Interesting Facts
Do you know...
*
Sliders can also have different personalities and character.
If you have 2 or more sliders, why not observe some of their activities
and behaviours, then made a comparison. They will definitely be different.
*
Why 'sliders'? Because they slide into water once they
are frightened or sense danger.
*
Sometimes, you may find pieces of translucent shell floating
around the aquarium. What has happened? Well, don't worry. Turtles are
like snake, they shed their scutes instead of skin (for snakes) when growing.
This shedding is less noticeable when they are young but it gets more obvious
when they get older. They shed only once in a while. You can collect the
scutes and try to piece them into a carapace like jigsaw puzzle (though
I never did succeed)!
Beware that continuous shedding of scutes may mean that
your turtle is sick.
*
What are the red-eared sliders doing? It keeps trembling
its front legs at it's fellow turtle companion.
It is doing the mating dance! Check out mating
& breeding.
*
The slider made a gasping sound when it drew its head
into it's shell?
It made that sound because it is forcing the air out
of it's lungs to allow space for its head to withdrew into the shell, especially
when it is shocked and drew it's head in suddenly. Rapid gasping when not
drawing head in rapidly may mean that it has a flu, check out health.
*
What colour does my turtle like?
Well, I guess green since it is their natural colour.
I think they dislike red most. But most turtles will get use to the colour
of it's surrounding over time. Mine got used to red already, in fact to
all the colours around it ^_^
*
Sorry about the previous info about the eyesight, I just
realised they actually have very acute eyesight. Well, what make me think
initially that they have poor eyesight is probably because they sometimes
ignore what is around them... They are also very alert!
*
Their front feet are very useful for swimming, climbing
as well as eating! They use the claws to tear the food into smaller pieces
for swallowing, despite having no teeth.
*
They yawn! Just like human, sometimes you may see them
open their mouth wide for a big yawn...
And if you notice close enough, they have a short tongue.
Hmm... that might explain why they are so choosy on food. You can see the
tongue if you feed them with their front facing you.
*
They can actually be trained in one aspect, that is...
to eat from your hand! I think that is really cool, but may not work with
all sliders. Try holding a piece of food the slider about 1 inches away
from it's nose and try to attract it's attention so that it can see the
food. Steady your hand and try the slider's accuracy (that is if it is
not frightened by your hand). If it aimed correctly, well you have succeeded!
If not, well too bad you might want to try again. I hope it's bite won't
hurt.
Another thing is, they only can swallow under water.
They take food from your hand doesn't mean that they will eat it straight,
they will just hold the food in their mouth until they puts their head
under water. So do not feed them on land. After it has learned how to eat
from your hand, it will often beg you for food but don't overfeed them!
Refer to feeding.
*
There's actually something call Colour morphs which breeds
red-eared sliders of different 'type'. The most popular ones are the albino
red-eared sliders with colour of lemon yellow or pale yellow and hasn't
much pattern on their shells. Other are known as pastel red-eared sliders
due to incubation at inadequate temperatures or the expression of recessive
genes resulted in asymmetry of shell pattern and/or scutes, uneven eyes
size. I think it is a form of mutation.
*
Sliders shut their eyelids from bottom up instead of
down!
*
They always blink at the instance when their eyes are
out of water, I am not sure why.
*
Their shell are attached to their rib-bones, and that
makes their shell part of their bone structure.
*
Consider the disadvantage if you
ever cut the claws of your res, they might not be able to tear up big pieces
of food effectively for swallowing! Refer to feeding.
If you have more interesting facts, send in to me
here
©2001, Turtleholic
