Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a tiny hatchling red-eared slider on Friday. I spent months looking for other turtle species but unfortunately could not find any that I felt comfortable buying...several shifty stores carried rare turtles that were obviously smuggled in illegally (I live in Ontario...for anyone in the GTA...the store called 'Aquapets' is smuggling in turtles illegally from Asia please DO NOT buy from them!!!!). Since my RES is so small (about 1.5" shell length) I guess its not legal either, but ANYWAY...

I have it in a 28 gallon tank that came with an artificial rock background and log (serves as basking spot), with two filters, repti-glo 8.0 fluorescent light, basking spotlight, and lots of live hornwort. The water is heated also to around 75f. There are also two algae-eater fish. The water is deep (about 12" but the turtle has no trouble swimming and spends a lot of time resting in the clumps of floating hornwort. My questions are..

-I want to get the turtle used to feeding in a seperate container. I tried yesterday but the turtle was too scared. How long should I wait before I try again?

-How can I get it to accept pellets? I have offered a couple pellets in the tank, but it ignored them. I didn't want to leave them in there to rot so took them out after 5 minutes. All it has eaten so far is a small, live cricket.

-How often should I feed it, and how long can it go without food? I'm a little worried that it is not eating pellets yet. This is the first turtle I've had since I was a little kid, but I remember those turtles were always eager to snap up anything.

thanks hope I can get some help soon, hope this forum isn't as slow as the frog one!!

It might take it a day or two before it starts eating pellets. I would try feeding it in the tank and if you can, adjust the water flow that comes out of the filters so that it doesn't scatter the food all over the tank. I would maybe feed it once daily or if you feed it twice daily, feed it once in the morning and then again at night(maybe 8 hrs or so between feedings).
-----
1.0.0 Chelydra Serpentina Serpentina --- Snappy
0.0.1 Clemmys Guttatta --- Speck
1.0.0 Graptemys Pseudogeographica Pseudogeographica --- Chomper

0.1.0 Eublepharis Macularius --- Sabrina

0.1.0 American Staffordshire mix --- Daisy

Do you have hiding spots, like artificial plants or underwater caves? It takes a few days for some of them to get acclimated and feel safe enough to eat. Having a hiding spot can speed up the process.

Feed him in the tank until he's acclimated to that and eating for several days in a row before trying the "secondary" container. Try getting artificial plants for the secondary container, too, so that he even has a hiding spot in there.

As for him being illegal, I thought the 4" rule only applied to the US? It's legal for breeders in the US to EXPORT hatchling turtles, just not sell turtles under 4" to the general public in the US .

Katrina
-----
1.2 Eastern Muds - Fred, Ethel, Edith
0.1 Iguana - Tiffel
0.1 Bearded Dragon - Foster
Foster turtles: More than I'd like the husband to know about.