i work at a petstore in my city and am constantly explaining to people how much work and money goes into properly caring for those cute baby turtles that they aquired illegally in a small pet shop or other event.
I finally took the plunge and offered to take a baby turtle off the hands of a lady that, despite wanting to provide an interesting pet for her grandaughter, didn't want to put forth the effort to properly take care of it. She agreed and the turtle is now in my possession. He is hardly more than a hatchling and upon further inspection i found that he had no eyes! It appeared that they began to form but for some reason stopped and now he had no more than pinholes on each side of his head where the eyes should be. i don't know if those pinholes actually have eyes behind them or not but i'm guessing that he's blind.
At the moment he's basking under a heat lamp and UV lamp and exploring his new home. I'm worried that he won't be able to find food, and the fact that he already has softshell is even more worrysome.
any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.