I bought a pair of turtles today in Chinatown, and I want to know what kind they are so I can take good care of them.
They're VERY small, about the size of a half dollar, and the lady said they won't grow to be any bigger. They are green with yellow stripes on their skin and red spots on the sides of their faces. The shells are also green and swirly and have a thin yellow line around the edge. The bottom of the shells are yellow with swirly black spots.
2006-12-28 16:25:18 · 10 answers · asked by youarebummy 1 in Pets ➔ Reptiles
they are red eared sliders and the woman lied her *** off. They get BIG and they need a lot of room.
I bought a red eared slider in a similar situation because they are freaking adorable when they're babies...but (turns out) they can get to be around a foot long. People will lie their butts off to make a few dollars. and they grow pretty fast. I suggest you do a search on google for a red eared slider caresheet, but I can tell you now:
they will need a tank with water (a couple times the length of their bodies) to swim in, a water heater if you live in a cold place, a place to bask (a floating turtle dock is best), a heat lamp for basking (they will not metabolize their food without heat), and a UV light (I think I used reptiglo 5.0 or 3.0, but you'll want to research this first). meaning you'll have to buy the flourescent bulb light fixture and (probably) a clip on heat lamp.
they can eat pellets, but its better if you can supplement the pellets with dark greens. they also sell frozen turtle food that has lots of good stuff for em, and this starts to get expensive as they get older and bigger, but for now it should be easy. I fed my slider tiny guppies when he got bigger--its really fun to watch them chase the fish.
for right now, you'll be totally fine with a ten gallon tank, but eventually you'll want to move up to a 50 gallon to 100 gallon. I know this sounds nuts, but...I'm not joking. The best situation for them when they're older is to keep them in a pond in your yard (needless to say, a properly kept pond can be expensive!).
anyway, I hope that helps, and I'm sorry that woman misled you.
2006-12-28 17:33:30 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It sounds as though you got some red ear sliders.
They will grow bigger. Some turtles will even grow to the size of dinner plates!
I have a yellow bellied slider/terrapin. He's about a year old now and when i got him he was tiny! Now he is bigger than my hand. And also a big eater! I knew what i was taking on when i purchursed him, and have had 3 different size tanks since i got him, as he has outgrew the others. He is now in a 4ft long tank with a strip light, floating basking dock, heater, 2 filters and a heat bulb. I feed him on 2 different pellets, one a shrimp mix the other a zoo med pellet. I treat him with fish, crickets, prawns and even crab sticks. He is pretty spoilt.
Even with the filters his tank will get dirty after a few weeks so i have to do regular full tank changes, which is hard work!
As long as you provide the correct equiptment in the tank such as a heater, filter, basking area they should be fine. Just make sure you have the space and money to care for these animals.
2006-12-29 05:02:55 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That lady is dead wrong. Those are baby red ear sliders, females grow to 13 inches and males grow to 10 inches. They need 10 gallons PER inch of turtle and need a land area that they can get out and bask on under a basking light and they also need a flourescent UVB bulb that emits 5 percent or higher UVB rays so they can absorb calcium. They need super clean water too. Turtles are high maitenance and expensive animals to take care of.
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheet-red_ear_slider.htm
Id also report that lady because it is illegal to sell turtles under 4 inches.
2006-12-28 16:32:08 · answer #3 · answered by lady_crotalus 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
you have red-ear sliders. and if they are the size of silver dollars then you got them to small. you are not to have them til they are 4in in shell size. the pet store can get into alot of trouble for selling them that small. they can be sold at that size to schools(classroom viewing, or for educational purposes only). alot of time when they are sold that small they sometimes don't live that long because they are not cared for the right way at this age. the best thing to do is go online and look them up so you can get the right information on how to care for them the right way. good luck.
2006-12-28 16:35:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
my guess is a red eared slider. that lady was lying- they get to a size even bigger than a dinner plate and require huge enclosures. look in the turtle section of this website for advice/care info.
www.repticzone.com
2006-12-28 16:32:53 · answer #5 · answered by prxlykos 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
got about 20 river turtles .in Mexico the biggest one is the size of half a big pumpkin
and has an oval shell
some others are more disk shaped and smalller
there is a picture in my 360,with a baby crocodile using it as a pillow.
http://360.yahoo.com/profile-6GwjWyMjdKOJDs8d5H5VbYt.
2006-12-28 16:35:34 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They sound like Red Eared Sliders!! and if they are them, then they will get bigger but it will take a couple of years as they grow very slow!!
2006-12-29 00:25:55 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would guess red ear sliders
2006-12-29 12:39:23 · answer #8 · answered by bertossimichelle 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
www.turtleforum.com
2006-12-28 16:30:48 · answer #9 · answered by mandibear25 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle
this might help.
2006-12-28 16:34:34 · answer #10 · answered by Donets'k 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