FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about Turtles
Q. If I let my Red Eared Slider Free, would it be able to survive on it's own?
A. It depends on where you release it. You should release it next to a lake or stream in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, The northern part of Louisianna, Tennessee, Virginia, The Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, but do not release them near swamps (due to Alligators and they might get stuck in some of the roots extending into the water.). Try to find a good lake that will not dry out, and see if it has a plentiful supply of fish.
Q. Anyway, the smaller turtle (a little bigger than a half dollar coin) is always gasping. He pulls his head back in and then lunges it back out with his mouth open. Any suggestions?
A. That turtle is a little bigger than a newborn. Try raising water temperature and then if conditions don't improve, Take it to the vet immediately for Respiratory problems.
Q. Our turtles are brown with a noticeable raised central ridge on the carapace. It is not a box turtle, nor does it have a hinge so as to enclose itelf. One noticeable distinction is a notched edge on the lower 1/3 of each side of the midline on the carapace.
A. I think they are Common Musk turtles. Try looking for a species list in Yahoo!, Lycos, or Excite.
Q. How do I tell the gender of my turtle?
A. The Male's tail is roughly the length of its leg. Its fingernails are also about twice as long as their hand.
The female's tail is alot shorter than its leg and its fingernails are considerably shorter than that of the male's.
Q. I actually just
purchased some red eared sliders a few days ago and i have been
feeding them blood worms. i have been using toothpicks to lead
the worms to the turtles and i noticed that occasionally the
worms get stuck on the toothpick and he lunges forward and bites
the worm off. It was really cool and i was wondering if that is
bad since in the feeding section you highlight that they must
swallow underwater? A. Well, they only have to
swallow underwater. That doesn't mean that they can't have food
stuck in their mouths until they get to water, but my turts love
to go around and hunt for bugs. They just have to swallow
underwater. Q.i have a question about my turtle's shell..im not too sure about how old he
(or she, i just call it a he) is but ive had him for about a year and a half,
and his shell is kind of slowly "falling apart", layer by layer. the top shiny
layer is chipping off slowly from the middle out. it is not soft though and
the edges are chipping. when i first bought him, he had one kind of bad spot
in his shell, where it had already begun to chip. i feed him tetra reptomin
floating food sticks for turtles every day (about 4 to 6 sticks). occasionally
i put tetra terrafauna turtle vitashell on his shell. it doesnt seem to be
helping though. should i put it on more regularly or am i wasting my money? he
swims around in an aquaruim that sits in my window sill which gets a lot of
light. i am aware that he cant get the sun's important vitamins through the
glass, but is this helping at all?? should i put him outside for awhile? or if
i did that would i need to worry about him getting too hot? A. Your turtle is just growing. It's perfectly natural and means that your turtle is growing! Red Eared Sliders have to shed their shell like a snake has to shed its skin! Nothing wrong here whatsoever! If this didn't help much
e-mail me at mcgaughy@zdnetmail.com.