Worried about my Red Ear Slider turtle

[freshwaterfishlover]

I have a 6 or 7" Red Ear Slider Turtle. I have had it over a year.

Setup
38g tank
Submergable heater
Submergable filter
Gravel
Ramp for turtle to get out of water
Floresent Light. Like for a fish tank
Heat lamp
Light is on 16 hours a day. Off for 8 hours.
of the 38g, 20g are filled up with water.

I'm worried I have never had this problem. I feed it Crickets and reptomin. It has always ate normaly, but for the last couple days It will not eat nothing and is sluggish and sleeps a lot.

[Fishguy2727]

What is the water temp?

In general I would change the diet a lot. Reptomin, although popular, is not a very good food. Just like their fish foods, their turtle food is not the worst, but not the best. I personally did not feed live foods to my turtles. They can introduce pathogens, increase aggressionl, and are nutritionally incomplete and unbalanced. I found the best diet for turtles to be a mix of high quality pellets. Zoo Med's Aquatic turtle pellets are great, so are Hagen NutraFin Max Turtle Gammarus pellets (although those may be a tad small for him, maybe not). In addition to this the high quality fish foods are also good. Hikari, New Life Spectrum, etc. are great. After all, aquatic turtles are in the exact same ecosystem as fish and eating the same foods.

What type of fluorescent bulb are you using?

They need a full spectrum reptile bulb with UVB. The UVB bulbs are rated for how much UVB they give off. They come in 2.0, 5.0, 8.0, and 10.0. I suggest the 10.0 because it is just that much more UVB, especially if it has not had one lately.

The water should be at least 75F and the basking area at least ten degrees warmer (at least 85F).

Is the filter keeping the water clean?
Are you doing at least one huge water change every week?

How big was it when you got it?

[freshwaterfishlover]

My Turtle died. How do I dispose of it?

[Northernguy]

I'm sorry to here about your pet!:11:

Disposing is a drag. you can put it in a plastic bag and freeze it and Either bury it ,place it in the compost or garbage.
Sorry but thats how I do it!

[freshwaterfishlover]

I plan to buy another Turtle. This time a Female Florida Red Belly. Want to stick with Aquatic Turtles.

A question: Would a 55G be ok for 2 Red Ear Slider Turtles?

[Fishguy2727]

No. Females can hit 12" or more in shell length alone. This puts a female in at least a 75, preferably much larger. For a 55 I would go for something like painteds.

[freshwaterfishlover]

You talking about a Red Ear Slider or Florida Red Belly. Because my Red Ear Slider that died was in a 38g. I did not know if it was a Female/Male. It did grow 2" since i had it over a year. I bought it at 4".