turtle rage!

[Spooki]

at least once a week someone comes in my store and we get to talking about their pet turtle... only to find that they have no idea how to care for it! almost all of them have either acquired said turtles from NYC or the wild as hatchlings.

it makes me so mad to hear things like "it's had a soft shell for 6 months", "the vet said it has MBD but he won't eat anything with calcium on it so i don't bother", "UV lights are too expensive and he's just fine" and "it's in a 10 gallon tank and i change the water once a month but i have a filter".

and of course my favorite thing to hear is "well, when it gets too big i'll just let it go outside"...

just today i was talking to a lady who had a painted turtle (she kept calling it a "paint red turtle") in a 10 gallon tank that she got from NYC. she thinks the fact that it has only grown about an inch inches in 3 years is because turtles only grow to fit their environment and it's perfectly healthy because she feeds it turtle pellets". :main_no: when i told her they were genetically predispositioned to grow to a certain size she looked at me like i was crazy and said she didn't believe me. it's so hard to not start banging my head against the fish tanks when people start telling me about their turtles.

 

[LizMarie]

It happens all the time. I live in NYC and when I go to Chinatown there are RES's on every street corner being sold for $5 and the customers clueless has can be purchasing two of the turtles in in a tiny critter keeper with the cheapest turtle food because the vendor that only knows 5 English words said that its fine and they should be able to be in there forever! Sadly many of them die soon after being purchased while the ones that survive end up in neglectful conditions or on craigslists with their 10gallon tanks.

When I was like 5 my mom bought me two of those turtles and we had no idea what we were doing but tried to do our best. Sadly one of them died soon after being purchased. Once they started to grow my mom became overwhelmed and gave it away to a good friend of ours that was really into aquatics. I'm happy to say that the turtle is still ALIVE and it around a foot long and is actually living in a pool in her dinning room, lol. She/He has everything it should ever need!

 

[leoman777]

i know what your talking about the adult turtle i got from a family member that was not taking care of it just had it in a 10 gallon tank iand the turtle is about 6 inches and a little rock platform and thats it now he has his own nice big pool with lights and a basking spot and room to swim hes pretty happy in there

 

[RocksMama77]

I completely understand. It drives me nuts to think of any turtle out there not getting the proper care. It is so cheap and easy to aquire some turtles people think that they are cheap and easy to take care of. ARGGGGGGGG!!!! I was going to get a red eared slider because they were so cheap but once I did my research I decided to get an eastern boxie. They are much easier to take care of in my opinion and he is native to where I live so I can take him out side in the summer and let him play. ( I bring him right in of course) But it honestly took me a while to feel comfortable with the way I was keeping him. I wanted him to be a perfectly happy little turtle and now i do believe I am doing everything to help him be happy. He is still a bitty baby but he is growing slowly and seems to be as happy as a turtle can be. I don't understand people at all. I would rather spend the money than know my pistachio was not happy or healthy. I was at a chain store yesterday and there was a girl there buying a tiny 5 gallon tank for her little turtle. I asked her what kind and she didn't even know. I wanted to take her over my leg for being so stupid. 5 gallon tanks should stop being made in my opinion I can't think of anything that would be ok in a 5 gallon. I completely understand where you are coming from. If a person doesn't know what an animal is they shouldn't have it until they do.

 

[BGalloway]

I hear what you're saying.

I don't know much about turtles but thankfully a coworker of mine does. Someone brought in two tiny (shells under 4 inches long ) red eared sliders to where we work the other day and asked how to take care of them. My coworker went out there with a pen and paper, gave them a ton of information on care and the names of a few good vets.

The lady bought the turtles at a festival in chinatown. The salesperson said the turtles were full grown. And the best part was that "when you get tired of them you can just let them go in the wild." So glad our turtle expert was around to set her straight.

 

[Ehatcher]

what really bugs me is the fact that turtles are illegal to own in tennessee, yet stores still sell stuff for them. Tanks, food, specific diets... it drives me insane. Why not take all that stock off the shelves and put something else in that is legal. it also bugs me when people ask me or come into a herp shop and ask if they sell or can get turtles.