Your top 3 most neglected turtle/tortoise in the hobby?

DoubleD1996!

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I feel as if there are some reptiles that are readily available, and often end up being neglected somewhere down the line. When it comes to turtles, what are your top three ? What do you feel can be done to improve this? Such as pricing, education etc.

Mine are:
The red eared slider
The african sideneck
And the sulcata tortoise
 

Toddrickfl1

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I feel as if there are some reptiles that are readily available, and often end up being neglected somewhere down the line. When it comes to turtles, what are your top three ? What do you feel can be done to improve this? Such as pricing, education etc.

Mine are:
The red eared slider
The african sideneck
And the sulcata tortoise
I'd say
Red Ear Sliders
Sulcatas
Box turtles


Nothing gets under my skin more than seeing a deformed MBD riddled box turtle that someone "Rescued" from the side of the road a few years earlier.
 

DoubleD1996!

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I'd say
Red Ear Sliders
Sulcatas
Box turtles


Nothing gets under my skin more than seeing a deformed MBD riddled box turtle that someone "Rescued" from the side of the road a few years earlier.
Exactly. No uvb, no surface to keep the beak and nails trimmed, and feeding it like a tortoise instead of an omnivore.
 

S2G

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Everything sold at a local Petco or chain store. Those stores really need to go out of business tbh. They hurt so much more than they help.

Top 3 around here. Sulcata's, Russians, & red ear sliders Thats just the cheapest & easiest to get. Education is there, but people refuse to look it up. Up the price is unfortunately the only way I see. That will drive demand way down & make people really think before buying. Only thing saving redfoots.

Exhibit A. One of the poor bastards that are unfortunate enough to do a seasonal stint at the local petco
20210713_125226.jpg
 

DoubleD1996!

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Everything sold at a local Petco or chain store. Those stores really need to go out of business tbh. They hurt so much more than they help.

Top 3 around here. Sulcata's, Russians, & red ear sliders Thats just the cheapest & easiest to get. Education is there, but people refuse to look it up. Up the price is unfortunately the only way I see. That will drive demand way down & make people really think before buying. Only thing saving redfoots.

Exhibit A. One of the poor bastards that are unfortunate enough to do a seasonal stint at the local petco
View attachment 330634
Highly agree. Prices should be raised and I think we need more mom and pop shops that educate people before they buy instead of desperately making a sale. Unfortunately, most cities only have these big chain stores.
 

Freddy90

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I feel as if there are some reptiles that are readily available, and often end up being neglected somewhere down the line. When it comes to turtles, what are your top three ? What do you feel can be done to improve this? Such as pricing, education etc.

Mine are:
The red eared slider
The african sideneck
And the sulcata tortoise

Here in austria its definitely the

Black knobbed map turtle (20 dollars)
Florida red-bellied cooter (30 dollars)
Common musk turtle (30 dollars)

The red eared slider would be number one but they prohibited the selling and breeding cause they are invasive here.
 

DoubleD1996!

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Here in austria its definitely the

Black knobbed map turtle (20 dollars)
Florida red-bellied cooter (30 dollars)
Common musk turtle (30 dollars)

The red eared slider would be number one but they prohibited the selling and breeding cause they are invasive here.
Red ears thrive easily once released, and people just let them go when they get big thinking they're doing the right thing.
 

Maggie3fan

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Red ears thrive easily once released, and people just let them go when they get big thinking they're doing the right thing.
They are invasive anywhere. As an example...RES have taken over the territory, food sources, and just are nasty tempered to/at The Western Painted Turtle AND the Western Pond turtle...the only turtles native to the :pNW. Now both Western turtles are threatened because they are simply not aggressive turtles and RES are. I had a full grown female RES I named Scruffy because she'd been chewed by a dog. I kept her with top of the line care. I loved her as my first favorite water turtle...and to the day I passed her over to my sister's pond, that turtle tried to bite me taking my arm off at the shoulder...man she was mean
 

wellington

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Everything sold at a local Petco or chain store. Those stores really need to go out of business tbh. They hurt so much more than they help.

Top 3 around here. Sulcata's, Russians, & red ear sliders Thats just the cheapest & easiest to get. Education is there, but people refuse to look it up. Up the price is unfortunately the only way I see. That will drive demand way down & make people really think before buying. Only thing saving redfoots.

