The young turtles are eaten by a variety of predators including birds, raccoons, alligators and large fish. Sliders bury themselves in loose soil or mud during the winter to escape the cold. When population numbers get high, these turtles move across land to other bodies of water in search of food and space. Baby red-eared sliders were once very popular as children s pets until it was discovered that some of them carried the disease, salmonella . It is now illegal to sell sliders less than 4 inches in diameter.
Most wild animals make very poor pets and are best observed in their native habitat .
Sliders enjoy laying in the sun for hours at a time. Female turtles lay their eggs in holes that they dig in the ground and leave. Young turtles are born having to take care of themselves. A turtle s shell is actually made up of its ribs joined together and covered with a thin layer of skin. Each of the ribs is made of jigsaw-like sections called scutes which grow at the edges.