Turtles

Otherwise known as the most expensive pets ever!

Have debated starting a thread on them, but Nightstar posts so many beautiful things for all of us I am dedicating this debacle to Her.

Ok, the backstory. So a hatchling Midland Painted Turtle marches into a chemical plant...the punch line is I got buffalo'd into hauling it home only to discover Turtle's have "needs". Very expensive needs. The open your wallet, let the moths out, bust out a couple hundred needs.



OK yeah, who can't resist baby-butts?

Moving along aside from a panic trip to a pet store to purchase "Turtle Gear" then came the conundrum of how to get a turtle to eat who has the head size of a Q-tip, just hatched an has no clue what food is but is obviously ravenous yet won't open it's little beak.
More consertnation sets in once you discover you have a semi-aquatic turtle.

Wha???
Oh for the love of everything holy!! a WHAT???? Just like I know nothing about birthing no babies, I know less about aquatic turtles.


Then you find it doing this. How in #### is this even comfortable???


Then it starts growing like a weed. It can an will spit out anything deemed "properly nutritional" like a pissed off toddler. Veggies, turtle pellets, Blood worms, you name it.

The available literature says they make good beginner pets. Yep....another bald faced lie. It's been a struggle parenting him correctly an it doesn't help that he spends the majority of the time being "a little dick". The pissing contests that have gone on are epic.


Fortunately everything must be ok cause he went from the size of a quarter to now 3 3/4 inches, no shell pyramiding an has shedded his chutes several times. In the next month or so he's going to get his forever home, a 75 gal tank and industrial filter.

Unrecognized attributes of turtles.
-They are incredibly individualistic.
-They have definite opinions
-They screw with you just for comic relief

In researching the 'care of" I also went nutty frantically looking for science articles to determine turtle behavior an was shocked there isn't much out there. Came across one blog where a researcher discovered snapping turtles scream. Yeah...it freaked out my cats, bored the turtle an made BF calls seem tame in comparison.

Anyway...lucky for him he's got the cuteness factor in spades. Hadn't seen a turtle post on ATS yet so it was overdue.
Couple of links to valid info.

www.algonquinwrs.ca...
www.youtube.com...

Aaaawwww....
...Thank you for posting something to smile about - love the pics!!

Definitely a turtle with 'tude....

We caught a box turtle in the wild. He free roamed our house for years. We'd feed him fruit when he'd come out, but he mostly ate the roaches. We had a drum set in our living room, and anytime you'd play, he would come out and poke his head out and stare. Lil guy loved drums. Anywho, he went missing after a party one day. Either was stolen or stepped on. RIP, Tortole, we miss you.

a reply to: Caver78

What, no name for the cute little critter?


Look at it this way, at least you don't have to walk him

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: Caver78

What, no name for the cute little critter?

Look at it this way, at least you don't have to walk him

That's plagued me since i was a child. What was Mr. Turtle's name? Was it Tootsie? Did he finish the lollipop? Or did he sneak into his shell and take a bite?


Caver78 that is a cute little guy/girl. I see you did put some work into that Atrium (comfy home).
And fed well.

A friend's dad came across a Snapping turtle. Rather than let this kind of turtle live in the wild. He brought it home. He was explaining what it took to feed this critter... I implored him to either put him back in the creek in which he was found, or go to that crick ( crick is not a typo ) and get the crawfish and any fish he could get out of this crick. This is out in Ligonier, turns out cabbage, tomatoes, Arby's and Burger King work as well.🤗

Thanks for looking out for the little ones.




Big world out there.
But it really is the little things🤗🤗

originally posted by: sine.nomine
We caught a box turtle in the wild. He free roamed our house for years. We'd feed him fruit when he'd come out, but he mostly ate the roaches. We had a drum set in our living room, and anytime you'd play, he would come out and poke his head out and stare. Lil guy loved drums. Anywho, he went missing after a party one day. Either was stolen or stepped on. RIP, Tortole, we miss you.

My Father and I built a large enclosure in our back yard for our 3 Box turtles. Worms and snails seemed to be their favorite food. Veggie scraps were also enjoyed.
Sadly, Box turtles burrow and Hibernate. And rain eventually collapsed the burrow.
We found a few babies over the years. Never in the enclosure, but we added them back in and never saw them again.

Box turtles are fast. Like crawling child fast. Look away for a second and they can be half way across the yard.

a reply to: randomtangentsrme

I curse "The Tortoise and the Hare" story (yes i understand the message was about patience perseverance and arrogance) . But yes turtles are fast!😆😆😆 they're like Ninjas🤗🤗

Boy, this brings back memories.
We had one for 6 years, that my oldest son found at my moms pond. He got really big, and would hiss when he was mad.
For some reason, he and the cat were best buds. He would actually chase the cat around the house, then the cat would chase him.

