Other Turtle Discussion

When I first saw Brooks she was the size of a 50 cent piece and we were in Florida....a native there (named Brooks) knew that I wanted to see a turtle and brought her to me. She was so little and cute I immediately fell in love so I decided to keep her around the area where I was staying. When it was time to go home (back to PA) I tortured myself about the decision of keeping her or letting her stay in her homeland. I decided to be selfish and bring her home with me. I think overall that she has a pretty good life here....she seems to like it 7 years later. She has a 125 gallon aquarium in our office and loves the attention from children! She has only ever hissed when a stranger picks her up but never usually with me as long as I talk to her she knows who I am. People think that she is mean by just looking at her but she has never bitten a sole and also loves my dogs and cats who in turn love her just the same. Sometimes I am sad b/c would she have had a better life if I would have left her? But I convince myself that I may have saved her from preditors....I know that she will live a long healthy life right here with me :wink:

Unlike mostly everyone who posted their story, I did not fall in love with Miss T the first time I saw her. She was at someone's house--they had bought her for their son---and every time I went to visit she was bigger, and bigger...but still in that 10G tank, with an old UVB bulb --and no UVA light, basking area or heater. She had only 3 or 4 " of water, and was fed only pellets.

I knew it wasn't right--I still wasn't head-over-heels for her the way I am now, but I started trying to re-home her. (The owners didn't want her anymore)
I finally got a local university to accept her to their turtle habitat, so I brought her to my house b/f I took her there.
And she just kept looking at me and I just kept looking at her...and I then I said "S**** , I can DO this"
150 bucks later and she is happily swimming in a big new tank, with a new UVB light, and a basking area, with a UVA bulb, and a floating dock, eating Jello Shots!!!
Oh----I found out (from this website) that she was female...they had been calling her "Mr. Turtle" for a year.
WHAT AN INSULT!
So now she is "Miss T".
My story. :lol:

They were in a gift box with gift bows on their backs

When I first saw Rufus, I was at a pet show.
He was in a plastic box together with 7 other RES. They had no water and just a plastic palm tree in the middle of the box. He was hiding under another turtle, and at first I just asked the guy who was selling them how much a RES cost. I had owned turtles before, so I knew about basic care and such, but I had promised myself "No more pets!"
Ten minutes later, I had bought food, a turtle dock, cuttlebone, and then I went back to the stall and bought him as well.
He quickly settled into his new home, and despite his previous problems (soft shell and shell rot) he is now on his way to recovery.

My other turtle, a rescue named Orly has been taken from a family that had bought it for their child. He didn't have great conditions there, inadequate lighting and the water he was sitting in was not changed very often, but right now I am planning to introduce her to Rufus and move both of them into a 100 litre tank until they grow bigger.

It was a warm, sunny day, spring of 1995..... A giant pet store which later got a spot on the evening news for being an awful place, had a big floor display with at least 20 RES wandering around with a small pond in the middle. I read up as much as I could, so I knew to look for one that was peppy, clear eyes/shell/tail, and social. She flew off some kind of board thingy, and kept right on moving as fast as she could (I should've named her bruiser) and was basically a spaz. I knew she was for me!

15 years later, she's still very outgoing, nosy, and still a spaz (and a bruiser). I picked the right one!

I'm going to start off saying I did not even want a turtle, but I was on facebook and a girl I knew wrote a status saying how someone needed to take this turtle she doesnt want it anymore everything was free she just needed to get rid of it. I dont know what made me message her and say yes but out of nowhere I did. Two days later I went to her house and picked him up. He was about 4 inches in a ten gallon tank with NO FILTER and a pathetic excuse for a basking rock!!! and she gave him to me in this plastic container with was just as big as him.
I bought all new everything for him and would take him out to play with him to see how he acted and if I did make the right choice.
Over a year later and I couldnt imagine not having with him me. I even took him to college! Everyone I know says theyve never met a more social or attention loving turtle in their lives.
I left him with my roommate this weekend so I could come home and get a tattoo and I'm not going to lie, Ive wanted to call my roommate and ask what Reptars doing, making sure hes acting okay.

I was in high school, grade 12, when my sister convinced our parents to let her get a couple of gerbils. I was very jealous (even though I was 17 and she was 11) that she was getting a new pet, so I promptly pulled the "well if she can get a new pet, so can I" and I asked for turtles.

I'd had RES' before when I was very young, but they had all lived very short lives as I was only 8 at the time and my parents knew zilch about taking care of them.

Anyway, my parents agreed, and she got her gerbils and my dad took me to a well known reptile pet store in our area. They only had two baby RES' at the time, both very tiny (toonie-sized; I'm Canadian) and both were on their rock when I looked in the tank.

