turtle?

Question
QUESTION: I recently found 3 baby turtles on the road right near the Jacksonville fl zoo. I decided to call the zoo to find out more information but its 4th of july week and the proper people to get ahold of will not be in for a couple days. I do not know what type of turtle it is and was wondering how to take care of them until I can reach the appropriate people. Here is a brief description of them: Webbed feet and hands with small claws, black green and yellow carapace, bright Yellow plastron, the shell is not dome-shaped and has 3 ridges. There is no red in this turtles anywhere I have notice. I appears to be very similar to a slider but the coloration doesnt match. I will also place a link to a picture of the turtles to better clarify what I attempted to explain.

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/1068/turtles005fw0.jpg
http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8985/turtles002zx6.jpg
http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/4117/turtles001aj8.jpg

Thank you,
-Andrew

ANSWER: Hello Andrew, those are very cute turtles. They appear to be Yellow Belly Sliders. Very similar relatives of the Red Ear Sliders.

They are so similar that they can be taken care of exactly like the Red Ear Slider. The care is almost identicle when it comes to setup, food items, temperatures, lighting, etc.

So I will direct you to this site because the information is far too much to type here

http://redearslider.com

The pictures helped, thank you.


These turtles are native to this area and now is about the time for mating season laying season and hatching season. So its likely they are wild little guys. But contact the zoo and maybe an animal rescue for more information on what to do.

Good luck
Yexalen


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

QUESTION: I have 2 red eared sliders about 7years old or so is it safe to place the baby yellow belly silder turtles with the adult red ear slider?

Answer
Hi Andrew, Usually you can mix the two species however because of the size/age difference you can have fighting and that wouldnt be good. So if you can house them separately until you can figure out what to do next. But if they get a long then there shouldnt be a problem except spread of wild diseases. So its your call. Be sure to keep an eye out for agressive behavior.

Good luck
Yexalen