redearslider.com

Six months ago my daughter didn't secure the lid for our red eared slider nursery and he got out and completely disappeared. We searched everywhere- my children were mortified and I was extremely upset as I have had turtles all my life and created a turtle pond in our yard- I kept this particular guy inside because I felt he was too small.
So today as I'm cleaning under my heater I find him alive. He was very weak and barely breathing and I have been nursing him all night and haven't left his side. He's finally coming out of his shell and walking around. He's back under his lights and seems to be pretty active considering he was near death a few hours ago. I am more attached than ever to this turtle and I don't want to lose him again. Can someone advise me (without being mean or calling out my mistakes) on what to do to get him back to 100% health? This may be one of the biggest miracles my family has ever witnessed.

I've seen a couple posts on here of similar situations. Some reccomended soaking the turtle in a diluted pedialyte solution to help replenish electrolytes. I don't have any personal experience or knowledge with this so you should definitely research it first. Hopefully Steve can give you some advice on this as well because I've seen him talk about it. Check out this topic...

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=31528&p=300137&hilit=Found+lost+turtle#p300137

Also, where do you have him now? Does he have access to UVB and heat light? Does his shell look healthy? Could you post a picture? Is he eating?

I just realized there's a page on the main site that talks about the pedialyte solution.

http://redearslider.com/lost_turtle.html

I would also add that make sure the turtle eats but resist overfeeding or "making up" for lost feedings. Consider live prey as well. Congrats on finding him!