Q. I finally know what kind of turtle i have and its a red eared slider the only question i have is how do i make it happy?
A. You can make it happy by taking good care of it. here are some tips: Aquatic and semi-aquatic turtles are popular as pets. The most well known is probably the red eared slider, although there are several other species which are kept as pets.
Turtles have been popular for a long time. Baby red eared sliders were readily available and inexpensive many years ago, which unfortunately resulted in a lot of neglected turtles. They were often sent home with tiny plastic bowls with a little plastic tree (unfortunately these are still sold with turtles in some places). With no filtration system and no room to grow, these little babies didn't have much chance. In the 1970s, the US government banned the sale of turtles less than 4 inches long, once the connection was made between turtles and Salmonella infections, especially in children. It is not that baby turtles carry more Salmonella than larger ones; it is more of a case of children being more likely to handle the smaller turtles (and/or put them in their mouths!).
Sadly, many turtles are still sold to people who have little idea how much care turtles require, including large tanks, special lighting, good filtration and lots of cleaning. Even worse, they are sometimes given out as prizes at fairs and at other events. All too often aquatic turtles die due to stress and neglect - and sometimes they suffer so much stress, overcrowding and neglect during transport and in shops (and fairs) that even if a new owner provides ideal care the turtles may be so ill they die anyway.
Turtles and Children
Turtles are not ideal pets for children. They are not easy to care for, not great for handling, and in addition they often do harbor Salmonella bacteria which can be passed to the children who don't understand the need for careful hygiene. Many children do not have the interest or ability to provide the amount of care and cleaning that a turtle rightfully requires, so parents must realize the responsibility for care ultimately falls to them if the kids lose interest.
Size and Life Span
Many people also do not realize how big aquatic turtles can get. Red eared sliders and a couple of the other commonly available pet species will grow to at least 10-12 inches long and thus will require correspondingly large enclosures. All turtles have the potential to enjoy a very long life span (i.e. several decades!) if cared for properly.
Housing
Aquatic turtles require fairly elaborate housing. They need regular exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light, so pricey bulbs designed for reptiles that produce UVA and UVB light are needed for turtle tanks. Without this light, metabolic bone disease (soft shell syndrome) can result. Turtles are messy, and a good filtration unit will be necessary to help maintain water quality, as will regular cleaning. They should have deep enough water to allow swimming, along with a place to get out of the water to bask (heated from above with a basking light.) In addition, appropriate water and ambient temperatures should be maintained.
Feeding
Although turtle foods have come a long way they are not recommended as a sole source of food for aquatic turtles. Most are omnivores (and preferences for different foods might change at different points in the life cycle), and offering a good variety of foods is the best way to feed most turtles. As a rule, feeding turtles in a separate plastic tub will allow the mess associated with feeding to be contained (turtles are messy eaters, and this will reduce the need for tank cleaning a bit) and allow monitoring of food intake of each turtle if multiple turtles are kept.
But for the Right Owner...
Having said all that, given the right person and the right commitment turtles make beautiful, fascinating, and enjoyable pets. The first step is to research the species available and the care required by each. While the basics of aquatic turtle care are similar for all species, potential owners need to consult specific care sheets for details on housing, environment and feeding for the species in which they are interested.
For beginners, the hardier turtles are recommended, such as red eared sliders, cooters, and mud and musk turtles, keeping in mind that sliders and cooters will reach a mature length of greater than 12 inches, while mud and musk turtles are about half that size. Map and painted turtles, as well as some of the less common species are a bit less hardy. Softshell and snapping turtles have a reputation for being large, aggressive, and generally more difficult to care for so are not good for beginners.
Beyond providing a proper environment and diet for aquatic turtles, they do not need a lot of attention, although regular interaction may result in a tame and sociable turtle. In any case, they are lovely and if properly cared for should provide years of enjoyment.
Multiple Room, Large Screen Digital Baby Monitor?
