lonliness in turtles

Question
QUESTION: hi mark!
i was just looking over this site and i saw that u were really knowlegable about a lot of things turtle-related. i just bought a red-eared slider a few days ago and at first i noticed he was obviously scared about being in a new habitat away from the pet store and everything, but lately, hes been better and less scared of me. i am however worried that he is lonely. whenever i enter the room he follows me around his tank and he starts thrashing and swimming wildly along side it. and when i leave, he tends to follow me as well. i dont want him to be lonely because that would break my heart. and i dont know what else to do to make him feel less lonely. because he did have 2 other turtles at the pet shop to keep him company. anyways i dont know if u even know this answer but at least give me some insight because i feel sad when i look at him sometimes, and i hope he isnt feeling sad either. thank u so much and im sorry if this was a complete waste of ur time.

ANSWER: You have fallen victim to the Manipulative Turtle Syndrome! :-)

Your turtle is easily smart enough to know that you being around means it probably gets food, so it 'attacks' the wall and follows you like any puppy begging for food.

As for cage mates- turtles really don't like cage mates- they tend to fight, block each other's access to food and shelter, etc. You need a BIG tank if you are going to keep two or more of them.

As for the begging- ignore it. Feed the turtle on schedule to keep it from getting obese, etc.

You can get a ton of great info at...
- http://www.redearslider.com
- http://www.turtleforum.com
- http://www.austinsturtlepage.com



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

QUESTION: thank u so much mark! i feel loads better now knowing that he is not starving and completely lonely. what u said makes a lot of sense and i'm glad my turtle is already on the clever side. thanks so much for ur advice and i will definitley stick to what u've said.
i was wondering though, i know young turtles have to be fed more often than the adult ones. my yellow-bellied slider right now is TINY and he is not even a 1/2 year old. so i was just wondering how often i should feed him and how much of the portion of turtle food i should be giving him. right now i am feeding him 4 niblets of the food spread out during the day. i dunno what would be the best for a juvi turtle. please help me again and give me some guidelines to go by.

Answer
Most keepers have good luck with a simple plan-

Portion size- about the size of the head

Feeding schedule-
- Babies, up to about a year old- one daily meal in the morning
- 1 to about 4 years old- skip a day a week
- 4 and up- skip a couple days a week, and as the turtle gets older and slower, skip more days.

Snacks are OK, as long as they are healthy foods, and the snack plus the meal is not much bigger than the daily portion size.

Understand that a baby turtle only needs a few calories a day, and they are easy to overfeed. In the wild, they hide most of the day because of predators, so don't get into the habit of eating all day long.