turtles
- Thread starter saxont
- Start date
I have a bunch of turtles. Box turtles, and aquatic ones I either found (yes thats right I caught them) or got dumped on me. Keep them outside during the warmer months in a custom built pen and kiddie pool. Pretty cool. I used to have a snapper but got rid of it, would like to get another. A friend of mine has an enormous one.
Many turtles, terrapin and tortoises are illegal to keep and most definitely illegal to remove from the wild. The majority of North American turtles are protected to one degree or another.
We have snappers all over the place around here (they love cranberry bogs and the holding ponds around them) -- they get amazingly large and can be a handful getting off the road when they're blocking traffic!
There are plenty of turtles you could keep, however, and they can be very cool. One has to be very careful to meet the needs of a turtle -- each species has unique requirements. Since I prefer fish, I don't keep turtles tho I had a box turtle (non-aquatic) for a very long time.
We have snappers all over the place around here (they love cranberry bogs and the holding ponds around them) -- they get amazingly large and can be a handful getting off the road when they're blocking traffic!
There are plenty of turtles you could keep, however, and they can be very cool. One has to be very careful to meet the needs of a turtle -- each species has unique requirements. Since I prefer fish, I don't keep turtles tho I had a box turtle (non-aquatic) for a very long time.
snappers arnt a good turtle to keep as a pet...they can get big and to the point where they can really hurt someone. my grandpa used to drag them in and shoot em in the head because they killed his swans and catfish.
and yes it is illegal to take a wild animal out of the envirement. i also dont agree with it. a wild turtle may seem like a good pet but it has an established place in the envirement and without it the foodchain may fall apart. hence why you leave wild animals alone.
just my opinion
and yes it is illegal to take a wild animal out of the envirement. i also dont agree with it. a wild turtle may seem like a good pet but it has an established place in the envirement and without it the foodchain may fall apart. hence why you leave wild animals alone.
just my opinion
Breeze7050 said:
you arent going to be so content with him when he eats everything in your aquarium! and they really need more room than 30g... 
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proxy about 3 1/2 - 4 inches across the longest part of the shell, I got him from someone that took him out of a river when he was the size of a silver dollar for a pet but she got bored or something and I decided to take him in.
honestly it will most likely wander too far and get killed by a car dog cat ect, unless you can keep him fenced in somehow
honestly it will most likely wander too far and get killed by a car dog cat ect, unless you can keep him fenced in somehow
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zman -
you can safely keep red ear sliders in outdoor/garden ponds. if you keep the water lower than the rim they won't be able to get out. just make sure they have rocks to bask on in the middle. also, assuming you get them small (1/2 dollar size +/-) they won't be able to eat your large koi. The will never grow big enough to eat 1 foot fish!! but they may give them a run for their money.
you can safely keep red ear sliders in outdoor/garden ponds. if you keep the water lower than the rim they won't be able to get out. just make sure they have rocks to bask on in the middle. also, assuming you get them small (1/2 dollar size +/-) they won't be able to eat your large koi. The will never grow big enough to eat 1 foot fish!! but they may give them a run for their money.
My sister has 3 baby box turtles. She found them in the woods and decided to keep them. So now she has all of them in a 10 gallon tank. They are weird, my sister and her friend tried to feed them yogurt and they actually eat it. So now my sister feeds them mealworms mixed in yogurt mixed with some turtle pellets, and occasionally a worm or a grasshopper.If she didn't keep them they probably would have been raccoon food.
How do you know that? It's easy to try to justify something but not terribly realistic or fair to the animals this is directly impacting. The babies came from somewhere (i.e., adults who have managed to survive without someone keeping them safe or raccoons eating them.....) Most wild caught animals, especially those which require special care such as terrapin, don't live very long in captivity. Additionally, finding a vet willing and able to help care for them can be incredibly difficult.
