firebelly toad and red ear slider turtle

[A.L. mom]

A new blog entry has been added:

firebelly toad and red ear slider turtle

My son has a red ear slider turtle and it is about the size of a quarter. the habitat is a small aquarium decorated with rocks gravel and some marbles and a small water filter. will adding a firebelly frog be ok or do I need to house the 2 seperate?

[alex1976]

My son and I kept a red ear for four years until a heater mishap.
Having raised our turtle from that size to around 10 inches long I can say from personal experience that I would not do it. These guys eat anything and everything. They are little garbage disposals in a shell. I would not be at all surprised to find out they would, even at that size, attempt to eat a firebelly toad.
We fed our guy a huge variety of food. Turtle food, grubs, worms, and feeder fish. These guys are fun to own though all on their own and I really would like to get another one eventually.
Just as a tip to help you avoid our little tragedy; change out your water heater once a year as recommended. Our heater was over two years old and malfunctioned which overheated our little guys water while we were away. A heater isn't really necessary if you'd like to play it safe but it's for their comfort.
One last note on these little guys is they grow to be very waste productive. You'll need a filter that cycles your water capacity at least five times per hour.
That's my two cents.

They are a lot of fun to own and I'm eager to get another. Feel free to hit me up if you have any other questions. Take care!

[Jason]

Aye Alex is indeed correct, i have 3 of them and it will matter not what you put into the tank the turtles WILL have FBT for a snack of this i am 100% sure, my trio will eat 4 dozen feeder fish in under 20 min. Your toad may last for a while hideing behind a rock or other small objects in the tank but alas he will pop out and then he will die.....My suggestion to any new turtle owners is to leave the bottom of your tank as bare as possable and only use a " Floating Turtle Dock" or something along those lines as you will not want any dead spots in the tanks water for the turtles to push in the poop and uneatern waterloged food. Alot of people may have a problem with a bare looking tank but thay will eat any plant in the water if not, uproot it.... then eat it or shred it, thay will get strong enough to shift large rocks as mine did and cracked the back of a 30G holding tank i had set up. This is by no means a cheap pet to own. On a side note the Red Eared Slider is the #2 pet in North America who is sold by pet stores to get dropped into lakes and ponds by owners who cant handle the high maintenance thay require. estimated at about 4000 over the last 5 years into lake Ontario and surrounding bodys of water, the #1 new pet to get dropped off to any Repetile rescue is the Green Iguana..

[alex1976]

Wow, I did not know those numbers. Thanks for the info Jason.
Jason brings up a good point with the shifting of rocks. They shovel, dig and push to get where ever they're going regardless of how hard you worked on your setup. They'll trash ANY plants. An alternative to a bare tank is to prepare ahead of time by strongly securing any large decorative rocks with aquarium safe silicone. I learned the hard way as well and didn't lose my tank but did end up with some large scratches on my glass from large shifting rocks.

[A.L. mom]

thanks alex and jason for the advice. We plan on keepin the little guys and properly taking care of them so there will be 1 less slider dropped into a lake.

[Wic8]

I have 10 turtles, 2 of which are redbellied pond sliders. When they were small, I kept then in a 30 gallon aquarium with half of it land for fire bellies to live on. The two never messed with the fire bellies. But as the others said, when the turtles get bigger they do get "messy" and they might possibly eat the frogs.

[Rainfrog]

The following is one of the best turtle care sites I have found.
Care Sheet - Red Ear Slider
I love turtles! They are so interesting. I hope you enjoy your pet. They can be on the demanding side but the entertainment you will receive is well worth it.