The Yellow-bellied slider, a subspecies of aquatic turtle, is a famous pet that can be a great addition to your pet aquarium. It looks attractive with its color variations and is also easy to take care which makes it an incredibly popular pet turtle breed across the globe.
However, when you bring a yellow-bellied baby slider at home for the first time, it needs special attention. Luckily, the baby yellow belly turtle care isn’t a tricky one. It includes preparing the tank environment, checking and meeting the water parameters within the tank, and maintaining a healthy diet for the babies.
To know in-depth about these various aspects of baby yellow belly turtle caring read through the rest of the article.
An Overview of Yellow-bellied Slider
Before we move on to the caring section for yellow-belly bay turtles, it’s a good idea to know about its native habitat, colors, and general information. It will assist you in adequately caring with fewer efforts. So, here’s a quick overview-
Close relative: Red-eared slider
Native Location: Virginia to Alabama
Size: 5-12 inches approximately
Lifespan: 20-40 years
Color: Yellow stripes on the legs and olive to the brown carapace.
Baby Yellow Belly Turtle Care Tips
Taking care of a newly born baby yellow turtle is convenient. You need not be a specialist in turtle care for this purpose. The essential tips to take care of the yellow-bellied slider are the following ones.
Proper Housing
Since yellow turtles are aquatic species, for most of their life, they will live underwater in submerged conditions. Hence, the housing or turtle tank for the species needs to have enough water that lets the babies swim comfortably in it.
Also, it would help if you avoided the risk of the turtle container being leaky or warping. Since the yellow turtles may grow up to 12-inches, you need to prepare a housing at least of 120mmX300mm that has sufficient swimming space for the species.
Also, it should contain at least 75 gallons of water.
Next, you need to create a proper basking area for the baby. You will also have to arrange a ramp or dock to help the bay turtle come out of the water easily and reach the basking area.
Proper Heat Management
Since yellow-bellied turtles are cold-blooded species, heat management has a profound effect on their survival success rate. With this importance being said, you need to maintain proper heat within the turtle tank or container.
During the daytime, the baby turtles will come out of the water and bask in the dry area. The baby must absorb essential UVA and UVB lights so that it can thrive without any diseases related to Vitamin D deficiency.
Also, you must know that with lack of Vitamin D, particularly, D3; the yellow turtle baby will fail to grow the bones properly which will significantly reduce its lifespan. Hence, you must create a proper basking area for the yellow baby turtle. It needs the fulfillment of the two requirements-
- The basking area should accommodate enough sunlight
- The basking area needs to be around 80°F.
During the winter, when the temperature shrinks near or below zero, you need to arrange external lights to keep the housing warm. Otherwise, the baby turtles will be in danger of unnecessary sickness. For this, use the following light source-
- You may use a 100w or 60w basking light depending on the surrounding temperature.
- Also, use a UV light that has a 12% intensity.
Nonetheless, if you don’t want to use two lights separately, you can always purchase a Mercury Vapour Bulb to accommodate both light purposes.
Maintaining The Water Parameters
Yellow baby turtles will pass more time in the water than in the basking area. So, keeping the tank water in the right condition is your highest priority before you keep the baby turtle in the tank. Firstly, make sure that the tank water temperature remains between 75°F to 80°F.
For this, you may use regular lighting in the turtle tank, such as 60 watts or 100 watts light. It should be sufficient to keep the turtle tank temperature in optimal condition.
Next, you need to clean the tank water so that it remains chlorine-free. Chlorine is detrimental for turtles; likewise, any fish or species living in the water. Also, you need to install a filter with the tank so that it keeps the tank water free from any debris.
We recommend you use a canister filter that supports mechanical, chemical, and biological filtration. It is necessary since bay turtles will mostly eat high-protein food that can soon make the water dirty. The dirty water with brimming algae and fungus can quickly cause a variety of issues to the yellow baby turtles- be careful about it.
Proper Diet
According to turtle owners and expert opinions, yellow-bellied slider turtles are mostly omnivorous. Henceforth, the turtle has developed a wide range of eating varieties. The same goes for the baby yellow turtles since these will eat both animals and plants.
During the hatching and juvenile period, you need to feed the baby turtles twice a day. As they start growing up, you need to provide less food for them. Ideally, when the baby turtles reach adulthood, you should feed them once every day and slowly reduce it to three times per week.
The yellow baby turtle will almost readily accept the brown crickets and black crickets. Also, you can feed these babies shrimps and locusts to meet the protein requirements. And for veggies, we recommend you feed them cabbage, carrot, or any green vegetables.
Note: If you can manage to feed the baby turtles in the basking area, it will help you keep the tank water clean with the least effort.
Conclusion
If you want to make your turtle tank attractive with a natural caring species, going for the yellow-bellied slider is the best bet we suggest for you. However, you should thoroughly realize the baby yellow belly turtle care and arrange the tank conditions accordingly to help the bay thrive conveniently.
Luckily, the baby yellow turtle caring tips aren’t tricky at all. Once you use a filter and proper heating source for the tank, the rest of the caring guide becomes a breeze. So, here’s a quick recap of the essential caring tips-
- The container or housing should be around 120X300mm in size.
- The water temperature for it needs to be around 75°F to 80°F.
- Use a UV light with 12% intensity and natural brightness with 60- or 100-watts capacity.
- Diet should focus on protein and veggies.