#also be careful where you release this dude so that you don’t inadvertently transmit diseases!

[great-and-small]

Hope you don’t mind me asking but I can’t find any good answers from searching online, I recently came into a young wild red-eared slider, it is not native to my area so I’m arranging to drive it to its native range when I can in a few months. It is in a 20gal planted tank with shrimp and small non-aggressive guppies. Will it feed itself or will I have to supplement? I am ok with it eating the plants and shrimp and fish and I did put in a dock and basking and UV light.

Thank you for being a good steward to your native fauna and keeping an invasive off the streets!

Sounds like you are off to a good start for this little guy. It should hopefully be able to feed itself a bit but they have a surprisingly varied diet in the wild. I would definitely supplement with commercial turtle pellets and collard greens as well. You’ll probably have to scoop out any uneaten food to prevent soiling the water. And if you don’t have a filter it’s definitely a good idea as RES are pretty messy. If you have any questions about setting up your temperature gradient don’t hesitate to ask.