00:00 Today, 23rd of May is the International Turtle Day, so let's talk about one of the most popular
00:04 turtle pets in the world. Stay tuned to find out why and to learn more about taking care
00:09 of Red-eared Sliders. I'm Mario and this is M from Animals.
00:13 Red-eared Sliders are semi-aquatic turtles. Being able to walk on the ground,
00:21 they are actually pretty fast compared to tortoises.
00:23 They spend most of the time in water. They have webbed feet, being very good swimmers.
00:29 Their name comes from those two red spots on their head and from the fact that they slide
00:36 quickly from rocks in water when are scared. Other characteristics of Red-eared Sliders are
00:41 the yellow lines on their skin and the green carapace, which becomes darker as the turtle ages.
00:47 In average, their carapace can have 15 to 20 centimeters in length,
00:51 but some of them can grow larger than 40 centimeters.
00:55 Mature females are mostly larger than males, which is a common thing in reptiles.
00:59 Males have longer claws and larger tails, whilst females have shorter claws and small thin tails.
01:06 Also, looking at the turtle's plastron, we can observe that females have a flat plastron,
01:11 while male's plastron is a little bit concave, which is useful during mating,
01:15 but you can find out the turtle's gender just when it is bigger. Males are sexually mature
01:20 when they reach 10 centimeters in length or between 2 and 5 years, while females become
01:25 sexually mature when their carapace is 15 centimeters long or when they are between
01:30 5 and 7 years old. After the male attracts the female with a weird dance and after mating,
01:35 the female will lay between 2 and 30 eggs. When the weather gets colder, usually in October,
01:41 the Red-eared Slider begins to brumate in water. Brumation is similar to hibernation,
01:46 but the Red-eared Slider needs to go occasionally to the surface to take oxygen and drinks water.
01:51 It won't eat until the weather becomes warmer. Red-eared Sliders originate from southwest
01:56 Colorado, Virginia and Florida, but they became very popular pets during the last decades. People
02:02 usually buy these turtles because they are cute and they are small, and because they can adapt
02:06 easily to new climates. Quick fact! Within the second volume of Tales of the Teenage Mutant
02:12 Ninja Turtles, the popular comic book heroes were revealed as specimens of Red-eared Sliders.
02:17 The popularity of these turtles led to a craze for keeping turtles as pets all over the world.
02:22 So everything is fine for Red-eared Sliders, right? Not really. A lot of people all over the
02:28 world bought these turtles, but they didn't know that those small cute Red-eared Sliders
02:33 would grow that big. Also, these turtles can live a very, very long life, from 30 to even 70 years,
02:40 depending on the conditions that they have in captivity. First of all, the lack of knowledge
02:45 led to a lot of turtles dying in less than a year. Finding out that it is not that easy to
02:50 take care of Red-eared Sliders, a lot of people released them in lakes and ponds. Now these
02:55 turtles can be found everywhere where the climate is warm enough, competing with other native species
03:00 for food. Their import has been banned by the European Union. In Australia, it is illegal to
03:06 import, keep, trade or release Red-eared Sliders. So if you want to have a Red-eared Slider as a pet,
03:12 you should understand that they live a very long life and you have to offer them all the
03:16 needed conditions. So I will tell you everything you need to know before buying a Red-eared Slider.
03:22 Let's set up the aquarium. The minimum volume for the aquarium for one turtle is 80 liters.
03:27 Two of them can live pretty good in a 100 liter aquarium. Because you'll have to clean it very
03:33 often, I recommend buying a small one at the beginning and to upgrade it to a larger one as
03:37 the turtle becomes bigger. Two-thirds of the terrarium should be filled with water. To find
03:43 out the amount of water necessary for a good living, you can use this simple formula. The
03:47 length should be four times bigger than the turtle's carapace, width twice bigger and the
03:52 depth of the water should be at least 1.5 times bigger. To determine the length of a Red-eared
03:57 Slider, you can use a compass and a ruler. By the way, the day of 24th every month is considered
04:03 the day of measuring Red-eared Sliders. One-third of a terrarium should be a dry place. Red-eared
04:08 Sliders like to stay on a dry place being warmed by a lamp, which is our next thing needed.
04:13 To keep the water clean for a longer period of time, you should use a filter.
04:18 Internal filters are cheaper, but they just accumulate the dirt into one corner,
04:22 while external ones are more expensive, but will keep the water clean for a longer period of time.
04:27 Also, you'll need a warmer and a thermometer to keep the water temperature around 25 degrees
04:31 Celsius. If you have a possibility, I'd recommend building a small pond, because the turtle will
04:36 have more space, you won't need to change the water that often and the Red-eared Slider will
04:41 get more sunlight, which is essential for its growth. But don't forget to build a high fence
04:46 around the pond, because they can't climb very good. Also, when they are mature, they should
04:50 have a place where to lay eggs. Now let's talk about their diet. When they are small, Red-eared
04:54 Sliders will eat twice a day, being carnivores. Growing up, they'll become omnivores and when
04:59 they become mature, they eat mostly vegetables once in two or three days. So here is what they
05:04 eat. From a live food, they can eat fish, airforms, aquatic snails, crickets, shrimps and sometimes
05:10 cooked lobsters. From vegetables, they eat carrots, squashes, mustard leaves, turnips, green beans,
05:17 sweet potatoes, dandelion leaves, apples, melon, bananas, berries, grapes, tomato plums and peaches.
05:25 Occasionally, you can give them cooked chicken meat. But the most common food found in pest traps
05:30 are grammarus and these vitamin sticks. So, now that you know everything about Red-eared Sliders,
05:35 you can take care of your cute, curious and interesting turtle pet, which will live with
05:40 you happy for a very long period of time. If you enjoyed this video, give a like and subscribe to
05:45 M from Animals for more upcoming videos. I hope my grandparents won't sue me for filming on their
05:51 property. Oh yeah. [Music]
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