Talk:Red-eared slider

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[edit] Keeping as pets

Would somebody with experience like to start a section about proper care of them as pets? Jason Quinn 23:26, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Done. The section isn't exhaustive, but then again this might not be the place for that sort of thing. Basic info to keep a new owner from killing the thing before they figure it out. 171.66.152.246 22:30, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] No Headline

"Google test" means that it matched an apparently copyrighted page found on google; some people upload material they don't own, so we check from time to time.

On to more specific questions: I found Trachemys scripta elegans as a scientific name; there's also a genus Chelonia, which includes C. mydas, the green sea turtle, and the broader term "Chelonian" is used for turtles in general. I edited accordingly, but would be glad for someone to verify.

More non-UK info would be useful, in particular the species' native range. Vicki Rosenzweig

Trachemys scripta elegans of the genus Chelonia, is correct to my text books and Mike at the Claifornia Tortoise and Terrapin Club. Another is the Red Bellied Slider - Trachemys scripta scripta, which will interbreed with the Red Eared. Most of our Terrapins in the wild (3 species that I know of locally) are public "donations" from Stateside imports (running at 250,000 per month at it's height) when the Ninja Turtle craze was going on. I believe there a several farms in the Florida / Louisiana area still breeding for export.

I beleive Slider and Terrapin as names are interchangeble, country variants of the same animal ?, Slider in the US and Terrapin in Europe. Perhaps someone in these areas could help with further info with this and the species. TerrapinDundee

Since the Red-eared Slider is native to the US and not the UK, would it not make sense to have the article appear under Red-eared Slider, with a redirect from Red-eared Terrapin? -- Adam selene 13:19, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I agree, it really should be under Red Eared Slider. Slider is a more specific term, and most of the species in that genus are called sliders. I'd never heard of it interbreeding with the Red Belly, but in the US, it's common to be interbed with the Yellow Belly Slider. It also should be mentioned that the RES turtle has become a large problem in many countries, especially in south-east Asia. It's much warmer there, and the RES has taken over native habitats. Nicole

I didn't know they were called "sliders" or "terrapins". When I was growing up in Texas, where they are extremely common, we just called them "red-ears". Angr (talk • contribs) 08:18, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Might be a Texas thing. I grew up there and called them that too. Jason Quinn 23:26, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Chelonia and Trachemys are seperate turtle Genus. Chelonia contains only the Green Sea Turtle, while Trachemys contains the Sliders of North, Central, and South America. I cant see where the confusion would arise. Trachemys scripta scripta is the Yellowbelly Slider, not the "red Bellied Slider". MFuture 22:50, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Were RES illegal?

I recall my parents many years ago telling me that for a time in the United States it was made illegal to own red-eared sliders, but I don't recall why. Others I've talked to share the same sentiment. Is this rooted in fact? Ameltzer 22:32, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

They're not illegal to own, but they are illegal to sell if they're under 4 inches. Thus, you'll see many pet stores giving them away for free when you buy the aquarium and related accoutrements.

FWIW, some legalities here are relevant to a job I held, and insofar as illegal within US, I believe that has always been myth. I do hear shoppers in pet stores all the time whispering Those shouldn't be here! They're illegal!. I'm sure some of it began as a passive (and effective!) way for parents to say "no" to their children, similar to the razorblade/halloween urban myth. Often though, the banning of the importation of this species leads to the common phrase "they're illegal" in other countries, but this is in terms of importation versus local captive breeding; it's still not illegal to have a slider. As pointed out above, there is regulation now but this is strictly related to size of turtle versus size of child's mouth, so shame on the stores giving them away to avoid this! Cheers. Joevanisland 22:56, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup

This article could really use some cleanup and organization. I tried to do some minor work on the intro, but I'm not sure how much it helped. The intro is very information heavy with a wide variety of subjects that should really be broken down into sections and expanded, IMO. Looking at some similar articles for inspiration, some possible sections are

  • Biology (Size, sexual dimorphism, characteristic appearance, diet, lifespan)
  • Behavior (Sliding, aquaticism, hibernation)
  • Distribution (Whereabouts in US, UK invasion, possibly related species and interbreeding?)
  • Husbandry could be broken down further to be more useful
    • Intro
    • Salmonella
    • Housing (Tank size, filter, lighting, heat, basking area required)
    • Behavior
    • Health

I don't know that I have enough knowledge myself to flush these out very well but I'm happy to start if no one has any objections... Blurble 22:45, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

I have a qustion, how do you know if your turtle is male or female? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.68.251.6 (talk) 05:42, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Organization

As I wanted to add a few parts, I took your suggestion (Blurble) and changed the layout of the page as well. It still needs some work, but I hope it helps! --Tadpole667 20:20, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

This was the logical breakdown of the Husbandry section anyway, but now all of the actual information is gone. What was the point of this? Sliderman 17:17, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

