A Survey of Amphibians, Reptiles and Insects Suitable for Maintenance in Outdoor Ponds – Part II, The Red-Eared Slider, Chrysemys scripta elegans
During our last look at outdoor ponds I discussed an ideal amphibian inhabitant, the American bullfrog. Today I’ll introduce a reptile that is equally at home outdoors, the red-eared slider.
A Better Outdoor Than Indoor Pet
The Red-Eared Slider is the world’s most popular pet turtle. The small green hatchlings were previously sold by the millions throughout the USA, but government restrictions have now limited the availability of animals under 4 inches in length (pending legislation may change that situation in the future).
However, sliders are not well suited to indoor aquariums, as they are very active and females can reach a shell length of 12 inches or so. A turtle of that size needs a tank of at least 55-75 gallon capacity, along with a very powerful filter to maintain water quality. Even in aquariums of that size, however, these vigorous turtles are cramped.
Sunlight and Diet
Sliders make interesting, attractive inhabitants of garden pools if given enough space and easy access to sunny basking spots. Like most turtles, they require unfiltered sunlight in order to form the vitamin D that is necessary to process calcium and build strong shells (exceptions to this rule are certain largely aquatic, non-basking species, such as snapping turtles, musk turtles, and soft-shelled turtles).
Red-eared sliders will readily consume Repto-min, earthworms, crickets, mealworms, prawn and canned insects, and will do their best to catch small fishes and tadpoles. They usually will coexist quite well with larger goldfish and sunfish, if there is ample room for the fish to avoid the turtles. Adults may consume some types of pond vegetation, but if provided with romaine, dandelion, kale and other greens, they will often leave ornamental plants alone.
Other Turtles
Other turtles of similar habits that do well in outdoor ponds are the Eastern painted turtle, Chrysemys picta picta (and subspecies, such as the Midland, Western and Southern painted turtles) and the various Map Turtles, Graptemys spp. The largely aquatic musk turtle, Sternotherus odoratus, does well even in quite small pools.
Enclosing the Pond
Semi-aquatic turtles often remain near their pond, even if it is unfenced, but males may move away in search of females during the breeding season, and gravid females will seek out suitable nesting areas. Bear in mind also that raccoons are very adept at preying upon even quite large turtles.
Outdoor over-wintering of aquatic turtles is difficult at best. Please write in for suggestions on winter-time quarters for your pets. Thanks, until next time, Frank.
Useful information on constructing and maintaining an outdoor turtle pond is posted at:
http://www.tortoise.org/general/pondmak.html
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September 12th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
[...] Live Search: lizard site:msnbc.msn.com wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptDuring our last look at outdoor ponds I discussed an ideal amphibian inhabitant, the American bullfrog. Today I’ll introduce a reptile that is equally at home outdoors, the red-eared slider. A Better Outdoor Than Indoor Pet The Red-Eared Slider is the world’s most popular pet turtle. The small green hatchlings were previously … [...]
April 16th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Hello Frank,
I recently stumbled across Agama International’s webpage, which is a breeder who keeps most of his animals outdoors all year in outdoor enclosures. Even with light snows a variety of creatures do fine. In particular he raises Argentine BW tegus, Australian water dragon’s, and Morrocan uromastyx. The behavior he saw was also pretty interesting…such as his tegus staying underground for 7 months of the year, even times of year when it was still quite warm.
My home in Fresno, CA gets to about 110 degrees highest in the summer and 35 degrees lowest in the winter.(but we basically never get snow, only frost) Naturally it is a semidesert area. Bit of pipedream considering the folks were averse to the idea of fencing an outdoor pond for inclusion of turtles but I wonder how well this area would work for housing animals outdoors permanently?
Thanks!
~Joseph
April 16th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Hello Joseph, Frank Indiviglio here.
Thanks for your interesting post.
I’m also often surprised at how cool the weather can get in places that, as a New Yorker, I consider to be mild in climate.
You can’t ask for much better than central California for keeping reptiles and amphibians outdoors year-round. A good starting point in species choice would be to look at other areas of the world with the same general latitude as your home, both north and south of the equator …you’ll have plenty to choose from.
Always great observations such as you mention when animals are kept outdoors. Dick Bartlett in Florida often surprises me with such; Burt Langerworth, who sadly passed on recently, was also well known for keeping lizards outside as much as possible. An alligator snapping turtle breeder recently told me that his turtles overwinter in ponds that ice up from time to time – they do range further up the Mississippi than most realize, but still…
Please let me know if you have any particular species in mind, and I’ll see if I can provide some information.
Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.
