Turtle question...

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Nights85

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 16, 2008
81
0
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Wyoming
Alright well I have a yellow bellied slider I believe.
and for whatever reason he seems to just sit under water never gets out to bask I recently went ahead and put him into a 69 gallon tank to hopefully
see more movement out of him and as I figured he sank like a rock sits there for awhile then every so often swims up floats at the top for air then sinks again he seems totally healthy aside from this strange habit .

There any way to break him of this so he will get out of the water? or should I just leave him to his ways?
and like i said he seems totally healthy his shell looks fine isn't soft and he has spent 96% of his life in the water....:screwy:
 
Generally in my experience if they are refusing to leave the water, its a temperature issue. Alot of times if the water is too warm, they will not pull out to bask.
 
Yep, check your temps. If the water is too warm then there really is no reason for your turtle to leave it to bask.
 
Can you get us some pics of your turtle? Is it lethargic or does it swim around a lot? Your water temperature is fine. What's your basking temperature? Perhaps your basking lamp isn't warm enough. Sorry for all the questions but we need to know. :D
 
Well actually never thought about a lamp dunno why, the last owner of the turtle was bad had him in a small maybe 5 - 10 gallon tupperware container never changed water and didn't have a light so when I was given the turtle ( not from the owner cause she had left it there to live somewhere els ) so for most of the life its had always been in the dirty water without anything to get onto so I have another question.. is it just used to being in the water or when I get a light going will it finally feel the need to?

Also seems to have grown quite a bit in the short time ive had him ( or her ) not totally sure on that either haha but he or she has grown quite a bit in my care and as for sitting around it moves around quite a bit at times and others not so much just plays rock under the water or holding itself up on the sidewall lol but ill try getting a lamp asap just want to make sure its gonna bask after I do all this or if its possible that its used to not basking?

and sorry if this doesn't make sense quite tired and have a headache...
Oh and as for the pictures sure thing ill find the camera and snap them when I can thanks for responding.
 
Well it sounds like you're giving the turtle a much better home then what it had before. As for a lamp, if you don't let the turtle bask outdoors a few hours a week to get some natural sunlight, a UVB basking lamp is a must. I'm pretty sure that once it has a warm place to bask it will come out of the water. I also see you live in Florida. If you built an outdoor pond or enclosure, you would be able to keep the turtle out there all year long. Some pics will also help us identify that you have a Trachemys scripta scripta for sure. Here's a good care sheet on Yellow-Bellied Sliders.

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-yellowbelly.htm
 
Alright here is the pic just more recently got the tank cleaned (Apparently not the outside ) and going to put the rocks and undergravel filtering in tomorrow so it looks kind of bland now But also I have another question I was planning on putting a couple of fish in with him some time soon what are the chances he will try to eat them? the ones I plan on getting will be about 6" minimum and one pleco.

DSCF0013.JPG
 
Ok first of your turt is not a yellow belllied slider its a female cooter(Pseudemys sp). The most likely species is the florida red belly cooter (Pseudemys nelsoni) but less likely it can also be a peninsula cooter (Pseudemys peninsularis). This however doesant really mater since the care for both is the same. Since its a cooter one of the most important things is to make shure she gets his fare sher of veggies in adicion to animal food. About 60% of vegetebles for 40% of other stuff is good. For veggies select dark leaf vegetebles like mustard greens, water cress, dandilions, turnip greens,etc. The other stuff can be things like comercial turt food like reptomin , mazuri and zoomed,earthworms, bloodworms ,etc. Its a very good idea that you build her a outdoor pond wich would greatly increase his life quality and would make your life easier in particular when it comes to breeding season in wich she is going to need a place a place to lay her eggs. This will happen sooner or later and doesant require the presence of a male;)Good luck
 
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