Can Red Eared Sliders Breathe Underwater?

I have a Red Eared Slider which i got from a friend. He's about 4 inches long. He always stays underwater. Can he sleep underwater? If i put a Styrofoam piece in his tank, will he climb on top and sleep there, or will he always sleep under the water? Because I’m afraid that if he can't sleep underwater and cant climb on top, he will die of exhaustion. Or what else can i setup in the tank so that he will be able to climb up and come on top to the landing area? Would a pile of rocks or such be advisable? And how often is it recommended that i feed him? And how can i estimate his age? Any answers to these questions will be very much appreciated. Thanx...

Can Red Eared Sliders Breathe Underwater?
Okie dokie. First off they don't breathe underwater, they hold their breath for a loooooong time. Sencond, it's fine if it sleeps underwater. They slow their breathing when they sleep so they don't have to come up for air. It may sleep in it's basking area and it may sleep underwater. My res do both and sometimes they'll start out underwater and then in the morning they'll be sitting 1/2 way out of water on their basking area with their heads out. It just depends on what your res is comfortable with. He may sleep on the foam, may not but either way I don't suggest it as not only do they make the tank messy as the foam peices break off but your turtle may feel the need to attack it or may accidently do so and wind up swallowing some which is really bad for their digestive tract and does lead to digestive problems. Your turtle will not die of exhaustion. You need to have a landing area. This is called a basking spot and is easiest to create by gradually piling river rocks that protrude out of the water. There needs to be a UVA bulb above it to keep it nice and hot so it can bask. The point of basking is to heat up and if the water and the basking area are too close in temps, it defeats the purpose. Pebbles and fish tank rocks are not advisable as they are easy to be swallowed but once again hard on the digestive tract. It's recoemnded to feed them once a day in the morning as much as it will eat in 10 minutes. Your turtle is also big enough that their diet is really important now. They need to eat 50% of feeder fish. This includes goldfish, minnows, guppies, rosie reds, etc and these can stay in your turtle tank. It needs to have 25% a good pelet food (I recomend ZooMed's as it has all the nutrients your turtle needs) and 25% leafy greens like kale, mustard, collards, etc but never any type of lettuce as they are 99% water and have no nutritional value. Now, estimating the age is near impossible. No counting rings, lines, whatever will tell you the age of your turtle. The only way to really find out is to ask your friend who should have aske the place he bought it from. It's not really a big deal on how old they are, however, as turtle's needs are done by their size and not by age. I'd guess anywhere for 1 year to 2 years. Some captive turtles aren't properly cared for, however, and they grow slowly. K, I think I've covered all the bases on what you asked. I'm going to leave you with my care sheet as I think it might help you, as a new owner, out! :)


TANK





You will need a tank that allows for 10 gallons of water per square inch of shell. For instance, a 5" turtle will need about a 55 gallon aquarium. There's enough room to swim and then a little so that they can come all the way out of the water to bask. You will need to invest in either a filter specifically made for aquatic turtles or a fish filter that can do twice the amount of water in the tank. For instance, if you have a 50 gallon tank, the fish filter must say it's able to handle 100 gallons of water. This is because turtles are way more messy than fish. You'll need to replace the filter at least once a week, more if necessary. You'll need to line to bottom of the tank with river rocks. These work best because small pebbles are easily swallowed by turtles but extremely hard to digest and can result in digestive problems. They will need to have a landing made out of river rocks on one side of their tank (mine is the width of the tank) that allows them to come completely out of water to bask. It needs to be wide enough and long enough for your turtle.





LIGHTING





Your turtle needs both UVB and UVA lighting. The UVB prevents metabolic bone disease, synthesizes calcium, and produces and synthesizes vitamin D3. This light aso helps with digestion. In a 55 gallon tank, a 5.0 UVB light will do the trick. When you get to larger tanks, you'll need a bigger light like a 10.0. You'll need a basking light. These produce UVA so these take care of 2 duties at once. They provide your turtle with the UVA it needs and heats their basking spot and tank. I recomend a 75 watt bulb to 100 watt bulb.





HEATING





Their water needs to always be between 75 and 80 degreese Farenheight. Their basking area needs to be between 85 and 95 degreese F. Any hotter, and you'll burn the turtle. Any colder and it will freeze. Turtles can't produce their own heat so the temperature around them helps them regulate body temps. At night, it's ok for the temperature gets to 60 degreese F but never any lower. Their UVA/heat lamp should be placed over their basking area. My heat lamp heats both the basking area and water but sometimes it's not this lucky. If the temperatures fail to reach these temperatures, you'll want to invest in a water heater. You'll also want a water themometer placed in the water area of their tank and a land thermometer placed near their basking spot to regulate temperature.





