together due to aggression, so no matter what type of turtle it is you should be able to separate if necessary. this may mean a different enclosure, it may mean giving it to a friend or pet shop. RES are a little more herbivorous than most, so diet would be different, but that shouldnt be a big deal. just provide food for everyone and let them eat what they need.

I have had a 3" RES bite the tails off of 2 small common snapping turtles.
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iturnrocks.com

I don't ever mix species at all. It's too risky because what is normal flora for one species won't be normal flora for another.. they can cause one another to be sick. It's especially a problem if the 2 different species come from different parts of the world. You wouldn't want to house an American RES with something from Asia for example.
Amphibians all exude toxins some very mild some not so mild. An amphibian could make the turtle sick & it's very likely the turtle will try to eat it.
btw I know someone who thought it would be ok to house a pacman frog with a box turtle.. pacman frogs eat anything in their path. Well not this time, the turtle ate the frog.
Aggression is another problem, turtles are territorial animals they will attack something that's different from them.

I know someone else who thought it was ok to house a group of turtles together, but the problem was they included a snapping turtle in the mix... one of the sliders lost it's head for that.
American sliders that are closely related such as RES & a yellow bellied slider that are equal in size would likely be ok together though.
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PHRatz

similar amercian turtles would be the only thing i was recommending. anything else that goes in should be considered food. fish, crayfish(although good for cleaning until they get eaten), snails, everything will eventually become food.

>>similar amercian turtles would be the only thing i was recommending. anything else that goes in should be considered food. fish, crayfish(although good for cleaning until they get eaten), snails, everything will eventually become food.

I'm sorry I didn't mean to make it appear that I was disagreeing with you because I wasn't.
Truth is I have a box turtle in the hospital right now & I was very nervous about him this morning.. I tend to babble more when I'm nervous than I normally would (let me tell ya I can babble really well on a normal day lol.)
This is O/T for the RES board but this turtle is one I was given 10 days ago after he was shredded by a dog so I took him in to try to save him. He got infected so his shell couldn't be repaired until the infection cleared up. It did clear up, he had his shell repair this morning & I just found out that he came through just fine & can come home this afternoon.
I am SO relieved right now that I can babble in a more coherent way than I could 2-3 hours ago.
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PHRatz

Depending on the temperment of your turtle, you might be able to keep some fish in there. I have been keeping algae eaters and cichlids in with mine for 5 years and the turtles have never tried to eat them.
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TurtsandTorts Discussion Group
2 Russians (Harley and Marley)
2 RES (Sunny and Fatty)
2 Gerbils (Sydney and Vienna)
1 Cat (Abby)

just dont put any fish that you would mind being eaten.. i had a huge zebra botia in with my mud turtle for two years.. the fish was bigger than the turtle and he still managed to eat it about a month ago.. but for two years he was fine.. guess his luck ran out.. oh well... if you give the fishies LOTS of hiding spots they might survive for a good while..
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, chameleon treefrogs?, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

>>just dont put any fish that you would mind being eaten.. i had a huge zebra botia in with my mud turtle for two years.. the fish was bigger than the turtle and he still managed to eat it about a month ago..

Same thing happened with my painted except for the fish wasn't supposed to be a pet, I'd bought it for him as food in the first place. It grew so large that I thought ok he's got a companion because he'd wave at the fish & play with it. After it was huge I cleaned his tank one day, everything fresh & clean then he ate it & made a huge mess. lol
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PHRatz