Quick Turtle Guide This sheet is not intended to be a complete guide to keeping a Red Eared Slider or similar water turtle and it's by no means the best way, or even a good way to keep one.  This guide is a quick reference for what to do if you suddenly find yourself having one unexpectedly and / or perhaps don't have the funds to do everything right at this very moment.   This sheet is intended to be the basics of what will help you "MAKE DO"  until you can make proper arrangements. Water.  Heat.   Food. First, don't give in to putting your Slider in your aquarium with goldfish or tropical fish.   It may seem TO US like they would occupy the same space in the wild, but that's not true.  95% of the turtles life is spent on the shore, a floating log or the top 2-3 inches of the water.  What they need as a habitat is almost exactly what the fish do not need.   It's just a bad idea. WATER He needs a place to get completely wet & cool ... a place to get completely dry & warm ... and a path to get from one to the other.  Deep water is better, but enough to totally submerge himself WILL DO.  Keep in mind is that he climbs out of water to get warm and then when he gets too warm he goes back into the water to cool himself.   The more water you have the more likely that water will hold it's temperature -- a very shallow pan will absorb the heat of the basking lamp very quickly and he'll have no place to cool down. A terrarium or aquarium would be great,  Tupperware WILL DO.   Try for something at least five times his body in length and  twice or three times his length as the width.   Make sure it's high enough that he can't climb out -- that means twice as high as he is long, maybe even more.  A recurring fear in everyone that keeps turtles is that the path or ramp out of the water or some other part of the container will allow the turtle to get trapped and drown.  Keep in mind that they are astonishing climbers, diggers and can seem like brats.  Take a look at whatever you're setting up for him and imagine yourself TRYING to get into trouble ... and then fix it.    Also keep in mind that cats and dogs and little kids can have a natural attraction to turtles so just as you want to keep your turtle IN, you want to keep unwanted pests OUT. Many times when I've been pressed for time or resources, I've simply taken a large plastic container and set it on a counter with one end tilted up so that he can get wet on one end and walk up hill to the dry end.  It's not pretty, but it's quick and it works! An important element of your turtle container is that you'll need to take it apart regularly to clean the water, so when you're putting it together -- keep this in mind and make it easy on yourself. HEAT When he climbs out of the water onto a piece of wood, rock, stone or whatever you can provide for him, he's seeking rest and warmth.  You local pet store can offer you a wide array of radiant heat sources for reptiles at a staggering range of prices, but a clamp lamp with reflector plus a 60 watt ordinary light bulb, all from your local hardware or building supply WILL DO.  Mount the lamp so that the bulb is between 12 and 18 inches from the basking spot and turn it on.  It would be great if you could measure the temperature after an hour to see that the basking spot is around 85 to 95 degrees.  Aquarium stores sell a variety of aquarium thermometers for not a lot of money and most measure air temp just as well as water temp, but holding your hand on the basking area for five minutes and not feeling like your going to burn WILL DO.  Move the lamp up or down until you get that feeling. FOOD Simple.  Koi Pellets.  They come in different sized pellets and different sized bags.  They're the most affordable Turtle food and they're as balanced as you'll ever need.   There are some very good & specialized turtle food sticks out there but when you compare the labels and ingredients you'll see little reason to spend the extra dollars. Feed no more than what he can eat in five minutes no more than three times a week.  Yes, he probably will always seem like he's hungry but that's actually O.K.  Better than O.K. it's a good thing. Now that's the basics.    If he can get warm and cool and wet and dry and get some food every once in a while, you've covered the basics.  Yes, we have a lot more to do.  Sunlight and UV are missing.   Food variations are nice.  And mostly ... just like our aquariums ... we want an environment that's as nice for us to look at as it is for them to live in, so now that we have a stable beginning and you can stop worrying if he's O.K. ... we can start to work on making things better.