I feel bad, because we had to give him away. I hope he had a good life after us.
We spoiled him a lot.
He loved eating minnows, and it was fun watching him chase them in the tank.

Nice thread.

I have a rescue red eared slider female that lives in a kiddie pool in my basement. She is about 10'' in diameter. She doesn't take much money in upkeep.

I had an alligator snapper for a while. He was about the size of a poker chip when I found him.
I eventually returned him to the wild before someone lost a finger. His name was Tippy.

What a fascinating and beautiful little creature! Thank you for taking good care of him/her.

Alligator Snappers terrify me.
Swimming in ponds always held special terror, altho leeches send me into hysterics.

He/She hasn't grown into a permanent name because just like dog's who think their name is "GET DOWN!!" or "SHUT UP!!" for the first year, this little guy is still answering to "Why you gotta be a dick???" Eventually he'll make his or her name known an it'll be fine.

With everything going on in the world Turtle has been an unexpected blessing. I care less about wearing a mask then if the pet store got in a shipment of crickets! Priorities People!!!

My new "diaper bag" now consists of a large shallow tote, containers of crickets, a container of worms, Two basking rocks, an his smaller travel ziplock container. FFS!!! He can't eat unless he can submerge, he won't settle down an be sociable unless he's stuffed, lastly WAY too many people have been having fun stroking his feet an scratching his shell.
The little beast actually enjoys the attention.

Turn the volume down....


For "SNIP" an giggles my maniac delights in making sure I know on pellet day that "Oh screw you!!" roots thru his gravel an flaunts pieces of older food he's squirreled away. On PURPOSE! Sigh....he'll paddle around the front of his tank making sure I see him doing it. He's like a puppy who's hidden milk bones around the house.

I'm glad so many other members have a soft spot for Turtles!
It's funny, but I thought at best this little dude would be decorative? Holy Crap was I wrong!!! He insists on being interactive an pulls all manner of stunts that keep me guessing.

OH...I forget he was a "feral" turtle originally, for like 5 seconds, so theoretically I could feed him waterlogged dead nasties, but we finally had a breakthrough!!! He's discovered the joys of peas & carrots taken from my chicken fried rice!!! I was unsure this was just another ploy to mess with me, so the next day he got the filling from a chicken egg roll. WHO KNEW!!! He's Chinese!!!!

Not really an before someone screams at me for feeding him junk food...this was a one-off thing. Usually he gets Hikari pellets or the floating reptile sticks. Actually he gets a much varied diet, but too long to list.

This video may be longish, but it's amazing!

Miss my giant tortoise. Foreskin. Meter long and could carry a human but after years and years I thought he may be lonely and had a nature reserve with other ones come get him.

Mine was an absolute sweetheart though. Ate so rarely and when he did he'd eat anything so very easy to care for. Came when you called him and followed people around with a big heartbreaker smile trying to get his neck and head rubbed and caressed. So affectionate just like a very slow dog. Man I hope he is happier there...

a reply to: Caver78

He/She hasn't grown into a permanent name because just like dog's who think their name is "GET DOWN!!" or "SHUT UP!!" for the first year, this little guy is still answering to "Why you gotta be a dick???" Eventually he'll make his or her name known an it'll be fine.

Ok this made me lose it 😆😆🤣🤣😂😂😂😆😆😆😂😂😂😂😂😂

a reply to: Bigburgh

An the little Maniac strikes AGAIN!!

Sorry about the spit on your computer, and having to wear that pink dress. The little dude works hard to make anyone an everyone ridiculous.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

That ship sailed in June.
Yes....I walk my turtle. Otherwise known a "turtle tanning time". Even tho he has the correct UVB light I worry, so right after work he gets to go outside an stagger around in little circles.

I'm pretty sure the neighbors have considered 302-ing me.
From their side of the street all they see is me crawling around the yard apparently talking an cussing to myself. I keep trying to load the pics of Turtle's daily walk, but having issues.

The cussing went nuclear when Turtle busted out his turbo powers an kept heading for the poison ivy.
OMG!!! Oh no you don't!!!

originally posted by: butcherguy
I have a rescue red eared slider female that lives in a kiddie pool in my basement. She is about 10'' in diameter. She doesn't take much money in upkeep.

Theoretically depending on your set-up it can be a reasonable cost.

But I freak out over his quality of life being held hostage in a stock tank. I've also seen many set-ups consisting of a large fish tank with a PenPlax topper for basking. So the turtle can either swim frantically all day or cook under the basking light.

I'm still hashing out a set-up where turtle can observe normal family stuff, have an area with plants and another area to bask in. The problem is my insane work hours an at least one cat already thinks turtle is a wind up toy. Since turtle is probably going to outlive me, he really needs a decent quality of life where he can do actual turtle things.
I mean more natural turtle behaviors.

I'm in NO WAY implying your set up isn't great!
Been looking at the Fluval 6-stage filter, but he's too small for that yet.