Yellow bellied slider info

[PurpleHeyze]

Hi,

just wondering about min requirements for these guys but not for me to keep them. The reason being is that I saw a couple in a shop today and they were small probs about 2 - 3" in length and they were in a tiny tank with some fish and width ways the tank was probably about four of the turtles if they were end to end so I'd say the dimensions were about 12"x6"x10" roughly.

so yeah do Yellow bellies need land to sit on because these tanks were fully aquatic as the store only sells fish usually and its like they've just been thrown in with a load of fish.

Also do they need UV lighting and a basking spot?

Thanks in advance for any help the only reason I'm asking is because I work at said store but I've never seen them do something like this because as I said they only sell fish and common little furry mammals not reps, so if they are doing it wrong then I'm going to talk to them because I don't like seeing animals cared for wrong.

[Shellsfeathers&fur]

This caresheet sets out their requirements:

Terrapin Information UK

Good of you to take notice of them as you obviously saw things that are wrong in their care/set up.

If they are females they will reach 12"+ and they cannot be sexed when young. I think everything is covered above but equally important is no tank lid and no gravel they can get respiratory problems and unintentionally eat the gravel.

The fish may well become breakfast/lunch/tea/dinner subject to their size.

Turtles are often labelled as Yellow Bellied Sliders when they are in fact Cumberland (which is a "bit of this and that" for want of a better description) and can even be Cooters - the care though is the same except Cooters eat more green things!

Hope this helps - any more questions just ask.

[PurpleHeyze]

Originally Posted by Stephen P

This caresheet sets out their requirements:

Terrapin Information UK

Good of you to take notice of them as you obviously saw things that are wrong in their care/set up.

If they are females they will reach 12"+ and they cannot be sexed when young. I think everything is covered above but equally important is no tank lid and no gravel they can get respiratory problems and unintentionally eat the gravel.

The fish may well become breakfast/lunch/tea/dinner subject to their size.

Turtles are often labelled as Yellow Bellied Sliders when they are in fact Cumberland (which is a "bit of this and that" for want of a better description) and can even be Cooters - the care though is the same except Cooters eat more green things!

Hope this helps - any more questions just ask.

Thanks for the help and the fish are about the same length as the turtles shell, so shouldn't be lunch at least not yet :P

So how can you tell the difference between a Cumberland and a YBS?