Red-eared Slider

Red-eared Slider battle analysis

On a sunny log in a Louisiana pond, a row of red-eared sliders sits stretched out in the sun, some stacked on top of others. At the first sign of danger they slide into the water and vanish. That combination of basking and quick retreat is the slider's everyday life: warm up, feed on plants and small animals, and disappear under water when threatened.

As a fighter it has little to offer. The beak crops plants and catches crayfish and tadpoles, and the only fights are between males chasing and biting each other in the breeding season. Its defense is its shell, which it can close up completely, and which has been found on live sliders bearing bite marks and embedded teeth from predators, including alligators. Its bright yellow and red markings also seem to warn off some predators: largemouth bass, which hunt by sight, avoid sliders once they hatch.

Its most remarkable feature is invisible. In winter, a slider on the pond bottom can go for weeks without oxygen, slowing its heart by about 80% and using minerals from its shell to neutralise the acid that builds up in its body. In ABS terms that earns it a solid Stamina and a moderate Special, alongside a near-zero Attack, moderate Defense and modest Agility. The same toughness has made it one of the world's worst invasive species, found on every continent except Antarctica.

Habitat & range

The red-eared slider is native to the Mississippi River valley and Gulf of Mexico drainages of the south-central United States, living in ponds, lakes, swamps, creeks and slow rivers with warm, still water, abundant aquatic plants and places to climb out and bask. It can also live in brackish water. Through the pet trade it now has feral populations in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Caribbean, Bermuda and elsewhere.

Diet & hunting

Juveniles are mostly carnivorous, eating insects, crayfish, tadpoles, fish, snails and carrion. Adults shift to an omnivorous diet dominated by aquatic plants and algae but still take invertebrates. In southern Illinois, adult stomachs held more than 40% plant material, with females eating more molluscs than males. Predators of adults and young include alligators, snakes, gar, catfish, wading birds, crows, opossums, raccoons, mink, otters, skunks, coyotes and foxes.

Social life

Sliders bask in groups and often stack on top of each other on the best spots, but they do not form social groups. Males court females underwater by vibrating their long front claws near the female's face.

Conservation

The red-eared slider is common in its native range, and its main conservation significance is as an invader. Wikipedia, citing the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group (Lowe et al. 2000), lists it among the world's worst invasive alien species, and it competes with native turtles for food, nesting and basking sites and spreads parasites. The European Union has banned its import, Japan banned import and release in 2023, and Queensland has spent close to AU$1 million on eradication.

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