Red Ear Slider

30/10/2011

We've got ourselves a pair of Red Ear Slider, turtle.

One active little girl and another lazy sleepy little boy

Red-eared slider get their name from the distinctive red patch of skin around their ears. The 'slider' part of their name comes from their ability to slide off rocks and logs and into the water quickly. This species was previously known as Troost's turtle in honor of an American herpetologist. 'Trachemys scripta troostii' is now the scientific name for another subspecies, the Cumberland slider. I guess all those scientific name would never really exist in my world, and hell it took me maybe weeks to really just remember a single scientific name for them. And it takes me minutes to just forgotten about it. lol =) I only remember they are my cute little one.

Most Red-eared slider turtle you see in a pet shop only measure around maybe 5 cm? But they can easily get twice or more that size in a matter of years. This is a problem for many slider owner, who do not realize that that little aquarium they got with their turtle wont be able to hold the adult turtle. as a result, there are many turtle are released back into the wild by ignorant owners. Most of the red-eared sliders do not survive a release like this, as they were raised in a tank and are unprepared for dealing with life in the wild. So if any of you planning to get a pet turtle, please think twice and think further. Turtle will get bigger in size in the future. But i guess some owners were just being impulsive at that particular moment without think twice. In the end who suffer? The poor little turtle that they once so happy of having it.

Turtle are reptiles and cold-blooded, so they must rely on external heat sources for warmth. They will bank in sunlight, and in the wild, burrow down into the earth to hibernate in winter, which in Malaysia here we dont have winter seasons, but still we need to keep warmth for them. The three main concerns in keeping a red-eared slider healthy are warmth, clean water, and proper diet. Properly caring for a turtle is more complicated than most people think. I used to think this way, turtle is just something so durable, what i meant was they are supposed to be long-lived animals, how could possibly they died easily. =) 

Well, i've corrected my thoughts. An adult, not a child, must take care primary responsibility for maintaining and cleaning the housing, feeding and monitoring the turtle for any signs of illness.

For those who dont like turtles, for your information, sometimes they can be very cute as well. =)

Cheers.