Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 7:21 am Need temporary setup help for nearly roadkill large RES
On my way home from the store to prep for weekend visitors, I found what I believe to be a large red eared slider (based on Internet image searches. He/she(?) was in the middle of a highway overpass in the near 100°F sunlight, dry as a bone, parchment or sandpaper looking skin, layers of very dry mud flaking off the shell, and not moving. Cars were swerving to avoid him. The shell is 9-10" long. I scooped him up in a moving blanket I keep in my car and placed him in a milk crate that I also keep in my car (for a small trash can, tennis balls for my dog, a box of tissues, umbrella, etc). I drove him home (5m drive) and had 20 minutes before guests arrived.
I put a VERY large Great Dane size dog cage from the attic in the backyard, removed the tray so he'd be on grass, added a large Rubbermaid lid filled with water, filled a large dog bowl with water, and hosed him down quite a bit. After an hour or two, he was moving all over the cage. Before bed, I put a 12" square stone tile in one of the corners and put two pieces of broccoli and three dry grain-free dog food kibbles on the tile. (I'm not sure about the broccoli, but I found multiple sources saying that high quality dog food can be used in a pinch...) I'm not keeping him, but want to keep it alive and as healthy as I can until I find a person or place to take him. Animal control says to find a rescue org or similar.
I live in Ohio, but the Ohio Department of Natural Resources say RES don't live in my county, so I'm guessing he was a pet that got too big for a tank and was dumped. The overpass where I found him is near a "pond" (more like a trash swamp where when it rains, gets deeper resembling a pond) and I've heard that people dump fish that outgrow their tanks in that area. It's illegal here to release pets into the wild and since he's not native, that's essentially what I'd be doing if I took him back there.
I read that they only eat underwater and that lid isn't deep enough for him to submerge him/herself. With guests here, I cant spend the weekend calling everywhere or driving around to find someone/someplace to take it. I also don't want to spend money buying a habitat or building a habitat for an animal I'm not keeping. I'd like to spend time with my guests, but I don't want the turtle to suffer or die until I can solicit a new home for him.
I'd extremely appreciate:
0. any opinions or ideas on where to take it or who would want it.
1. advice or ideas on how to put something together with things I already have? Rubbermaid bins, flagstone, tile, etc. The cage he's in is maybe 3ft by 5ft (large enough that my bf's 10yo daughter and I can fit inside it at the same time). I'd be fine with going to buy turtle pellet food so it's not starving, but not an adequately sized aquarium, lamp, filter. I'd imagine I can find a place for the turtle by the end of next weekend, hopefully sooner.
2. options for food
3. knowing if it's too hot to keep it outside during the day or too cold at night. If so, where do I keep a 9-10" turtle, in what type of container, and what things it needs in a container.
4. If I do bring it inside, can my dog (80lb german shorthaired pointer) or the people here get salmonella?
5. Can it hurt my very, VERY curious dog. He won't hurt the turtle, but I know next to nothing about turtles, other than that it would have become roadkill quite soon if I didn't stop and grab it.