Red eared slider husbandry

Question
QUESTION: Hello,
We have had a Red Eared Slider for about four weeks now.  He is approx 4.5" long in a 30 gallon enclosure with a filter, heater, and an accessible basking area with a few places to hide. He ate voraciously (10 feeder fish)the second night we had him but hasn't eaten or deficated since. we have offered feeders, crickets, pellets, guppies, worms, veggies, even dog food to no avail.  He spends his days sitting under the waterfall from the filter. He refuses to explore his cage and I have never seen him bask.  We have experimented with the water level in the hopes of making him more comfortable - however whenever the water is higher than 6 inches he 'freaks out' and flails toward the sides of the tank in what appears to be a desperate attempt to get air.  He has plenty of room but he has never really swam - he sinks to the bottom and uses his legs to slowly propel himself forward on the bottom of the tank. We supply him with a UVB light and basking light during the day and an infared light at night.  Is this typical behavior or could our turtle be sick?  He shows no physical signs of illness.  Can spending so much time under the waterfall damage his shell?  What more can I do to stimulate him to eat and to deficate?  There is much conflicting information on the web - can you please direct me to a reliable resource for information?  Our poor turtle does not appear to be thriving.  Considering I will probably inherit him when my now 7 year old son goes to college I'd like to make sure I'm doing what I can to make him comfortable.
I appreciate your help. As does Budders the troubled turtle.
Thank you!
Sharyn

ANSWER: Sharyn, first off KUDOS to you!  I am not sure if your aware of it but there are so many e-mails I get regarding this very subject and as you said too much misinformation out there.  Now then,  I have actually written an article at Associated Content about this specific subject.  http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2887890/prescription_for_red_eared_slid  But I also want to answer your question directly from what you have said in your question I am willing to bet it has to do with the heating. It sounds like the water is too cold. This is the number one cause of reptile species going off feed.  This is also probably the reason for the listless behavior as well.  The water temp should be around 80 degrees at least. I would encourage you to read the article as well as my website which is www.reptileapartment.com With your permission I would also like to do a blog post about Budders the troubled turtle in which I will cover the Red Eared Slider Turtle Care in further detail for keepers such as yourself who actually care and I would like to say in the post that it was inspired by Budders.  I can not tell you how much it means to me that you have all the equipment and understand that you'll be adopting the turtle when your son goes to college etc.  You are the ultimate keeper which every reptile and son should have!  Many thanks and I look forward to helping you figure this out.

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QUESTION: Thank you John.  Please feel free to use Budders in your blog. When he finally emerges from his slump I'll send you a pic. As I am finding out there are not many folks out there who really know their reptiles.  I have been told everything from "He needs four high wattage lights" to "He'd even thrive in an unheated pond".  No one seems to know how to properly take care of him.  Your article was very helpful - THANK YOU! I am one of those unsuspecting owners.  I bought budders for my son as a reward for good grades.  Our 20$ turtle lives in a 300$ home - much to my chagrin. I have been struggling to figure out what is wrong.  I am using an aquarium heater with a timer and sensor.  The temp of the water hovers around 72.  Should I buy one of the reptile ones instead?  My only concern with those is that I could not find one with a timer/sensor system.  I had nightmares of accidentally cooking him.  After I get the water up to 80 how long will it take to see an improvement?  Will he eat soon afterwards?  He's got to be starving!  Also, we live in Colorado and have lots of sunshine.  I've been putting Budders outside in a tank with some shade on warm (over 70) days.  Could moving him be stressing him out to the point of not eating?  He also has a superficial part of his shell that is white and looks like dry skin.  Could this be caused by spending so much time under the waterfall?  Can I use my son's snowboard wax on his shell?  Silly question I know.  :)

Thank you for your expertise - I appreciate it!  I'll get the water temp up and let you know what happens.  I've always loved turtles - but creating the right environment for Budders has been a challenge.  Our pets have always lived long and happy lives (we currently have a 26 year old cat!) and from what I've read Budders could potentially out-live us all.

ANSWER: Sharyn,  first off I am taking this as a personal journey with you now so have no fear we will get Budders back to normal.  So now then you say that the heater is on a timer?  That sounds odd to me it should only have a sensor that turns it on then off when it hits the preset temperature.  That maybe where everything has gone askew for us.  There are turtle heaters available and personally their more expensive so I have always gone with the submersible aquarium heaters that are made by Hagen I believe the say on the heaters themselves ALL Glass Aquarium in red letters. I would say give a week t warm back up after the temperature goes to normal.  Also what was the basking area temperature? For right now lets have him not move back and forth for at least a couple months which will allow him to adjust the new environment.  As far as the shell thing I would have to see a photo of that one it sounds like a normal possible shedding thing but maybe a nutritional issue but I seriously doubt that.  I look forward to writing about Budders and his recovery in the next few weeks and of course I will only mention Budders and no identifying information.  I would say Budders would probably object to the snowboard wax...next thing you know the cat would be kidnapping him for runs down the hill and well I am sure you could imagine where that would lead.  Personally I am paying rent for the apartment that I am allowed to share with my two cats and I know that I'm simply here for petting and feeding purposes as they have no opposable thumbs.  But if they did oh boy I would be out of here and they'd have taken over by now.

Once again congratulations and thank you for being so responsible.

John F Taylor
www.reptileapartment.com

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QUESTION: Hi John,
Since we live in CO and the nights are freeezing but the days are hot in the spring I got a heater that cycles on at night but switches to a sensor during the day.  It was for salt water fish tanks. I scrapped that heater and got a reptile one (Exo Terra repto-heat) that is supposed to get the water 78-80.  It's been in for 72 hours now but my thermometer is only showing 74.3!  It's fully submersed and sits next to the filter.  The heater doesn't appear to be working.  Budders is still starving and listless.  The basking area is toasty warm at a steady 87 - but every time we put him in the area he darts right back to the water and under the waterfall.  I have the thermometer at the far end of the cage away from the basking area so it registers the temp of the water farthest from the basking spot.  Petsmart does not have a great selection of water heaters - is there a brand/place to buy you can reccommend?  Is it possible his cage is too big for him right now?  He's in a 30 gallon tank with about 5 inches of water.  
I appreciate your insight.  I just want him to be healthy!  GRRR... Thanks again!  
Sharyn

Answer
My laptop ate the last answer so lets try this again. Raise the water level to the point where Budders has to stand on his hind legs to get his head above water this may be why he is always under the waterfall.  Also the heater you should get is the aquarium heaters that are able to be set manually and then left alone theres a dial on top with degree markings and you set it to the temp you need and then it comes on and turns off as needed automatically.  No the enclosure is not too big and I will search the Colorado area for Pet Shops but whats a town close by otherwise I might have you driving a hundred miles to go get a heater!  I usually go with Hagen submersible heaters and I will also check online to see if I can find them.

John F Taylor
www.reptileapartment.com