I had three slider turtles surrendered today - three. Two are babies, like the little one shown up top. Yes, they were each surrendered in one of those. One is an adult female, pictured below with the turtle “habitat” on her back for comparison. All are in neglected condition with poor shell health.
SO…
This is what you need to understand when getting a turtle.
1. The little baby turtles sold on the beach, the fair, at flea markets, in little hole-in-the-wall shops? Are illegal. Turtles under 4″ in general are not being legally sold. This has been a federal law since about the mid-70′s due to salmonella outbreaks linked to the turtles (google it if you don’t believe me). Anyplace selling these turtles for any reason other that research or education is doing so illegally and, if they come in a little “habitat” like the one shown here, unscrupulously.
2. Turtles can not survive in tiny critter keepers. They should live 30+ years but most will only make it a few months in such containers. Why? Well:
3. Turtles need 5-10g of water (not tank, water) per inch of shell length to keep clean and happy. What’s more, they need:
4. Heat and UVB to digest, absorb calcium, and grow. Both of the tiny turtles we got in today have severely soft shells from calcium deficiency, and one has a mild respiratory infection from inadequate heat.
5. They also need filtration to help keep clean, or they can develop shell rot, bacterial infections, eye infections, etc. Even with a filter, expect large WEEKLY water changes.
6. A dry area to get totally out of the water to bask. Lacking a basking spot can lead to shell rot, which can go bone deep and be lethal.
7. A nutritious, fortified diet, PLUS fresh foods. Baby turtles need plenty of protein items while adult (sliders) will need a good portion of their diet to be vegetation. Those crappy oversized pellets baby turtles are sold with are not complete nutrition in and of themselves.
8. Finally, turtles need educated owners committed to a high-maintenance, long lived, LARGE pet with significant space requirements. Slider turtles and cooters, the most common species sold in those horrid little boxes, can grow to over a foot in length. The big girl pictured could still easily put on another 5″ or more in size and will need to live in a good hundred gallon tank (at least) to be happy and healthy.
Don’t be an impulsive, uneducated, crummy pet owner. Only get a turtle if you’re ready to provide everything - I mean everything - they need to grow, survive, and thrive.
And yes, the turtles pictured are now all living in spacious, filtered, heated, UVB’d environments to recover from their negligent care.
germansingergirl
turnnoffyourmind
prguitarman
janainaart
titsay
snowghoul
