Red Ear Sliders?

Question

I have three Red Ear Sliders in a 20 gal. tank and would like to move them to a pond in our backyard. Is this OK and does anyone have any extra advice? How will they eat out there if they don't have store bought food or do I still have to feed them? They are about the size of a palm.

Answer 1

This is ok. You will have to feed them as they are not wild and never have been and do not know how to survive in the wild on their own. Yes, your pond would be considered the wild if you don't feed them. They will die if not fed and they do need to be fed in the water. They won't eat if you don't feed them.

Answer 2

If the pond is stocked and maintains itself, they will be just fine. If there are no fish in the pond, you will need to continue to feed them. They will wonder away and explore, if you are close to the road, you may want to consider putting some fencing or Plexiglas around the pond (about a foot into the ground) to keep the turtles away from danger. Another good reason to put up fencing would be to keep them from reproducing in the natural environment. In recent years, because these turtles are readily available at pet stores ( people often do not realize the upkeep necessary and the smell they emit), the population of red eared sliders in environments not native to them has grown astronomically. The effect on the environment being that they are depleting the numbers of other species that are native to the area, and eating food that would normally go to those species.

Answer 3

I don't see why not. I live in Ok. There are so many Red ears in ponds and lakes here they are often considered a nuisance for eating peoples goldfish and Koi in their ponds. I wouldn't worry much about temperature unless you are way north, they hibernate when it gets cold. Just stock the pond with feeder size goldfish and they will learn to hunt but if you are worried about that feed them on a schedule. Say every day a little before dusk. They will learn to show up at the feeding spot.

Answer 4

You may want to wait until they are a little bit bigger, I would say the size of your whole hand...or about 6 inches long...
As someone else said, if you don't want them to wonder off an possibly get hurt, you may want to put up fencing or plexi glass...make it about a foot high and a few inches under groud...

If you don't have anything living in the pond, then you will have to feed them...
If you have small fish in the pond then they can eat thoes, but you will want to put a few in the tank to make sure your little ones will go after them before you put them in the pond...

Also, if it is a fairly new pond with no life in it, you need to get life started in there first...get a few comet gold fish(feeder fish) and put them in their to get it started, once you have 5 or 6 fish living in there nicely, then you can put the turtles in there...this way you can add fish for food and the fish will actually live long enough to get eaten...

Hope this helps...GOOD LUCK!!!!

Answer 5

I wouldn't stick them outside just yet... they can still fall prey to any animal that sneaks into your yard... like a raccoon or a cat.

I would suggest getting some kind of kiddy pool to keep them in indoors. You can feed them worms and small feeder fish.

I would also suggest keeping some kind of tank heater (I guess it depends on where in the states you live..) since these turtles are accustomed to warmer habitats.

When they get bigger you could probably stick them in some kind of pond-type thing with a fountain as a filter... stick some plecos (suckerfish/algae eaters) to help keep the place clean. As you probably know, turtles are pretty messy. Make sure the plecos are too big for the turtles to eat, since apparently my two ate the pleco I had in their tank because they weren't getting enough food. (Whoops) Also make sure the feeder fish are smaller and more easy prety so they will naturally go after the goldfish instead of the pleco.

Good luck :)