DIET


Turtles need a balanced diet. 50% feeder fish (minnows, goldfish, rosy reds, etc, I've fed mine these and tetras, zeebra fish, scissortails, and small stuff like that) snails, crickets, grasshoppers, krill, and baby shrimp, 25% a good pelet food like ZooMed's or T-Rex (my preferance on this is ZooMed's because the T-Rex float to the bottom and make a huge mess in the tank) but brands like Wardley's and ReptoMin suffice if they have to, and finally 25% greens like mustard, collard greens, and other dark leafy greens. They don't need to have greens until they are over 4" in diameter and they don't need feeder fish until then too. Sometimes turtles lack calcium (which if they have the proper diet should not but it happens) or they have over-active jaws. An easy and inexpensive way to cure this is with a calcium bone (also called turtle bones) that float. This is always avalible and mine nibbles on it occasionally. You really don't need supplements for vitamins if you provide them with the proper habitat. It is a hard job to supplement them with the vitamins and such that they recieve in their diet and from their UV lighting.





CLEANING THE TANK





You'll probably have to clean the tank once a week if not more. I find that this is easily done with a water syphon. You can get these sepcially made for aqariums that both drain and fill the tanks. You'll want to have a back up tank or tub to put your turtle in while doing a tank cleaning. You'll also want to put any feeder fish in this too. The rocks really just need a good rinse but to really get the tank clean you have to take them out. I spray the tank with ZooMed's Wipe Out and it helps kill and prevent salmonilla, which is very common in reptiles. You could simply use anti-bacterial and animal safe soap, like Dawn, to clean the tank also.





MAINTANING A CLEAN TANK





This is really not as hard as it sounds as long as you change the filter properly. You can also use snails (sucker fish aren't really recomended as the turtle may eat them) which the turtle may eat but are really inexpensive and really good for the tank. You can also add a plant called Anacharis which eats the turtle feces, looks good in the tank, is an oxygenizer, and the turtle may eat it. You can also add water conditioner like ZooMed's Repti-Safe which reduces pH, adds electrolites, helps ammonia build up, and a big list of good stuff. To help control disease, you can also use a turtle health conditioner (TetraFauna makes a really good one). You can also add Exo-Terra's Biotize to the tank to help eat the turtle feces but is pretty uncesseary. For new arivals you may want to add something that adds electrolites as it is kinda tramatizing when they're moved around a lot and good for new arrivals. A good thing for this, I've found, is Exo-Terra's Electrodize. If you want to get really paranoid you can always use pH strips too to make sure the water is perfect for them.
Reply:There should not be too much water in his container where he will have to constantly swim. A piece of flat rock will be more stable and last longer as something for him to climb on and rest. A pile of rock tends to slip around and may even crash on him one day, resulting in injury.





Red eared sliders cannot breathe underwater but they can hold their breaths for a long time. I've seen mind sleep underwater. They'd stick their noses out take another breath and retire underwater again. With their eyes closed the entire time.





He is probably a little older than a year old if he's about 4 inches long. I fed my turtle twice a day. Just how much he can finish. Once he's full, he'll ignore the food so that'll give you a good idea when to stop. As a treat, I give him little pieces of meat like chicken when my mum prepares some for dinner. He'll love them.





Hope this helps.
Reply:They do not breathe underwater, however they can slow their metabolism to stay underwater for an amazing length of time. Yes, they can drown.You do need to give him an area to climb out of the water and he needs a UV bulb so he can bask. I feed mine daily, the rule of thumb is no more food than they can eat in 5 minutes.


You can estimate his age by looking closely at the scoots on his carapace. Each year a new scoot will grow under the existing one, creating a ring much like a tree. There will be subtle variations depending on growth,ie; in a year when food was abundant he will grow a larger scoot, etc.
Reply:Red eared sliders prefer a tank with at least 8 inches of water, not colder than 60 degrees F and no hotter that 75 degrees F. You can feed them raw hamburger occasionally, worms, and pellets you can buy at a pet store. You can put some rocks in the tank to give him a place to rest out of the water. they sleep on the rocks but swim underwater holding their breath. (At least mine did) they tend to grow into their environment. meaning the bigger the tank the bigger the potential of them growing. Turtles have been said to live up to 300 years. but the oldest I've come across was 70 years old. I fed mine twice a day once in the morning and before I went to bed. You might need to change out the tank once a week and clean the rocks and aquarium with really hot water to remove any slime or turtle excrement. Best of luck to you I hope this information helps you. - James


P.S.- I wouldn't use styrofoam as they might ingest some of it if their claws just happen to rip into it and it ends up in the water they might mistake it for food.



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