My son and I found a baby red ear slider in front of our church in a big field (no where near a pond or water), so we picked him/her up and brought it home. It's about 1 1/2 inches long. I have been feeding him thawed frozen brine shrimp and blood worms (we also keep a betta fish), and I got some baby turtle pellets from petsmart (although he seems to not like them, he has yet to eat one.) I just have him in a shoe box size plastic tub, and have been changing the water daily. And putting a big leaf in there for him to hide under. I have some gravel for him to come out of the water, which he did today, so I put him out in the sun in our lanai for a while.
We really want to keep him....is this a bad thing? I read that RES are not native to Florida, and releasing them is illegal....but this one was from the wild. Should I release him back? I worry that the poor little thing would probably not survive anyway, as few babies do.
Yesterday, I went out and got a 50 gallon plastic pond liner(the kind you sink in the ground)...and I'd like to set it up in our Lanai that is shaded from the hot sun for most of the day, but does get some sun in the early morning and again in the late afternoon. Would I still need to invest in a UV lamp for basking?
Also, what is the smallest type filter I could use in a 50 gallon tank? I was thinking of the Beckett small pond filter like this
http://www.amazon.com/Beckett-Corporati ... ond+filter
Thanks for any advice. Am I doing the right thing in keeping him?
