baby yellow belly slider

Question
Hi there Jeannie. I found a baby yellow belly slider turtle on 9-11-12( about an inch) on My Friend's dirt road. ( There was no water around??) My question is, why is He not docking yet after 3 week's?(almost 2 inches now) on His rock, under the UVB heat lamp? He just hang's  on the side of it, in the water. I bought another baby (1 inch) to maybe teach Him how to dock.The new yellow belly baby I bought know's how to dock. But My 2 incher still won't follow the baby, and dock. :( Is this a bad thing? Why won't the 2 incher dock? Thank's April

Answer
Hi April,

The hatchling you found should have been returned to the nearest body of water, but unfortunately, now that it's been living with a captive turtle that's not possible because of the risk of transferring pathogens to the wild population.  So you will have to keep both.  I assume you mean basking when you say "dock"?  It's very possible that he's basking when you're not around.  Basking is instinctive, and not something they learn, so the other turtle wouldn't "teach" him.  You should check your setup to make sure that conditions are conducive to basking--if the water is too warm, the turtle won't be encourage to bask, for example.

Two hatchling sliders should have about a 30 gallon tank, with a filter rated for twice the capacity of the tank (three times is even better).  As adults, you will need about a 100 gallon tank for both of them, so keep that in mind as they grow.  The basking area should be 88-90 degrees, and the water somewhere around 76-78 degrees.  You need to measure the temperatures exactly, so get a good digital thermometer.  Also make sure the basking area is more than big enough for both turtles, because a too-small basking area can allow for bullying.

One other thing, what brand of UVB bulb do you have?  Not all the UVB bulbs are that good, and having a good source of UVB will also encourage basking.  

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-yellowbelly.htm
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/care.htm
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/waterquality.htm
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Articles/filtration.htm
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/housing.htm