Yellow Bellied Sliders

[teacherspet]

we are now the proud owners of 2 yellow bellied sliders. The female (Rafael or Raffie for short) came to us a 8 months ago in fairly good condition, the male (Leonardo or Leo for short) just 2 weeks ago in poor condition.
They are set up in separate tanks each with a basking area, filter and heater. She has a UV tube he does not. They are externally lit at night onto the basking platforms.
Their heaters are set at about 28 degrees.
We are feeding them a shellfish/pellet mix feed which was recommended by a local exotic supplier.
He is shedding a lot of skin - is this a stress reaction or is he sick?
She eats like a pig, he is fussy - is this a cause for concern?
She has an oil-like film on the surface of her water almost constantly - we got a man in who slatted us and our care saying we fed her too much (three pellets twice a day) so we cut her down to three large (too large to my mind) meals a weeks but the film is still there - what could it be?
They are cleaned out once a week and all gravel and rocks are removed once a month and boiled - is this adequate?
Is there anything else we could be doing? Is what we are doing OK?

Any advice welcome,

Many thanks.

[Fozz]

Originally Posted by teacherspet

we are now the proud owners of 2 yellow bellied sliders. The female (Rafael or Raffie for short) came to us a 8 months ago in fairly good condition, the male (Leonardo or Leo for short) just 2 weeks ago in poor condition.
They are set up in separate tanks each with a basking area, filter and heater. She has a UV tube he does not. They are externally lit at night onto the basking platforms.
I'm not sure if I've read this right, but you don't need to leave the UV light on overnight (12-14 hours a day is fine)....... Also, what % is it??....
Their heaters are set at about 28 degrees.
We are feeding them a shellfish/pellet mix feed which was recommended by a local exotic supplier.
He is shedding a lot of skin - is this a stress reaction or is he sick?
Turtles do shed skin, the only time you should worry is when raw flesh is seen under (sign of septicemia).....
She eats like a pig, he is fussy - is this a cause for concern?
They can be if they've been fed on something all their lives, they will never go hungry if other food is on offer so you should stick it out and he'll start eating the pellets.....
She has an oil-like film on the surface of her water almost constantly - we got a man in who slatted us and our care saying we fed her too much (three pellets twice a day) so we cut her down to three large (too large to my mind) meals a weeks but the film is still there - what could it be?
I get this too, it's usually from fatty foods........ I point a spraybar straight at the surface to break the water up......
As for food, I usually feed whatever they can eat in 15 minutes about 4 times a week...... Babies and hatchlings is everyday.....
They are cleaned out once a week and all gravel and rocks are removed once a month and boiled - is this adequate?
Depends what type of filtration you have......
Is there anything else we could be doing? Is what we are doing OK?

Any advice welcome,

Many thanks.

Just ask for more info......

[teacherspet]

Thank you for letting me know.

Raffie's lamp is only on during the day, I get into work about 8am and leave at about 4.30pm. It is turned off at night. Should we get Leo one or will he be OK with a paddle outside in the summer?

The meal we were recommended was 6g of food in each meal which was a massive amount - will follow your feed regime and see what happens.

We have an internal square filter thingy (which, again, the 'expert' slatted us for). It keeps the water clear and the tank smelling fresh so we are happy with it.

Thank you so much for setting my mind at rest - they are a great point of interest so we wanted to know that we were demonstrating best care practices. They are real cute when they swim over to investigate who has entered the room

On an unrelated note; when I picked Leo up I could not see a turtle (the American in me, I apologise) in the tank due to the water being a thick brown sludge. We have transported him into a clean, clear environment which is obviously better for him in the long run but was the shock too much all at once? Also, his front claws are just under 2cm long as he had no surfaces to wear them down in his old home, I don't want to clip them as the poor bugger has been through enough already so I have provided a gravel base and rock basking area to help him wear them down - will this be adequate or will we have to trim?

[Fozz]

Originally Posted by teacherspet

Thank you for letting me know.

Raffie's lamp is only on during the day, I get into work about 8am and leave at about 4.30pm. It is turned off at night. Should we get Leo one or will he be OK with a paddle outside in the summer?
It might be aswell getting timers on the lamps, I use these and they've never faulted once....... setting them for about 7am til 7pm.....
They both need regular UV otherwise their shells go soft and often get shell-rot......You could try putting the tanks together and the basking platforms on joining sides, then both tanks can use the same UV (I do this on my 'quarantine' tanks)......
The meal we were recommended was 6g of food in each meal which was a massive amount - will follow your feed regime and see what happens.