I see now that the Husbandry section was blanked on a previous edit. Restoring it as it was as of 10/4/06, with appropriate section headings as supplied by Tadpole667. Sliderman 08:41, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Colour Morphs and Melanism

What do you guys think about either a new section about colour morphs and/or melanism, or working it into the article as a subsection of the Biology section? I bring this up because pastel colour morphs, for example, are interesting RES variants, and also, and more importantly, because melanistic sliders, which, I am told, are far more common in the wild than in captivity, are very often unrecognizable as red-eared sliders, to novice herpers - and oftentimes not only to novices! See picture here[1] which I know is too dark but you get the idea.(Click on thumbnails for bigger images, of course.) (Can put up a different, better picture if need be, after batteries for camera recharge.) Hi There 16:35, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] RES Feeding Habits

The article contains this statement: Young turtles can be fed live fish or crickets and generally prefer to eat while in the water. But according to what I have heard and read, RES's of any age must be fed in water because they produce no saliva and therefore, unless they are in water they can not swallow food at all. Hi There 13:55, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Well here is a source, accessible to everyone here, that states that RES do not produce saliva and must therefore be fed in water, irrespective of the turtle's age. http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html I am going to change the section to reflect this but if anyone has access to a different source that they consider more reliable and which states otherwise, please let us know. Hi There 02:46, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I got a slider on my own, and have on several occasions observed her drool, quite a bit actually, on land. It is however correct that they seem incapable, or at least have difficulty in swallowing on land, I have only one time successfully fed her completely out of the water. their reluctance or incapability to feed out of the water must stem for another reason that is still unclarified.

[edit] Mini sticks

What are “mini sticks”? Wikipeditor 12:31, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

See mini sticks and they are gone now. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 12:53, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article Has Failed the Google Test

Unfortunately, some of the authors of this page have stolen content from an About.com article (http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/reptilesturtles/a/reslidercare_2.htm). I am removing the problem sections in compliance with About.com's copyright. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.253.228.144 (talk) 22:40, 3 May 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Rewrite

Large portions of this article need to be almost completely rewritten. The tone of this article is entirly unencyclopedic, and in parts is written as a pet keeping guide, which is completely unacceptable. I'll start on this in a few days, as I'm not currently in a place where i could attempt to accomplish this. DurinsBane87 07:30, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Loyalty Section

Some of you might immediately think that the "Loyalty" section is blasphemy or something, but it's true! My turtle, Pete, is 4 years old. I spend so much time with him he follows me like a dog. Peteturtle 22:29, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Unless you have a reliable source, you have no reliability and what you say you know oes not matter. This article is written far too much like apet guide as it is. If you know something is unsourced, regardless of how true it is, you most likely shouldn't write it. DurinsBane87 13:50, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

The food chane of this animal is!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.208.207.125 (talk) 00:54, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What's the story behind the name?

My sister had a lil' minor flip-out when she heard about RESes for the first time, because, well, turtles don't have ears, do they? What's the etymology of the name? ekedolphin 18:42, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

They usually have a red marking where ears would usually be. DurinsBane87 20:27, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How-to Template

Much of the pet section reads as an instructional on how to keep a RES as a pet and without much reference/citation with redundant overlapping information. --76.214.226.199 21:24, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

I have removed some of the how to info (per WP:NOT#HOWTO) in the pet section, but more editing is required. Some parts are factual rather than instructional so they might be worth keeping. Beechhouse (talk) 13:11, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Help

Help, my RES don´t want to go into water and keeps hiding under sofas and beds, is that normal? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.28.199.207 (talk) 00:25, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Article lost quality...

It's been while since I visited this page and I'm surprised to see that the article has gotten worse over time by small incremental changes. Perhaps there should be a checklist of items that the article that we agree it MUST include such as care as pets, sexual dimorphism (which is currently missing), etc. Jason Quinn (talk) 17:06, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Self Researched?

Someone put a lot of their first person text/personal research into the article... I don't have time to fix it now, just pointing it out. Robin Chen (talk) 03:07, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Is editing through?

I am an aquatic ecologist. I read through this section and it seems pretty good to me. Maybe this is wiki-blasphemy, but I hope nobody who is interested in turtles would use wikipedia as the only source. As it is, it is a good introduction. Someone mentioned salmonella. A blurb about that muight be nice, just so that people out handling turtles know to wash their hands. I'm taking down some of the issues listed at the top of the page. If you all think that's wrong, go ahead and put it back. Citations are needed in places... but real encyclopedias often don't cite things that are considered "common knowledge". Even if it is only commonly known among experts in the field.

Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.230.62.244 (talk) 15:05, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Incubation

The main article mentioned laying the eggs on paper towels and then covering the eggs with towels. Could someone expand on exactly how to do this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.6.149.148 (talk) 01:03, 9 June 2008 (UTC)