If they're Eastern Box Turtles (likely considering where you're located), they're a federally protected species, require more than a 10 gallon EACH, need special lighting, someplace to soak, but not neccessarily swim....... It's illegal in most states to remove turtles from the wild and returning them to the wild after keeping them in captivity for too long can endanger them even further. I would strongly advise your sister to get them to a rehabber to rehabilitate them, ensure they are safe to return to the ecosystem (that they haven't picked up any nasties while in captivity) and return them to the wild. They will probably have to wait until Spring to be returned to the wild since they haven't had time to acclimate and prepare for hibernation.
If they're Eastern Box Turtles (likely considering where you're located), they're a federally protected species, require more than a 10 gallon EACH, need special lighting, someplace to soak, but not neccessarily swim....... It's illegal in most states to remove turtles from the wild and returning them to the wild after keeping them in captivity for too long can endanger them even further. I would strongly advise your sister to get them to a rehabber to rehabilitate them, ensure they are safe to return to the ecosystem (that they haven't picked up any nasties while in captivity) and return them to the wild. They will probably have to wait until Spring to be returned to the wild since they haven't had time to acclimate and prepare for hibernation.
Seleya said:
How do you know that? It's easy to try to justify something but not terribly realistic or fair to the animals this is directly impacting. The babies came from somewhere (i.e., adults who have managed to survive without someone keeping them safe or raccoons eating them.....) Most wild caught animals, especially those which require special care such as terrapin, don't live very long in captivity. Additionally, finding a vet willing and able to help care for them can be incredibly difficult.
If they're Eastern Box Turtles (likely considering where you're located), they're a federally protected species, require more than a 10 gallon EACH, need special lighting, someplace to soak, but not neccessarily swim....... It's illegal in most states to remove turtles from the wild and returning them to the wild after keeping them in captivity for too long can endanger them even further. I would strongly advise your sister to get them to a rehabber to rehabilitate them, ensure they are safe to return to the ecosystem (that they haven't picked up any nasties while in captivity) and return them to the wild. They will probably have to wait until Spring to be returned to the wild since they haven't had time to acclimate and prepare for hibernation.
If they're Eastern Box Turtles (likely considering where you're located), they're a federally protected species, require more than a 10 gallon EACH, need special lighting, someplace to soak, but not neccessarily swim....... It's illegal in most states to remove turtles from the wild and returning them to the wild after keeping them in captivity for too long can endanger them even further. I would strongly advise your sister to get them to a rehabber to rehabilitate them, ensure they are safe to return to the ecosystem (that they haven't picked up any nasties while in captivity) and return them to the wild. They will probably have to wait until Spring to be returned to the wild since they haven't had time to acclimate and prepare for hibernation.
There have been a few threads about this same topic on this board over the past few weeks, each of them with the same observations about the legal and ethical ramifications of collecting turtles from the wild. This thread itself addressed the issues of ethics, legality, etc before your post. For anyone, especially newbies who might think taking a turtle from the wild is a "kindness", imo it is our responsibility to clearly explain how it is not on many different levels. For some species, barely holding on to its wild existence, removal from the wild carries stiff penalties, both legally and ecologically.
On a board which deals with proper care of animals, one should anticipate some reaction to a post which deals with poor husbandry and ethical errors -- just as one would expect a reaction to stating they had released foreign fish into the ecosystem or were keeping 3 common plecs and 2 baby oscars in a 10 gallon...... I simply stated my case and cited the problems inherent in your sister's situation. I'm afraid I still don't see anything in my post which could be perceived as an attack aside from questioning your position.
On a board which deals with proper care of animals, one should anticipate some reaction to a post which deals with poor husbandry and ethical errors -- just as one would expect a reaction to stating they had released foreign fish into the ecosystem or were keeping 3 common plecs and 2 baby oscars in a 10 gallon...... I simply stated my case and cited the problems inherent in your sister's situation. I'm afraid I still don't see anything in my post which could be perceived as an attack aside from questioning your position.
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