Q. I'm trying to find a digital video baby monitor with a very large screen that can have multiple rooms on the screen at once. Is there such a thing???
A. I have Summer Infants Sleek & Secure Multi-View Handheld Color Video Monitor it works great for me because i have newborn twins and we have a big house.
Scientifically, why does labor feel so different for everyone?
Q. Reading and listening to everyone's answer to "how did labor / contractions feel for you?", everybody really is unique and completely different! I used to think it was just people's memory....maybe Jane remembers the back pain more while Patty remembers the menstral-like cramps, but both women experienced both symptoms. But that really doesn't seem to be the case.
Why aren't women more similar in their labor experiences?
I know everybody is different, but the symptoms of a cold are the same for the majority of people, and the symptoms of a broken leg, chicken pox, and most other diseases and illnesses...why is pregnancy and labor so different for everyone?
A. I don't think you're going to find any "scientific" answer to that. Every woman is different, every pregnancy and labor is different. Even among women that have had multiple pregnancies/births they will find differences in each. Each woman's state of mind, physical health, threshold for pain, the size of their baby, the positioning of their baby, the length of labor, the ease/difficulty of labor, etc., are all going to be different.
I've had two children, and though both were born via c-section, both of my pregnancies and deliveries were different. With my firstborn, my son, my pregnacy was great until the last couple of months. I never experienced any morning sickness, no excessive weight gain (at least at first) and if it wasn't for the missed periods and the increasing stomach girth, I wouldn't have known I was pregnant. My son was breech, so I elected to have a c-section. Towards the end I started gaining a ton of weight and swelling excessively, and my doctor diagnosed me with mild preeclampsia. This ended up developing into severe preecclampsia shortly before I went in for delivery, and I was put on bedrest. My c-section was scheduled for November 20, 2000; I went into labor the morning of November 19. This might be TMI, but I sat on the toilet for 45 minutes before I realized that my water had broke and I called my mother. When I made it to the hospital and was hooked up to a fetal monitor and a uterine contraction monitor, the nurse kept asking me repeatedly if I could feel my contractions. I couldn't. She showed me the chart, indictating that they were often enough and intense enough to be true labor pains, but I felt nothing but a dull ache in my legs and lower back, as though I had been standing on my feet all day. I delivered a healthy 8 lbs, 9 oz little boy, but I remember very little of the delivery and the first 3 days afterward. My preeclampsia, which is usually cured with childbirth, developed into postpartum preeclampsia and then full-blown eclampsia. Between my blood pressure being so high and the medications, I remember very little. My doctor admitted to me on the third day that they thought they could have lost me. Until that point, the only thing I remembered was the nurses coming into my room every five minutes, and one of them telling my husband that my bed had straps to hold me down, and if I started having seizures he needed to hit the emergency button on my bed. After I returned home from my hospital stay, it seemed like it took weeks before I was able to walk fully erect without pain.
With my daughter, I had all-day sickness almost from the start. The smell of almost anything nauseated me. Then about four months in I started having physical problems. I'd wake up some mornings and just the simple act of trying to sit up in bed was excruciating--much less trying to do anything else. This from a person with an EXTREMELY high tolerance for pain. I did some research into the matter and found this condition called symphysis pubis dysfunction with all the symptoms I had. My doctor had never heard of it--in fact, wanted to deny any such condition existed, telling me that it was "all in my head". After a couple of months of arguing with him, almost losing my job, and bringing in 81 pages of documentation on the condition, I was diagnosed with SPD. My c-section went great, no complications, and I delivered a healthy 8 lbs, 12 oz little girl. Shortly after delivery, however, while sitting in post-op recovery, my blood pressure and body temperature dropped. At first they thought it was the result of the anesthesia, then I was tested and treated for septicemia. After I was recovered and moved to a regular room, I began walking right away. I think that first day was the only day I touched any of my pain medications other than ibuprofen.
So every pregnancy and delivery is definitely different. Why? There is no exact answer.
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