We have an internal square filter thingy (which, again, the 'expert' slatted us for). It keeps the water clear and the tank smelling fresh so we are happy with it.
The problem with internal filters is that they're designed for fish and are ill-equipped to deal with turtle waste...... I have found that a couple of powerful internal filters can do the job, though not as well as an external filter....... You should aim for filtration 2-3 times the size of the tank, if the tank is a 70litres, get a filter designed for a 140litre tank, the bigger, the better....... External filters are very cheap now though.......
It's as well getting a water test kit, these can give good indication whether the filter is managing or not...... Also, you can have a nice, clear tank.... But it's the invisible nasties that are harmful to turts.....
Thank you so much for setting my mind at rest - we have all just moved into a new classroom and they are a great point of interest for the students so we wanted to know that we were demonstrating best care practices. They are real cute when they swim over to investigate who has entered the room

On an unrelated note; when I picked Leo up I could not see a turtle (the American in me, I apologise) in the tank due to the water being a thick brown sludge. We have transported him into a clean, clear environment which is obviously better for him in the long run but was the shock too much all at once?
All turtles take a couple of weeks to settle in to a new environment....
Also, his front claws are just under 2cm long as he had no surfaces to wear them down in his old home, I don't want to clip them as the poor bugger has been through enough already so I have provided a gravel base and rock basking area to help him wear them down - will this be adequate or will we have to trim?Their claws are meant to be long (for mating and hunting) and don't need trimming....

Where abouts are you by the way??......

[Graham]

They both need a source of UVB, it's essential for all basking turts, preferably a 10% flourescent, or better still a MVB or Metal Halide, the latter two will provide a close equivalent to natural sunlight.

Internal filters just aren't up to filtering turt waste, they may remove a lot of the solids and the water may look clean, but they don't have the neccessary volume for adequate bio-filtration. With adequate filtration you won't need to clean your tank once a week, a spot clean now and then is all it should need, and major cleans could be reduced to every few months.

A good guide to feeding quantity is an amount equivalent to the volume of the turt's head, once a day for animals up to a year old, then reducing to every other day, and eventually just a couple of times a week for adults.

As mentioned turts do shed skin, but when it's visibly coming off in sheets that's not good and is classed as excessive shedding. The usual reason for this is overfeeding, also having the water too warm which yours is if it's 28°C, it only needs to be in the low 20s at most, and in a normally heated house this can be achieved without a water heater, background heat and heat from the lamps should be plenty.

Definitely do not ever trim their claws! In males especially they are meant to be very long, over an inch in some adults.

[teacherspet]

I will look at getting a test kit for the water though regular cleaning isn't a problem as we have the man power in the form of willing volunteers.

I will turn down their heaters - again temp recommended to us. The heating is not on at present and doors are often open so a room temperature is not maintained so the heaters are required.

I did not realise that about their claws - the 'expert' said they needed trimming so we believed him. Her's are as short as her back claws - is this OK?

I am so pleased I found this site!!!! My other half isn't as is it a little bit addictive
Thank you both so much for your advice

[teacherspet]

I am in Kent

[Charlottie]

Originally Posted by teacherspet

I will look at getting a test kit for the water though regular cleaning isn't a problem as we have the man power in the form of willing volunteers.

I will turn down their heaters - again temp recommended to us. The heating is not on at present and doors are often open so a room temperature is not maintained so the heaters are required.

I did not realise that about their claws - the 'expert' said they needed trimming so we believed him. Her's are as short as her back claws - is this OK?

I am so pleased I found this site!!!! My other half isn't as is it a little bit addictive
Thank you both so much for your advice

I think males claws are longer than females so it is normal for her to have shorter claws-someone correct me if im wrong =).
Ohh btw and yes its very addicitve =D
x

[Fozz]

The length of the claws is one of the main methods people use to sex these animals, as well as plastron shape........
If you still insist on an internal filter I'd suggest doing a full water change every week, and a partial water change (about 25%) at least once between the 'big clean'......