Another rescue found it's forever home w/us**UPDATE**
 

We went to go look at a house and found this little guy on the side of the road. Me being an animal lover couldn't just let him stay there, so I made hubby back down the street to go and pick him up.

Here is a pic of our newest rescue and addition to our family.

[IMG]http://img8.photobucket.com/albums/v26/daisy18216/turtle_pic_1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img8.photobucket.com/albums/v26/daisy18216/turtle_pic_2.jpg[/IMG]

Hubby asked me if I wanted a turtle and when I said yes he said "are you serious". I told him and had him back up down the street to get him.

Neither one of us ever had a turtle before, so if any of you think I should do something different w/my tank let me know.

Thanks

I know absolutely nothing about turtles. Had a friend who found one once. Found out it was a desert tortoise, not one that lived in water. You might want to have a vet take a look at it to identify it and advise how to care for and feed.

He's a boxed turtle. But our tank is too small for him, so we decided to call my hubby's best friend and see if we can take him to his farm. Hubby's best friend has a pond/dam and I think the turtle will be better off there.

Our tank is too small for him. We're going to get a turtle that is able to live in our tank.

I like this turtle but it's not fair to him. So we'll probably will be taking him to our friends farm either tonight or tomorrow.

Good call!! You did the right thing. I do understand that turtles can carry diseases, so make sure you have washed your hands well.

Heather

I expected some furry little thing :D but you did a good thing rescuing the turtle.He'll be very happy in a pond at the farm.

Here's a story I wrote 6-17-2004, just wanted to share :) (inspired by a turtle)

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Incredible Experience

It happened today. It was a hot summer afternoon. I was walking along as I often do, minding my own business. I was on my way somewhere, but that is not important for this story.

Anyway, here I was walking along at a nice pace. The surface I was walking on was quite hot on my feet but that doesn’t bother me much. I was moving toward more grassy area where it would be much cooler.

Then out of the blue, and very large creature came up behind me, his shadow completely covered me. My heart started racing. The creature was huge, at least 100 times bigger than me, but I couldn’t get a real good look at it.

All of a sudden, I felt myself being picked up and was raised way up in the sky. I have never seen the earth from a vantage point like that, but with my increasing fear I didn’t have a chance to take in the scenery. I was too busy kicking my arms and legs trying to get this creature to let go, but afraid of being dropped from such a height. I was so afraid but not knowing what was going to happen to me, the idea of being dropped might be a good option.

We began moving, strangely in the same direction I had originally been going, but I was still very fearful.

As we moved along, the creature was not hurting me but starting turning me around and around while peering at me. Once he stopped and I was peering right into two great openings that looked somewhat like my own eyes. Then I was turned back around and felt myself being lowered to the ground. Now what? I wondered.

Amazingly, I was set down and the creature moved away from me.

I turned to see where it was going, but was anxious to get further away. When I glanced back, I saw the creature as he moved quickly away from me and then vanished from my view.

My feet were much cooler on the grassy area now and my heart was beginning to slow to normal and struck off to where I was headed.

Couldn’t wait to tell you my story…….can you guess who am I?










I was the turtle that was rescued by a kind human from the paved two-lane road.

I have no idea about turtles but I'd find out what kind he is and get some advise from an exotic store :D

I don't know what kind of shelters you may have in your area, but we have one that takes abandoned, neglected or abused animals and gives them better homes to live out the remainder of their lives.

[url]http://rainforestsearch.com/rrrs/about.htm[/url]

I am sorry if this offends anyone, but this is just my personal opinion....I have seen these creatures, such as the caiman, snapping turtles, boa constrictors as well as various lizards at the refuge with my own eyes....it breaks my heart every time, just knowing that each of these was bought either through a breeder or a pet store only for the owner to discover that this is not a pet they can handle. Pet stores will tell you that they grow up to four feet (this was blatantly posted in Pet Habitat in Richmond, BC a few years back), I believe the largest one they currently have at the refuge is about 7 feet long....quite a considerable difference. Creatures like these do not make good pets.....especially since they are not native to my part of the world.

dmc123 - loved your story!!

Donna Marie, I agree with you totally. No one should be allowed to own these exotic animals unless they have a license and their facilities have been inspected and approved.

