- Chosen by Voters "Good pet" is subjective. I love my Pickle ( a red ear slider) but he's not everyone's idea of an ideal pet. He's definitely not cuddly. But he is quiet, and I don't have to walk him. They take a fair bit of money to house properly, but the upkeep is not bad at all. I have mine in a 75 gallon tank and that is about as SMALL as you wanna go, a big female may need a 120 gallon tank when she is full grown! They need powerful filtration (I have a big bad FX5 canister on my tank) a heater, special lighting and I use "reptisafe" as the water conditioner. My turtles diet consists of Reptomin ( a pelleted turtle food) vegetation such as green leaf lettuce or dandelion greens, and occasionally Rosey Red Minnows. I also throw in some cuttle bone as calcium supplementation. I have two suggestions if you decide to go ahead and get a turtle. Don't get a "few", get one. They are not social animals and may fight for territory. To even attempt to house two you would need a tank twice the size as for one, so that means a 200+ gallon tank. Also, consider finding a turtle for adoption. Craigslist is always flooded with red ear sliders, and there are reptile rescue groups. There are advantages to getting older turtles…the hatchlings are very delicate and get sick very easily, the bigger ones are "established" and have a better survival rate. Also if it's big enough you can choose a male or female (you can't really tell with hatchlings) Good Luck Source(s): http://redearslider.com/ 2 years ago 100% 1 Vote