Upon seeing me, one jumped off the rock and frantically swam over to get my attention. The other turtle remained clinging to the rock, obviously not too healthy. The pet store guy flicked the other turtle into the water so I could see him swim, but he just swam back to the rock, clinging on for dear life almost. It was so sad!

I talked to my dad, and I decided to take both the baby turtles home that day. They were $9.99 each. I named the super swimmer Trevor, and the rock clinger Elmo. I knew Elmo was sickly and probably wouldn't last but I just couldn't stand the thought of leaving him behind all alone. I felt too bad for him. :-(

I was right, sadly Elmo died a week later, despite veterinary care, and I was really lucky whatever was wrong with Elmo didn't take out Trevor too. I was glad that for that one week at least, Elmo knew he was loved.

And, 18 years later, Trevor is still going strong and has been with me through so much. Man, if that turtle could talk!

My babies came from a beach shop at Myrtle Beach ... there was a rubbermaid just full of about 100 baby turtles .. no basking area or anything. It was sitting on the floor. Broke my heart

So glad that is finally illegal

I don't know why but i am intrested in turtles since i was kid. One day i've walked to pet store and i saw there a baby res in small plastic box, with plastic isle and kinda tree on it.. Although turtle was small he was uncomfortable. When i came back home i was asking my parents weeks for this turtle and they finally decided to buy it for me

. I was happy to receive new pet which i wanted and give him appropriate tank and living conditions. The first day i got him i named him Ralph (even though i didn't know he was male or female) - luckly male

and he is still with me, going good , he has never been sick aswell. So we spent together happy 10 years and i wish he ll be with me atleast 40 years more!!

I've been really enjoying reading all of these and finally decided to post my own.

I've been with my significant other (I've always hated the term "boyfriend") for almost two years, but because we live so far apart, we only get to see each other once a year, in the summertime. This summer was our second meeting, and we both stayed at my father's apartment in New York City. At one point we went to a restaurant as our "first official date date" for dinner. As we left the restaurant, we noticed a big crowd of people standing around and decided to go over to see what was going on. There they were: the little boxes everyone calls the death trap with a palm tree, stacked on a foldable table at least three feet high, and a guy explaining how the turtles in them will only grow as big as their containers. Pfft. I stared at the turtles for a while, listening to him talk to a woman whose toddler was begging for one, and squeezed Eddie's hand as if a bomb would go off if I let go.
Alas, we went home empty handed. That night, I asked my dad what he would think if I brought a turtle home. His facial expression was response enough.

Just days later, maybe four, it was Eddie's last day in New York with us, he was to take his plane home that same night, and we decided to go back to the restaurant where we had such a good time before. After an early dinner together, we decided to go around the corner to see if the turtle guy was still there with his stacks of turtle boxes, and lo an behold, he was. We stood there for quite a while, just staring at them all. I couldn't even focus on one, I don't remember looking at any of them. Before I knew it, Eddie had handed fifteen dollars over and I had a little box in my shaky hands with, not one, but two tiny Red Ear Sliders. "One for you, and one for Jessie," my closest friend. The dark one was a climber, constantly flipping himself onto his back accidentally, and the brighter green RES just sat huddled in her shell, obviously mortified by the sudden movement in her habitat.

I don't think I even thanked him right away: I was too occupied with holding the poor turtles steady, afraid that the tiniest waves in the half-inch of water would drown them and they would die and I would spend the rest of my life shameful and guilty of turtle murder. By the time we got home to my dad's apartment, I'd named them: the one we thought was a boy was John, and the girl, Hank, after an author and his brother, John and Hank Green. Eddie and I spent most of the rest of our time together admiring the turtles, researching them, and feeling horrible about the tiny tank they were in and being paranoid about how cold it must be.
When my dad saw them, he gave us that expression again. That "at least it won't be living here and I won't get too attached" look. Although he still asks about them now.

Eddie left that evening for a night-long flight home to California, and I sat in my father's apartment in front of that tiny tank, periodically wrapping a sweater around the tiny plastic box and shining a light down on them, and rushing around the kitchen in search of something for them to bask on.
And needless to day, about two days later when I was back home at my mom's, Jessie came to see them and was absolutely delighted to take John home with her. Hank's pretty darn happy here too, with all the chin rubs she's getting.

