I just got a tiny turtle and i dont know what to do?

Question

I just got a tiny turtle and i dont know what to do?
its a red eared turtle and i need help how do i care for him or her

Answer 1

Red eared sliders are omnivores, so they eat all sorts of things. I raised a few of these turtles, and they are pretty easy to keep. The last turtle I kept until it was 8 years old and he got too big to keep so he was let go in a pond that had wild sliders in it. The turtles need to be kept in an aquairum or something similar. They need to submerse themselves in water, and they also need to get out of the water to sit in the sun. I used an aquarium with a 6 cement bricks stacked to make two stair steps so there was be a dry surface 2 bricks wide, a shallow water surface 2 bricks wide, and the rest of the aquarium had water that was deep enough to swim in.

The aquarium needs to placed in a sunny spot - as long as it doesn't get too hot (< 90 degrees F) or they need to have a heat lamp for at least a few hours out of the day.

Most of these turtles die from contaminated water or a contaminated tank. They make a mess of the water and it needs to be changed every day. The aquarium should not contain sand or any other material that will harbor bacteria or fungus. Everything needs to bleached and rinsed well every few weeks, or whenever things get smelly.

For feeding, I used to feed the turtles raw hamburger, fish pellets, and vegetables like spinach, lettuce, and tomatoes. It good to vary the diet - the turtles really love to eat houseflies and other insects- our turtle would go nuts when we put a live fly in the water. Experiment with different foods to see what you turtle likes best. Its also healthy to let the turtle get some exercise by letting it crawl around outside the aquarium every now and then.

Here's a site for more info: http://exoticpets.about.com/od/aquaticturtles/Aquatic_Turtles.htm