i have recently acquired a 4 yr old red ear slider. He is exceptionally small though and hasn't been kept in even remotly the right habitat. right now (we have had him for a night) he is in a rubbermaid bucket with a rock ledge he can climb out on i had an extra uv bulbfrom one of our other reptiles and hes using that and temporaraly a desk lamp holding his basking bulb. From what i have read so far this is a vast improvement formt he tankhe's beenin witha a small bucket ( sandwhich bowl with water in it) and tiny gravel no lights or anything else. I'm baffled as to how he's managed to live this long appearantly the people who owned him before who we got him from helped them get him set up and this is where he had been living for 3 yrs the people we got him from have had him for a year and they are convinced that he is full grown. saddly he is about 2-3 inches max. so i guess my first question is after being so small for so long is he going to grow or will he be permanently stunted? his diet was attrocious (eating hot dogs and gold fish flakes) we got him some turtle pellets and will be geting him a calcium block a.s.a.p. I've read a little about what to feed them small feederfish, occasional brine shrimp, veggies. is there anything they should not eat ? (besides hot dogs...lol) he also seems to be shedding since he's been able to soak and he has large pieces of skin hanging from his legs and neck (white shed skin) will he get it off himself or is there somehting ican do to help? i think thats it for now thanks in advance we may be around a lot for a while this is our first turtle thanks wendy

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