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Hi everyone.
I have two turtles: Lucy and Popeye.
My friend and I found Popeye in a swimming pool when I was 17. He was just a baby and was so tiny! I took him home and asked my mom if I could keep him and she said OK. I was very worried at first because I knew he had been swimming in the chlorine water. I went to Petco to get some supplies and food and told an employee there about the turtle. She said she doubted that he would survive, but I knew that he would be OK so I just put him in a plastic container with chlorine-free water.

After a couple of weeks I did some research online and asked people at Petco about the care for a Red Eared Slider, so I got Popeye a new 10 gallon tank, some gravel, a floating basking platform and uv lights. My turtle was always very friendly to everyone. He would follow me around and always swim towards me in his tank. He loves treats: Reptotreat, shrimp and his favorite: Chicken from Popeyes!! That is why I named him Popeye.

Hi, welcome to the site! Sounds like you're doing some good things, but you need to remove gravel from the tank. It can cause an impaction if eaten. As for his diet, shrimp should only be a rare treat and he should never have any fried chicken.

I removed the gravel from the tank because it was too difficult to clean. He lived in his 10 gallon habitat for about a year, before we moved to a new place. A month after moving, I saw an ad in the mail room saying that someone was giving away a 50 gallon tank! I called and it turned out to be my downstairs neighbor, who gave me the tank, a filter and some brushes. Popeye was very happy to have a bigger space and I realized that he needed more turtle company, so I got Lucy who was about half an inch smaller.

Lucy was very active and she could run extremely fast. She is definitely the queen of the aquarium. She is extremely intelligent and persevering. Whenever she is hungry, she will wait for me to come near the tank and then she will swim to the top and start splashing water. She doesn't do this with anyone else, only me. she can recognize different people and has a different reaction with each member of the family.