Red bellies are cooters, and very social turtles. They do well with other turtles as long as a large basking area is provided, because red-bellies are aggressive baskers and will dominate anything to get a few precious rays of sun. The red-belly should grow fairly quicklyand reach sizes of 7-9 inches for males and 10-14 for females. They are a basking turtle from a warm climate, so when kept outside they must be in a warm and sunny location. The specifics of how pastel RES are produced are relatively unknown, but it is rumoured that some are produced with abnormally high incubation temperatures, which means they often have serious health problems and often extra scutes. Most pastels are females.