Bruce is a meat eater and is growing fast cause he is eating well.I have had my 2 slider girls for 36 yrs. Plus an 8 and 5 yr old and now a 2 yr old adopted from this site.. they have never over eaten.
http://flickr.com/photos/29035692@N03/sets/72157607029550534/My 5 are in a pond now and they get 400 plus goldfish a month and Romaine lettuce 4 to 5 times a week.dried cubed tubiflex or blood worms 5 times a week. Sounds like he is healthy and that is what you want.Some advice If I may? The bigger the environment the bigger the healthier the turtle. Remember 10 gallons for every inch of turtle. I have used kiddy pools and plastic pond liners from most nurseries and worked great. Did you know that they need to bask under a reptile light UVA/UVB for up to 8 hrs a day for the vitamin D that they need to grow. So that means getting a turtle dock also.Leave the heater on 75 to 78 degrees always. These turtles in captivity do not hibernate their eating may slow down some but they will not hibernate. These are not cuddly pets and will bite very very hard. Under 4" they carry a disease called 'salmonella'. So you must wash after every handling.Their water needs to be clean otherwise they get sick easily from dirty water cause they poop allot. You need a good filter system! Total Body length: 5-8" average for males, up to 12 inches max for females. Life span: 15-25+ yearsMales have the longer front nails and are used in mating. And are considered mature at about 5 yrs old. You can’t start sexing till about 3” across. Gravel larger than they can swallow.You need to feed them feeder guppies, goldfish or minnows for protein and calcium drop 20 or so in the tank and watch them disappear in a few days! When I got these two 36 yrs ago all we had in back then were goldfish to feed , so after 36 yrs and still going strong. They can eat goldfish! This way when they swim for their dinner they get exercise also! I also feed dried cubed blood worms or tubiflex worms at least 5 times a week. They sleep at the bottom of rivers, streams. lakes or ponds or your tank to avoid predators like coyotes, foxes, owls, hawks, possums, raccoons and even some wide mouth bass.TOSS in a bird cuttle bone in the water for calcium that will promote better shell growth, it will dissolve real slow and if they eat it that’s fine!!They can have garden worms, meal worms, snails, crickets, flies, crayfish small frogs, dragon flies and anything that moves, but only as a treat.They need leafy greens Romaine, Butter lettuce. (Iceberg and cabbage are bad for them, any other leafy greens will do) for vitamin A that they need at least 3 to 4 times a week.They love grapes and strawberries and squash..You probably already know that they get sick easily, shell rot, respiratory sickness, lopsided swimming, coughing, blowing bubbles from their nose. Fungus white cotton patches on their skin?**Swollen cloudy eyes which means lacking in Vitamin A. Which we all need for good eyes. Google ‘vegetables with Vitamin A.Contact the “www.anapsid.org/societies, for a turtle vet / RESCUE in your city and state.I wish you luck.
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