red-eared slider health

Question
QUESTION: I 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: Well... first you almost scalded him, then you chilled him off so quickly that you caused thermal stress and stressed out its heart, then you cooled him off, then put him in warm sunlight.

Honestly, I am amazed it survived.

I am wondering about your daily cares also. Properly cared for turtles do not need or should not have weekly tank clean outs, walks in the yard, and rocks to climb on. Their tank should be plenty big enough for exercise, have a powerful filter to clean the water, and smoother things to climb on to protect their shell.

I would suggest a good care site like http://www.redearslider.com for good care, housing, and diet information.

Good luck!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you for your answer, however why is it bad to let the turtle roam around the yard? im sure he wants out of his tank. also it is a baskin grock, not jagged rocks.

Answer
Why would a turtle that hunts, sleeps, hides, and feels safe in the water, where it can evade its predators, feel safe on the land? In the wild it only goes on land to find new territories or lay eggs.

Turtles like their home ranges. What 'taking them out' does is...
- Stress them as they are being caught by a giant alien with unknown intentions, that is picking them up the same way a predatory bird would...
- Carrying them through the air where in their mind, they will certainly fall and die (they don't like feeling nothing under their legs or belly)
- Being put in the middle of a dry area with bright sunshine and no water to hide in...
- That is unfamiliar and does not look or smell like home...
- And has nothing to eat, nowhere to hide, and nothing to do...
- It cannot escape the sun when it wants to, and...
- Then it is reattacked by the giant alien and carried again.


The goal is to create a home tank that meets ALL of the turtle's needs. This means that it is...
- BIG. Figure at least 10 gallons of water per inch of shell length. You would need a mostly filled 75 gallon tank now (about 45 gallons of water, and some space above the water. 75g allows some room to grow), and up to a 120 gallon tank when it is full grown.
- CLEAN. Use good quality filters rated about 2-3 times bigger than the tank. This will cost $$$ but it will save you and the turtle a lot of problems. Once a week, clean the bottom of the tank with a siphon cleaner and change about 1/4th of the water. Clean the filter per directions. This way, you only tear the tank apart less than once a year. Many keepers never have to redo their tanks!
- WARM with water heated to 75-80F most of the year using a good in-water heater or two.
- WELL-LIT. Lighting heats the basking area to about 90F, and lights up the tank nicely, leaving lots of shadows. A UVB bulb is helpful, but not as critical as some say it is.
- INTERESTING. I prefer no substrate or gravel on the bottom of my tanks- it just collects dirt and crud. Instead, I use big flat pieces of slate and several potted water plants. The plants add a lot of hiding places, food, water conditioning, etc.
- SAFE. Rock basking places, no matter how smooth, are harder than the turtle's shell and can easily cause small scratches on the plastron which lets in bacteria that cause shell rot. Rougher rocks do even more damage. Wood or plastic are best for basking sites.



Let's be perfectly honest. You say you've owned two turtles in the past. Red-ear Sliders should live for 15-20 years if properly cared for. I do not mean to be rude or insulting, but did yours live that long?

Probably not- because MOST PEOPLE, like you and even me (many years ago) tried to raise them the way people who did really know about turtles said to. We kept them in tanks that were too small and dirty, fed them bad food, kept them too cold, and generally acted like they were 'easy pets', but they are not really 'easy' pets.

They CAN be easy if you put some time and money into good housing and diet. However, if the pet shop told you that your $15 turtle would need about $150-300 worth of supplies to be healthy and happy, you probably would not have bought it.

You can save money in a lot of ways- like using a big, strong, plastic tub or pre-formed pool liner instead of a big glass aquarium, or searching on-line for the big filters that work the best, etc.

Try these sites for ideas and advice...
- http://www.turtleforum.com
- http://www.redearslider.com

Good luck, again!