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Had 3 red-ear sliders for 17 years, one of which died on the 8th year (see below for more info)
Here are some tips and answers to your questions:
- What to feed
-Turtle pellets for regular food (but change the entire bottle once every six months if you don't finish feeding the pellets because the longer you keep the bottle, the more nutrients it loses until there is no nutritional value in them)
-leafy veggis like lettuce once a week
- Should I take it out the tank to walk
No.
Taking them out for a walk is only for your enjoyment (if you wanted to do it).
- How often to feed it?
A few times a week.
But, don't put too many pellets in the water at any single time.
Rather, feed them less pellets, but increase the feeding periods.
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A male and a female?
The male might bite the female, sometimes causing the female to bleed profusely.
If this happens, it's time to separate the 2 sliders into 2 tanks.
My third female slider (who died) was bitten by a male and it basically made the female bleed profusely (made the tank red), and she died.
This was when we were not home, so we couldn't do anything.
The SAME male bit the second female, and we were at home and saw the tank water turning red.
We basically took the female out, staunched the bleeding, and she survived.
So, watch out for any aggression towards the female.
At 3 years, the male is ready to mate, but the female might not be, or might never be receptive towards that one single male.
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Water level need not be too high, but make sure there is a large rock or space for them to bask (sp).
They are usually inside the water 80% of the time.
Get a heat lamp (a reptile heat lamp) to be used for the basking.
Make sure the temperature is right.
Change the filter system once every 1.5 weeks.
Good luck.
They should be able to live up to 25 years in captivity.
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