Even at tropical fish stores, there are fish they should not be selling. One example are the 2-inch baby arowanas, and the staff either doesn't know or won't tell people that they will grow into 4 foot long voracious predators that cannot be kept in any home aquarium.

dmc, that was an excellent story!!! Thanks for sharing that. :D

Hubby's best friend said he will be happy to take the turtle to his house, he has woods by him. He had rescued a turtle once before and took it to his house and let it go, so I'm know this turtle will be fine.

Donna, we don't have shelters around here that take turtles. The only shelters we have around here is for dogs and cats. I don't like the shelters in my area anyway.

I never knew that turtles carry diseases.

Turtles vs tortoises there is a difference LOL

[url]http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-turtle.html[/url]
Turtle— Spends most of its life in the water. Turtles tend to have webbed feet for swimming. Sea turtles (Cheloniidae family) are especially adapted for an aquatic life, with long feet that form flippers and a streamlined body shape. They rarely leave the ocean, except when the females come ashore to lay their eggs. Other turtles live in fresh water, like ponds and lakes. They swim, but they also climb out onto banks, logs, or rocks to bask in the sun. In cold weather, they may burrow into the mud, where they go into a deep sleep known as torpor until spring brings warm weather again.

Tortoise— A land-dweller that eats low-growing shrubs, grasses, and even cactus. Tortoises do not have webbed feet. Their feet are round and stumpy for walking on land. Tortoises that live in hot, dry habitats use their strong legs to dig burrows. Then, when it’s too hot in the sun, they slip underground.

Terrapin— Spends its time both on land and in water, but it always lives near water, along rivers, ponds, and lakes. Terrapins are often found in brackish, swampy areas. The word terrapin comes from an Indian word meaning "a little turtle.”

We took Ziggy to his new home today (that's what we named him). We didn't take him to hubby's best friends' house we took him to our other friends house (more woods).

Here are the final pics that I have of him:

This is Ziggy and me on our 15 min drive to his new home.
[IMG]http://img8.photobucket.com/albums/v26/daisy18216/turtle_going_to_new_home.jpg[/IMG]

This is the area we set him free at and put him down. I did have a pic of him at his new home, but when I went to jump over the stream i hit a button and it deleted my pic of him.
[IMG]http://img8.photobucket.com/albums/v26/daisy18216/turtle_going_to_new_home_2.jpg[/IMG]

Last, Here is a pic of just a little bit of the woods. He'll be better off here, more woods.
[IMG]http://img8.photobucket.com/albums/v26/daisy18216/turtle_going_to_new_home_3.jpg[/IMG]

I hope he loves his new home, I miss the little guy. But this is what's best for him. I'll check on him to see if he moved at all when we visit our friend again.

Good Job *Daisy
 

good Job Daisy.....as for dmc you musta been on crack writing that story.. lol

Turtle Rescurer
 

Glad you got the turtle out of the tank (water not his native habitat ) and into the woods (his native habitat). I'm stateside and have been grabbing turtles off highways for years. Most of what we find are water turtles and with the exception of snappers I get them off highways and parking lots and into our pond with floating logs (for sun bathing) - plenty of bugs and larva and 18 feet deep so winter hibernation is no problem. The land turtles (box etc) seem to love life in the woods behind us. No mowers or anything to run over them - all trees and rotting logs.
As for snappers they are just too mean and nasty to deal with (we don't rescue them off the roads). We have some which have reached over 60 pounds and they are dangerous as an alligator. I have relocated three out of my area and put them in a 5,000 acre lake just down the road.

Good Job
Woody

Thanks a lot iRONKNiGHT

Just a side note to this story. I know alot of people believe that if you get these animals (reptiles & fish) when they're small and keep them in a small cage/tank, that they will stay small. This is an old wive's tale (nothing against old wives - I happen to be one! :p ). I unknowingly bought an iridescent shark (it's actually a catfish) and had it in a 10-gallon tank. It just kept growing and growing... I think it realised its predicament because it started smashing into the glass on the sides of the tank. I finally looked it up and found out that it can grow to be 4 feet long and live for 13 years!! I handed it over to my sister who put it in her 40-gallon tank. He seems to have levelled out at 2 feet and is doing just fine, thanks. :D