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Mine was a little mud turtle. He was awesome! I didnt know much about turtles but got some good advice. Belive it or not we got him at a flea market for about 5 bucks. I was their a few months ago and they were still selling them for the same price!

So what was your first?

Mine was a western painted turtle about 6" long I found moving from a lake to a pond the other side of the rail tracks outside of Minneapolis, Mn.

Mine was probably a ThreeToed Box Turtle growing up in Arkansas, its hard to remember since I was always dragging stuff home as a kid. Dont get my mother started about the snakes I used to *hibernate* in my closet and her house plants.

I have to many catagories The first turtle that was picked up for me is lost in the sands of time. I'd love to think it was and Eastern box turtle, but most likely it was an Eastern painted turtle.
The first turtle I picked up was probably an Eastern painted turtle, that also is lost in the sands of time.
The first turtle I bought and kept was a Temple turtle, Heosemys annandalii, was Hieremys annandalii. He grew up to be an 18 inch brute that weighed 35lbs. He's in Florida now.
The first tortoise I got was a Hermanns tortoise in 1977. Unfortunately he didn't last long.

Danny

My little Russian sweetie, Carmine!

I compliment all of you who have sent in pictures. You do great work!!

My first tortoise was a female Gopherus agassizii (CA desert tortoise) that my son asked me to take because his new rottweiler pup was chewing on her. He got her from a farmer who had run his disc over her while plowing between the vineyard rows. He rushed into the house and all he could find was a new package of Play Doh. He packed the crack in her carapace with green Play Doh and gave the tortoise to my son. He had her for a year before he got the pup. When I took her in over 30 years ago, she still had a touch of green showing way down inside the crack. She never developed an infection, and I still have her. She was an adult when she was run over, and so she is probably now 60 or 70 years old.

Yvonne

I was always finding eastern boxies as a kid but we would only keep them for a couple of hours and put them back. When I was older, my dad was the director of a YMCA camp so we always had huge snappers at the nature center that would get pulled out of the lake. My first official tort of my own was my 3 sulcatas that I have now.

Mine was a little RES when I was about 5 years old(50 years ago!). Of course he came with his own little lagoon and a box of dried flies to feed him. He disappeared 3 days later in the basement where I kept him.

Next was a baby alligator which died about 2 weeks later. He never ate a thing. My next turtle was 2 RES from turtlesale almost 3 years ago. Still have them, well one passed while hibernating this winter.

my first and only are my current pair of DT babies

My first were 5 boxies!!

jenrell23 Wrote:My first were 5 boxies!!

When I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn, a hundred years ago, for as long as I could remember there was a box turtle living in our yard. We were never allowed to feed it. My Dad said it was wild, and free and didn't want it to become dependent on us. We knew winter was on it's was when my Dad raked all the leaves into a pile in the back of the yard, just in case Frank (named after our Uncle who we thought he looked like) needed a place to sleep. Then we didn't see Frank until the Spring. We couldn't wait to see which one of us saw Frank first. My Dad had a big vegetable garden, many fruit trees, and loads of compost which he made in the back of our yard, which was filled with bugs. (so much for Frank not being dependent on us) If any fruit fell, and we didn't pick it Dad would say "leave it for Frank". The same with the vegetables. We always saw him munching on a tomato, or a fig, or an apricot. We also had a big strawberry patch where you could always find Frank taking a nap. The only thing my Dad did was always keep a really big dish filled with water in case Frank needed a bath or a drink. When I got married I was 22, and Frank was still there. As the years passed I used to bring my kids there to see that old boxie. He was never sick as far as we could tell. When my parents died, my sister took over the house, and Frank is still there. Now in the Spring I bring my Grandkids there to look for Frank. He is over 50 years old as far as I can tell.

terryo Wrote:

jenrell23 Wrote:My first were 5 boxies!!

When I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn, a hundred years ago, for as long as I could remember there was a box turtle living in our yard.

What a great story! Your dad taught you a wonderful lesson and what a lucky turtle!

Yvonne

i have a Red eared slider it was my first turtle

terryo Wrote:As the years passed I used to bring my kids there to see that old boxie. He was never sick as far as we could tell. When my parents died, my sister took over the house, and Frank is still there. Now in the Spring I bring my Grandkids there to look for Frank. He is over 50 years old as far as I can tell.

What lovely memories you have and now get to pass along to your Grandchildren. I hope I am so lucky.

Misty

I must have been about 8..? 35 plus years ago.. I had a little water turtle. Looked like a red ear, but no red ears.. I dont recall how long I had him.. not long.. I had him out side to get some sun, he died.. :-)Timothy was his name. Buried him under a tree I planted. And I recal my first tortoise encounter.. WAY.... back when at the San Diego Zoo they used to let kids ride the Galapagos torts.. I did.. Sure wish I had a picture of that!! Have always loved them.. Its not till recently that I started looking into diff species and learning about it all.
I like thier speed...:-)