Baby Red Eared Slider Turtle

Question
My daughter found a baby red eared slider turtle. When we found him he looked injured. Specifically, he did not put his back legs out and now that we've had him a few days he puts only one leg straight out but does not move it. He keeps the other leg in all the time. He doesn't appear to have any of the diseases we've read about online. We have a proper tank (pump, UVA/Basking Light/ UBV Light, Turtle dock, rock to hide under). He's only a little bigger than a quarter - maybe the size of a half dollar (not quite). We bought a cuttle bone and put it in the tank to float, but we don't see him eating it. We are going to put him in the sun every weekend day and some evening days. I've checked the temperature on the basking light and it's almost a hundred degrees (maybe hotter in some spot). We also put a thing in the tank to keep down sickness in turtles. It's white and shaped like a turtle and made to help keep turtles from getting sick. We don't care if he is hurt, we just want to know what the proper thing to help him is.

Answer
Best option- let it go as close as you can to where it was found. Even injured it has the best chances in its own home territory.

If you decide to keep it, understand that if it is not using its hind legs correctly, there is probably a deep problem that would need to be corrected by a good vet. It might be a spinal cord injury, skeletal injury, metabolic disorder, etc.- none of which is easy for a home keeper to deal with.

It might seem that it would get better faster with help than on its own, but it is stressed by captivity and that interferes with recovery.

Your third option, of course, is to deal with this at home anyway. In my opinion, this is not the best option for the turtle but if you want to pursue it, you might try the forums at http://www.turtleforum.com

Just as an FYI, some things I noticed in your note...
- Toss the turtle block. These things rarely help, and can make things worse.
- The basking site is way hot. We aim for about 90F overall, with water temps normally about 75-80F, and about 5 degrees warmer when the turtle is ill.
- Cuttlebone is tough for youngsters. Try instead the diet listed at either http://www.austinsturtlepage.com or http://www.redearslider.com

Good luck!