red eared slider health

Question
QUESTION:  bought a red earded slider at a pet store about 2 months ago.  I have owned two pevious turtle before this one.  I clean his tank out every week and I normally let him roam around the yard.  When i am done I normally put him in the tub and let him swim when I scrub his tank out. he is about 4.5 inches long and very fiesty.  well when i was filling the bath tub I was not paying attention and accidently filled it with very hot water.  when I walked in to get him he was swimming very frantically.  I reached in the tub to get him and that is when i realized that the water was very hot.  I immediatley turned on cold water and started spraying him.  when I did this he went completely limp and sunk.  so I quickly picked him up and he was so limp I thought he was dead. I then put him on his rock and slowly washed him with semi cold water.  He was breathing very heavy with his eyes closed.  about 30 seconds passed and he tried lifting his head.  it slowly lifted till he was looking around but he was till breathing very very heavy and would not swim.  so i filled the tank up till it was even with the rock and carried it out onto the back porch where he was in the sun.  i let him sit there for ten mintutes and when i went back out to check on him, he was swimming around just fine and has been fine every since.  i guess the question is what happened? and will he be ok?

ANSWER: Hi Ricky, it sounds like he went into shock, and you are very lucky you caught it in time. But the hot water put him into shock then going from extreme hot to extreme cold probably just added shock to him. It may have been the only thing you could have done to save him though. He went into shock, and his body shut down. He was able to warm up to the sun and retain his normal comfortable zone of temperature.

He should be fine just be careful next time and always use a thermometer when filling the tub.

Glad he is ok
Yexalen

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QUESTION: Thank you for your answer, i asked another expert and he was very rude to me about it. he also critcised for putting him in the sun, which actually saved him.  he also critcised me for letting him roam around the yard.  is that ok to do?

Answer
Hello, if you put him in the sun be sure you are supervising him at all times and never take your eyes off of him. Put him in a caged in area so he can not run off or hide. But natural sunlight is good for them, but they do get scared easily outside after being inside for so long. So not for long periods of tiem and be sure you know the temperature outside before introducing him. It may be too warm or too cold. Water Turtles can not see very well out of water which is another reason why he could stress easily. Offer him a dish of water he can get into as well.

-Yexalen