April 24th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Hello Frank, hope this finds you well.
I did some looking in on this and Central CA is on similar latitude to South Australia, Southern SA(Argentina, Paraguay), South Africa, and the Meditteranean area. Of course, this provides only a rough idea of what sp would do ok due to local climatic conditions. Particularly in light of invasive species it is interesting research on why species occur where they do(though it often requires very dry genetics!).
Looking closer to home any experience with Crotaphytus sp.? I got to see a Socal specimen recently, a beautiful critter!(though I must say horny toads, err…Phrynosoma, take the cake as far as our natives go) They only occur naturally in the drier areas of Southern California, but with some modifications to an outdoor enclosure to encourage it to heat up more and stay dry perhaps they could be kept in Central CA, also.
I’d guess a large diameter metal screen top enclosure(perhaps built with bricks and plastic fenders to prevent escape, I don’t know how aesthetic steel sheets would be).
Are predators a common issue with outdoor enclosures of this sort? A metal mesh like that would keep out cats and hawks(and could be removed to observe the lizards), but I wonder if rodents might be a problem(perhaps plastic/metal around the outside of the enclosure?)
Thanks!
~Joseph
April 24th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Hello Joseph, Frank Indiviglio here.
Thanks very much for the interesting post. You make a very good point concerning local weather conditions – mountains, wind patterns etc. can make for some very unusual goings on…this was long a source of confusion to both professionals and hobbyists. Also, a species micro-habitat is important – perhaps the most common example of confusion regarding this is the extremely dry, desert-like exhibits that many zoos still use for Gila monsters. These lizards live in some of the most arid regions of the American Southwest, but spend over 90% of their time below ground, where humidity levels remain very high (this explains why they spend days on end in their water bowls in dry exhibits).
Why animals appear where they do (and how they got there) is a great study. Genetics is, as you mention, explaining quite a bit. Such will take on greater importance as
more and more reintroduction and similar plans are needed, especially where animals hailing from different populations will be mixed….for example, anoles from south Florida cannot take the winters in north Florida, etc.
Collared lizards are gorgeous, no doubt, and very interesting. I still remember the first image I saw of a collared lizard. It was a drawing of one grasping a horned lizard in its jaws, in The Golden Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians, written by my childhood hero, Herbert S. Zim (As you might imagine, having Herbert S. Zim as a hero, while growing up near Yankee Stadium, branded me as quite the “odd duck”!).
I’ve found that, in contrast to most similarly sized lizards, collards do best when other lizards (I used brown anoles, which are introduced in Florida) are provided as food on a regular basis. They are also rather high strung, and need a great deal of room. There’s allot of interesting research on genetic variations between populations isolated from one another on adjacent “habitat islands”.
Horned lizards are real gems. Texas horned lizards flooded the trade years back. As a child, I carried those I kept to ant hills throughout several summers (they refused certain ants) so that they could feed. They always did fine, but went downhill during the winters, even those that would take the limited fare available. Some time ago I noticed that someone was selling harvester ants as horned lizards food, so perhaps I’ll have another go at them someday. The Staten Island Zoo has a horned lizard species, the name of which unfortunately escaped me right now, which seemed to be doing quite well without ants.
Metal cattle watering troughs are used by many zoos as holding cages – they can be drilled to provide drainage for easy cleaning, and fitted with hinged lids at machine shops.
Here in the east, Norway rats are a real problem in outdoor exhibits – even to the point of killing baby mara (Patagonian cavies) and eating turtle eggs. Muskrats dig well and can demolish plantings overnight (but I’m somehow fascinated by muskrats, raised a few kits years back). Raccoons are our biggest concern, however – smart and strong. They are thriving even in Manhattan, and not just in Central Park.
Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.
November 4th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Hello there,
I’d like to know if red eared sliders get along with other amphibs, specifically, the crested newt. met one the other day and was AMAZED
November 5th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.
Thanks for your interest in our blog.
I agree, crested newts are amazing…I never tire of seeing them. Unfortunately red eared sliders will attack newts and other amphibians. Also, crested and other newts produce powerful skin toxins; I know of several cases of turtles expiring immediately upon eating newts – so, both animals wind up dying!
Please let me know if you decide to set up the newts alone, and I’ll send along some information. In the meantime, please check out my article Breeding the Great Crested Newt.
Sorry for the bad news!
Good luck and please keep me posted.
Best regards, Frank Indiviglio
November 10th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
[...] more information, please see my article on Caring for red Eared Sliders in Captivity http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatreptileblog/2008/09/12/a-survey-of-amphibians-reptiles-and-insects….References : Leave a [...]