Do you guys talk about Red Eared Sliders?

I have a red-eared slider (turtle) that I have a couple of questions about,
and this group is the closest I can find.

My turtle came to me about a year ago, and I set him (?) up in a pen outside
in the backyard. He had water and grass to play in, but he figured out how
to hide for about four months and we thought he was gone. He came out again
in about December and we realized it was too cold outside for him, so we
bought an aquarium set-up, with basking shelf, lamp, filter, etc.

All is well with him now - we had a very sick turtle when he surfaced in
December - but I wonder about a few things.

1. We buy him feeders - small goldfish - that he enjoys eating. The
"trouble" is, he eats most of them in a very short period of time - he has
eaten 5 fish in less than two hours - but he saves three fish for
companions. I don't know why he saves three fish, but he has done this twice
in a row. He seems to eat the last three fish if we allow them to die, but
he won't catch them. We currently have three fish in the tank with him, and
these fish have been in there for ten days. We currently buy him 5 fish at
a time, but we have bought him as many as ten fish at one time. He eats the
first two fish (from a batch of 5) pretty quickly, then saves the rest. He
also eats some sort of packaged turtle food, so he is not starving because
he doesn't eat the feeders. It just seems odd that he eats a couple within
an hour of introducing them to the tank, then saves the rest.

2. I don't know what kind of light-cycle I need for my turtle. We have a
heat lamp, but in summer I think it is too hot, so we are only using a
standard 60W lamp right now. How long should it be on each day? I have no
issue with him being cold, so maybe I don't need the light at all this time
of year, but my kids tend to leave the light on all night. The result is
that my turtle gets 24 hours of light, and this seems like it should be a
problem.

3. My turtle spends about 22 of every 24 hours in the water. He has a
basking shelf that he can get on, but he seldom uses it. He frequently rests
on the ramp with his head sticking up, but this only amounts to about an
hour of every 24 hour period. He normally floats around the bottom of the
tank, and only sticks his nose out of the water for a new breath of air.

My turtle is named Bob, he looks to be very healthy. The peeling of his
shell has stopped (poor water quality and several months of living outside
had made him sick), and his color is generally good to excellent.

Bob is 5" long from stem to stern, measuing his shell only. Bob is swimming
in 8 inches of water, and can easily get himself out of the water whenever
he wants. He can stand on his tip toes and get his nose out of the water and
look around. His hind legs and neck and head exceed 3 inches because he can
easily breath in 8 inches of water.

We don't know his age, but my daughter says he is upwards of 7 years old by
counting the spots on the bottom of his shell.

We bought an external filter that draws water from the tank and filters it
through a multi-stage filter. This filter is working very well, and the
water quality is vastly improved, this filter has been in use for only about
1 month. The pump capacity is 110 gal/hour, so all of the water in the tank
turns over about 10 times each hour.

this group is pre tty much dead, try posting on rec.pets.herp

"CRWLR" <CRWLRJEFF.TakeThisOut@YAHOO.COM> wrote in message
news:vh8e2tkr71l216@corp.supernews.com...
> I have a red-eared slider (turtle) that I have a couple of questions
about,
> and this group is the closest I can find.
>
> My turtle came to me about a year ago, and I set him (?) up in a pen
outside
> in the backyard. He had water and grass to play in, but he figured out how
> to hide for about four months and we thought he was gone. He came out
again
> in about December and we realized it was too cold outside for him, so we
> bought an aquarium set-up, with basking shelf, lamp, filter, etc.
>
> All is well with him now - we had a very sick turtle when he surfaced in
> December - but I wonder about a few things.
>
> 1. We buy him feeders - small goldfish - that he enjoys eating. The
> "trouble" is, he eats most of them in a very short period of time - he has
> eaten 5 fish in less than two hours - but he saves three fish for
> companions. I don't know why he saves three fish, but he has done this
twice
> in a row. He seems to eat the last three fish if we allow them to die, but
> he won't catch them. We currently have three fish in the tank with him,
and
> these fish have been in there for ten days. We currently buy him 5 fish
at
> a time, but we have bought him as many as ten fish at one time. He eats
the
> first two fish (from a batch of 5) pretty quickly, then saves the rest. He
> also eats some sort of packaged turtle food, so he is not starving because
> he doesn't eat the feeders. It just seems odd that he eats a couple within
> an hour of introducing them to the tank, then saves the rest.
>
> 2. I don't know what kind of light-cycle I need for my turtle. We have a
> heat lamp, but in summer I think it is too hot, so we are only using a
> standard 60W lamp right now. How long should it be on each day? I have no
> issue with him being cold, so maybe I don't need the light at all this
time
> of year, but my kids tend to leave the light on all night. The result is
> that my turtle gets 24 hours of light, and this seems like it should be a
> problem.
>
> 3. My turtle spends about 22 of every 24 hours in the water. He has a
> basking shelf that he can get on, but he seldom uses it. He frequently
rests
> on the ramp with his head sticking up, but this only amounts to about an
> hour of every 24 hour period. He normally floats around the bottom of the
> tank, and only sticks his nose out of the water for a new breath of air.
>
> My turtle is named Bob, he looks to be very healthy. The peeling of his
> shell has stopped (poor water quality and several months of living outside
> had made him sick), and his color is generally good to excellent.
>
> Bob is 5" long from stem to stern, measuing his shell only. Bob is
swimming
> in 8 inches of water, and can easily get himself out of the water whenever
> he wants. He can stand on his tip toes and get his nose out of the water
and
> look around. His hind legs and neck and head exceed 3 inches because he
can
> easily breath in 8 inches of water.
>
> We don't know his age, but my daughter says he is upwards of 7 years old
by
> counting the spots on the bottom of his shell.
>
> We bought an external filter that draws water from the tank and filters it
> through a multi-stage filter. This filter is working very well, and the
> water quality is vastly improved, this filter has been in use for only
about
> 1 month. The pump capacity is 110 gal/hour, so all of the water in the
tank
> turns over about 10 times each hour.
>
>
>
>
>