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Wednesday, 6 April 2011

The Red Ear Slider

The red-eared slider is a semi-aquatic turtle. Its scientific name is Trachemys scripta elegans.This turtle  is the most popular pet turtle in the United States and also popular in the rest of the worldIt is native only to the southern United States, but has become established in other places because of pet releases.

You guys might be thinking why does this turtle 
has a name RED EAR SLIDER. The answer is 
these turtle get their name from the distinctive red mark around their ears and the "SLIDER" part of their name come from their ability to slide through logs and rocks when approached towards them.


Red ear sliders are almost entirely aquatic but they usually come to for basking and laying eggs. These turtles spend most of their time basking in the sunlight. Many people say that their turtle doesn't go into hibernation, well actually this turtle does go into hibernation as soon as the temperature goes below 15 degree celcius. 


Well these turtles are natural decent swimmers and swim into deep or shallow ponds or rivers. I wonder if i could swim that well. They are also natural prey hunters.  They hunt for prey and will attempt to capture it when the opportunity presents itself. Even when i put my finger near them they would come to bite me as if my fingers look like some chicken rolls to them. 


These Reptiles have a furious growth. The female red-eared slider grows to be 25–33 cm (10–13 in) in length and males 20–25 cm (8–10 in). Males are usually shorter than females but they do have long nails than females. Even the male's tail is longer and thicker than the female turtles.
The male turtle during the mating wiggle their nails in front of the female's face to show that it has good genes and is a good partner for mating. A male reaches the sexual maturity at the age of 5-6 years after the female and the female would reach around 4-5 years. The female slider can lay upto 2 to 30 eggs at a time. They lay their eggs deep in the ground of your backyard.


The Red Eared Sliders are Omnivores and feed on plant and animal matters. So these turtles eat almost everything around them for example aquatic plants, spinach , cabbage , lettuce , worms , fishes , prawns, etc. The younger turtles are carnivores and eat much non-vegetarian food than the adults. As they grow old they keep turning towards the vegetarian side like some one who would leave the worldly pleasures . Its better not to overfeed your turtles as they may over grow and become more furious. Its better to feed them any non-vegetarian food once in a week or twice in a month not more than that otherwise they would become like a spoilt brat. One more thing just make sure that the staple (i.e) regular diet of you turtle should be the turtle food. There are various turtle food available in the market such as Reptomin, Hello food , Hikari Carn Stick. These food's helps to keep your turtle as well as its natural color enhanced.


These turtles are banned in Austrailia according to the law of the animal rights as they come in the group of the species which are becoming extinct. The American Law bans the selling of the Red Eared Slider's Eggs or the turtles itself which are grown more than 4-6 inches due to the health reasons of its citizens. These turtles carry salmonella bacteria with them so due to this reason you aint keep on touching your turtles again and again and you should wash  your hands before and after touching them. They usually get annoyed when they are touched again and again. They dont like to be touched.




These turtles can live upto 15-20 years in the wild and in captivity can live upto 20-25 years. The life of these turtles depend on the quality of food and the habitat which is created around them. A 
happy turtle can also bring good luck and prosperity to your life.

Well Guys and Girls this is the time to end my post if you have any questions regarding the red ear slider turtle please feel free to comment below. As this is my first post dont know what to say but thanks for viewing and regards from ME


- Nishail Swamy( W.O.A)

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