Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My friend found a baby yellow slider turtle on the sidewalk in her area. She has a habit of chasing and catching wild lizards in the area, keep them in her house for several weeks and sometimes, releases them. Most of the time, they die in her 6-inch cage with no food or water.
At first, I thought she plan to return it to the nearby pond where the other yellow sliders reside. Nope, she wanted to raise it and sell it to the pet store. A few weeks later, she declared she is keeping it. The baby turtle grew from 2 inches to about 6 inch wide. She kept it in a 20 gallon tank, filled with water and a floating log. She feeds it pellets and kale.
Fast forward, it's been 6 months. Turtle has gotten even bigger and it has been moved to a 55 gallon fish tank. Again, the whole thing is filled with nothing but water and a floating log. The turtle is a female. She tries to climb on top of the log to stay dry but her weight doesn't allow her. She is still on pellets and kale diet.
I had a bearded dragon and currently have a blue tongue skink. Although I have my suspicion about how an aquatic turtle should be set up (where is she going to lay her eggs? Females can lay eggs without males and if she can't lay them, they get stuck inside and can kill her), my main concern was my friend's lack of knowledge. She does not know what temp her basking light, does not know uvb lights need to be replaced every 6 months, does not know what type of lights to buy, bought the wrong bulbs, etc. These are basics all reptile owners should know as these are crucial info that can make your reptile very sick if done wrong.
So I suggested to her, please, if you are going to keep her long term, take her to the vet so at least you get all your questions answered and confirm you are on the right track. There is a lot of conflicted, bad info online for reptile keeping and an experienced reptile vet will know the most updated care info. She has one whose office is 10 minutes from her house, walking distance.
She has the money, she simply refused because she said she knows what she is doing.
If there is one thing most people don't understand about reptiles is that they are stubborn. Their bones can break from lack of calcium, and they will still eat their dinner like nothing is wrong. They are experts at hiding pain and illness. For example, my beardie appeared healthy too until my vet felt a mass, which turns out she had yellow fungus growing inside of her before I adopted her.
All of my friends who have or had the same type of turtle recommended same to her: go to the vet for a check up, especially the turtle came from the wild, she may carry parasites.
Sorry for the long post but I truly believe if you take in a pet, you are committed to make sure it lives a long, healthy life as good as possible. Vet checkups are not very costly ($25 for the exam at minimum) and she is wealthy, she said she CAN afford it, but she puts her ego before her animal. I had to watch my beardie suffer for weaks trying to die and when all attempts failed to save her, I had to put her down. It was heartbreaking. Her disease was caused by her previous owner ignorance with bad tank set up and it takes months to get this bad.
I know I should allow her to make her mistakes if my friend is wrong. But this is at a cost of that turtle's life who has no say in being stuck swimming, 24/7 and not allowed to have some sun or exercise.
Oh, this is pretty seriousl. Can you not sit down with your friend over coffee or wine and ask her to do this one favor for you in memory of your deceased pet? Tell her you will accompany her and the turtle to the vet.
I saw this mean man, well he was trying to do a good thing, but he was shoving a huge turtle in the road. Wanting him or her to go back to the pond.
A few people pulled over to 'help' (everyone was afraid to touch it). I said it really wants to go the other way. He insisted it should go to the pond. Not knowing anything about turtles I finally decided its neck wasn't long enough to allow me to be bitten if I carried it from the back, so I did, to near the pond.
I still think that turtle did know which way it wanted to go (the other way) and read online they travel to lay eggs or something like that.
Anyway sorry for the tangent but I feel it was his ego insisting the turtle didn't know the right way to go.........
Your friend is guilty of cruelty to animals. Report her to the local Humane Society ad remember that people who are cruel to animals just haven't graduated yet to humans.
Oh, this is pretty seriousl. Can you not sit down with your friend over coffee or wine and ask her to do this one favor for you in memory of your deceased pet? Tell her you will accompany her and the turtle to the vet.
Already tried that, several times, over dinner, coffee, a calm serious conversation where I was being direct but nicely talked to her. I even offered to pay for the exam. She said she had turtles before so therefore, the turtle is in good hands. That's true... except they were already full grown turtles that had a proper diet, sun, exercise and lived a decent life in the wild before capture, and they all ended up being returned to the wild by her father. She never had to raise a baby turtle and keeping it permanently.
I saw this mean man, well he was trying to do a good thing, but he was shoving a huge turtle in the road. Wanting him or her to go back to the pond.
A few people pulled over to 'help' (everyone was afraid to touch it). I said it really wants to go the other way. He insisted it should go to the pond. Not knowing anything about turtles I finally decided its neck wasn't long enough to allow me to be bitten if I carried it from the back, so I did, to near the pond.
I still think that turtle did know which way it wanted to go (the other way) and read online they travel to lay eggs or something like that.
Anyway sorry for the tangent but I feel it was his ego insisting the turtle didn't know the right way to go.........
I get what you mean, that's how I feel about this situation too. Reptiles are wild animals, tamed as pets but not domesticated and do not need humans in their home environment. Heck, they could care less about their owners even as pets. My friend is under the impression that she SAVED her and that the baby turtle would've died on the sidewalk. I asked her, what if the baby was trying to get to her destination and she was fine on her own? Nope, my friend was convinced she saved her life and would doom that turtle if she is returned to the wild.
If one is going to keep exotics, at least provide the proper environment and vet care which she refuses... so in a way, that poor turtle is doomed to suffer. It's only a matter of time that animal's body cannot take the stress anymore and gets MBD, shell rot, fungal infections, eggbound, upper respiratory, etc.
Your friend is guilty of cruelty to animals. Report her to the local Humane Society ad remember that people who are cruel to animals just haven't graduated yet to humans.
They won't do anything here. In Fl, the Fl Wildlife Depart are the ones in charge of dealing with exotic pet owners. They are strict if you own conditional reptiles, like burmese python. They do inspect enclosures and licenses are required for them. Even red slider turtles are banned from the state and they take that seriously. However, yellow sliders are not on the list. It's not against the state law to keep them.
The city, county and HOA have no rules against keeping them as well. Animal control is my only option and they are understaffed, overworked and have experience with capturing reptiles, not husbandry. Unless the turtle is a reported nuisance or public safety threat, they can't do anything. To go inside to check on the turtle for abuse or neglect, they need a warrant as my friend will no way allow them in and there is no legal basis to get such warrant. Like I said, by the time you see the obvious signs of illness, it's usually too late to save them.
She has the money, she simply refused because she said she knows what she is doing.
"I've already seen a number of reptiles die at your hands. If this turtle dies, too, because you refuse to care for it properly, I can no longer be your friend."
Wildlife laws vary from state to state, but your friend may well be in conflict with yours. Give your state wildlife folks a call and give them a head's up. If you are not sure how to reach them, your local humane society or animal control officer should be able to provide a contact. Your friend may have good intentions, but she sounds quite clueless and self-deluded, especially given her record with previous animals.
I'm sorry the turtle is too large to slip into your pocket and take back to the wild.
If all else fails, can you gift the turtle with a better log or perch? Provide better food, perhaps? Not ideal...but at least you might make a small difference.
Is your friend aware of turtles' extremely long lifespans?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
