# yellow bellied sliders



## vexed (May 27, 2011)

my female i believe has become gravid and is digging arround like mad but at the bottom of the tank????i thought they laid out of water can any1 give me a pointer on how to make her a little floating patch of something suitable for her to dig and lay in. also im trying to find a good substrate for that pupose, i have been told peat moss but am unsure as i want as close to natural habitat as possible i have a ferplast jamaica glass turtle tank,heater 150w,exo terra turtle cliff with turtle filter,floating turtle log,small stingray 5 internal filter,40w dimmable basking spot with ceramic reflecter and tank clamp and a 25cm overtank exo terra night glow dome with exo terra reptiglow compact bulb.
their diet consists of king british complete food,reptomin sticks an romain lettuce as a staple i am cultivating and gutloading wax worms for them and a few meal worms an occasionally they get a bag of live blood worm

the reason i have given all this info is that someone is bound to ask i know a little bit about these turtles but would love to learn a lot more


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## RORCOV (Jul 19, 2005)

How old/big is your turtle?


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## vexed (May 27, 2011)

this is what conflicts me she is about 3-4" front of shell to back i was told when i brought them that they were bout 4 months old so could be as old as 9months now but didnt think they reached sexual maturity till theyre atleast 1 but they have already been doing the mating ritual


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## RORCOV (Jul 19, 2005)

Female YB sliders reach sexual maturity anwhere between 3 and 8 years of age. So you can be confident that yours is not gravid.


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## vexed (May 27, 2011)

ok great news lol not going to cost me anymore money yet....So is she just going through the motions or something?? and can you think why she is digging holes at the bottom of the tank would she be scratching her shell?

and i wanted to know if i could add a razorback musk?? and what moss i could use in the tank.


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## bw89 (Jan 11, 2010)

I dont know about the musk, but your slider may be foraging, is she digging through the gravel and eating things? My male does this.


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## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

A Musk wouldn't really live happily with a Slider. Sliders like deep water whereas a young Musk must have shallower water, even adults need lots of resting places between the base the the surface. They also have slightly different diets.

You will probably have to upgrade you tank and filter anyway before adding another one in any event, plus there is the question of quarantining any new arrivals.


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## Podarcis (Mar 1, 2010)

Actually, I have kept sliders and musks together for years, although all were relatively young. The sliders are now outside. They are, broadly speaking, sympatric. If your tank has a range of water depths then you shouldn't experience too many problems. It is true they have differing diets as adults, but both are fairly catholic in their tastes. Sounds like foraging behaviour to me.


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## vexed (May 27, 2011)

Stephen P said:


> A Musk wouldn't really live happily with a Slider. Sliders like deep water whereas a young Musk must have shallower water, even adults need lots of resting places between the base the the surface. They also have slightly different diets.
> 
> You will probably have to upgrade you tank and filter anyway before adding another one in any event, plus there is the question of quarantining any new arrivals.



i have a smaller tank for new arrivals and a land enclosure once they need it when they get too big ima put em outside in the enclosure might build a shed for it tbh but not sure yet


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