Quite a rant for my first post on here, hopefully I'll learn to control myself in the future :oops:

i was 5, my dad was training our new puppy to hunt down at the stripper pits, i remember my dad coming home in camo, telling me to come outside to see what he had caught, and we went out into the garage, and there was my RES that i've now had for 18 years (im 23 now), swimming around in a little white flimsy plastic bucket that was dad was using to hold the drinking water for our dog. my RES was about the size of a quarter, just a bit bigger, and she's now 8.5 inches long

This is a picture when I first saw my little guy/girl. He was on the edge of a paved bike path that me, my brother and his gf were walking on. I thought it was a leaf but as I looked closer I screamed... TURRRTTLLEE! lol and I picked him/her up and this is the picture of Red when my brother was holding him. If we hadn't have picked him up, he would've gotten ran over on the bike path

He was smaller than a 50 cent piece and is now a little chunky butt!

He's really healthy, and happy! I love this little guy a ton! :mrgreen:

When i first saw i my Michel Shellps i thought he was so cute but he was a gift for my sister who shows no responsibilty which is why i aslo take care of the dog so after a week of only one feeding dirty wter which while is was still hers my dad made ME WASH and he saw how much fun it was he then aske my sister if i could keep it and put it in my room........off topic but for the name when we first got him we put him in a 50 gallon tank which big goldfish and he swam almost elagantly so i named him after michal phelps

It all began when a friend of mine was given a baby turtle from her friend who owned a pond. I came over to meet the little one and immediately fell in love (I had always liked turtles and even had an experience with box turtles as a kid). Curious about what they needed, I immediately began Googling and found this website. Turtles were a lot of work! I felt like I needed to give her advice after reading some info (She keeps her little turt in a 10 gallon for now, it's about an inch). For two weeks I researched turtles. I became slightly obsessed with them and what they needed to be happy. I kept giving my friend advice to help her out and then I finally decided since I make a bit of money, I wanted one for myself. (Skip next paragraph if you want, just a slightly unrelated story).

See, I used to own a duck when I was little and I felt like I was his mother. I took care of him from a duckling all the way up until he grew large. My parents bought him for me and not knowing what he needed he became my responsibility. I used to keep him in my room in a large tank with bedding until he was so big we had to move him into the backyard. All he had was a baby pool, a dog house, and some bird feed. It was very inadequate... Eventually he became too much to take care of and I made the painful decision to give him to a domestic duck pond, where they feed them and bring them in for the winter (It was better than where he was living since my dog tried to kill him once...). I felt so bad I didn't do research and I couldn't keep him close to me... I wish to this day I could have done it right.
I know turtles are different, but I wanted that maternal feeling again and to be able to provide an animal with what it needs. Since I planned on having the turtle indoors, I could keep him close to me in my bedroom and make sure I give him all the care and love he needed. To make up for what I couldn't do for Draco (my duck). Seems weird and silly, I know.

After scouring Craigslist for a tank, I managed to find a 55 gallon one. Promptly after I bought it, I looked for a turtle. I went to Petsmart since I saw they obviously don't know **** about proper turtle care. I felt like I needed to give one a gateway to the good life... That's when I saw him! They put an African Side-neck turtle in the tank with the RESs. He (Tesla) was wedged up on a branch, trying to get away. The African turtle was taunting him! I asked the store employee about buying a turtle, and I adopted him.

Ever since then we have been best buddies. He lets me give him chin rubs and he is very social. He loves his little treats and what I feed him. He follows me around and climbs on my feet when I let him out of the tank. I know people say reptiles don't have emotions, but I think Tesla is a very happy turtle and has a big personality. The best part is that he is geniunely mine. My other pets listed in my sig are actually family pets... so I can't ever take them with me when I move. Tesla is my little buddy and my lovely. I will never let anyone hurt him and I will take care of him right.

A little long winded, but yeah. I can't imagine not having him.

I had finally bugged my father into getting me a lifelong pet. We went to the store on a lovely Sunday afternoon and saw a bunch of little turtles swimming around. My heart melted at once - they seemed much more beautiful in real life.
I decided to pick one that would be rather confident. I took each and placed them in my palm one by one. I think the old store owner couldn't understand that each individual was special. He screamed in Chinese, "They're all the same!" and picked up the rock with the turtles on them, shook it hard, and they all fell into the water.
I then decided to let fate bind us together. I reached my hand in and picked three random ones.
That's how my three babies came to me (:
I only settled on one name for the brightest colored one. It's name is Sunny. It seems to like hiding under the little plastic bridge in their temporary carrier home.
The smallest, darkest-shelled one is adventurous. It had a cheerful personality and never let it's size stop it from anything. It would chase a little guppy around the tank extremely speedily for ten minutes, non-stop. I think I'll name it Lightning, or maybe Storm.
The medium-colored one seems to trust me a lot, more than the others. If I placed it on the floor facing the other direction, it would look around for me and walk over to me, then play around the area I am.
Yep.
<3

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