Exhibit A. One of the poor bastards that are unfortunate enough to do a seasonal stint at the local petco
View attachment 330634
Do you ever say anything to the stores when you see bad care? If not, you need to. It's just as bad to ignore abuse. I tell my local stores every time if they haven't made the changes I have pointed out to them. They can't give more room but everything else they do can be changed. A little friendly advice and asking them to please better the life by changing to the correct things to use helps a lot.
 

TammyJ

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They are invasive anywhere. As an example...RES have taken over the territory, food sources, and just are nasty tempered to/at The Western Painted Turtle AND the Western Pond turtle...the only turtles native to the :pNW. Now both Western turtles are threatened because they are simply not aggressive turtles and RES are. I had a full grown female RES I named Scruffy because she'd been chewed by a dog. I kept her with top of the line care. I loved her as my first favorite water turtle...and to the day I passed her over to my sister's pond, that turtle tried to bite me taking my arm off at the shoulder...man she was mean
The RES have obviously evolved according to how they are treated by humans who buy and mistreat them. Their tendency for aggression is a reflection of years of being purchased and abused by us. So RES are aggressive.
Tongue in cheek....kinda.
My RES, Jennie, was a crocodile in how she would lay in wait in the water in my pond, for the hapless pigeons who came along to drink. WHAM. DRAG. DEMOLISH.
 

TammyJ

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I am in Jamaica and we used to import RES on a regular, aggressive basis so I know about them, but not any other turtles to be able to compare. It does seem that the more common the turtle or tortoise, the more likely is the potential for abuse on the part of their owners.
 

DoubleD1996!

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The RES have obviously evolved according to how they are treated by humans who buy and mistreat them. Their tendency for aggression is a reflection of years of being purchased and abused by us. So RES are aggressive.
Tongue in cheek....kinda.
My RES, Jennie, was a crocodile in how she would lay in wait in the water in my pond, for the hapless pigeons who came along to drink. WHAM. DRAG. DEMOLISH.
Whoa, but I wouldn't necessarily say that's agression, but an opportunity. They are opportunistic omnivores. She learned the pigeons routine and planned out her attack. Kinda like how crocodiles wait for game animals to come and drink. My box turtles will get ones or ahrews if they dig into the enclosure.
 

Yvonne G

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The RES have obviously evolved according to how they are treated by humans who buy and mistreat them. Their tendency for aggression is a reflection of years of being purchased and abused by us. So RES are aggressive.
Tongue in cheek....kinda.
My RES, Jennie, was a crocodile in how she would lay in wait in the water in my pond, for the hapless pigeons who came along to drink. WHAM. DRAG. DEMOLISH.
Unless the human-made-aggressive RES was released into the wild to teach her offspring about being aggressive towards humans, I don't think this aggression is an evolutionary trait. . . but, wait. . . turtle mama waits around for eggs to hatch so she has a hand in teaching them???
 

NorCal tortoise guy

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Unless the human-made-aggressive RES was released into the wild to teach her offspring about being aggressive towards humans, I don't think this aggression is an evolutionary trait. . . but, wait. . . turtle mama waits around for eggs to hatch so she has a hand in teaching them???

The RES have obviously evolved according to how they are treated by humans who buy and mistreat them. Their tendency for aggression is a reflection of years of being purchased and abused by us. So RES are aggressive.
Tongue in cheek....kinda.
My RES, Jennie, was a crocodile in how she would lay in wait in the water in my pond, for the hapless pigeons who came along to drink. WHAM. DRAG. DEMOLISH.
Sorry if I’m off topic but I feel red ear slider aggression and ability to push out other species has a lot to do with the other turtles they share there native area with. They need there aggression to compete and survive in there native habitat but in other areas it gives them the upper hand. Just my thoughts
 

DoubleD1996!

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Sorry if I’m off topic but I feel red ear slider aggression and ability to push out other species has a lot to do with the other turtles they share there native area with. They need there aggression to compete and survive in there native habitat but in other areas it gives them the upper hand. Just my thoughts
Exactly
 

S2G

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Do you ever say anything to the stores when you see bad care? If not, you need to. It's just as bad to ignore abuse. I tell my local stores every time if they haven't made the changes I have pointed out to them. They can't give more room but everything else they do can be changed. A little friendly advice and asking them to please better the life by changing to the correct things to use helps a lot.

I do, but they simply don't care. Oh it does that all the time & flips back over. If every petco, petsmart, & large chain would stop selling livestock (including dog/cat adoptions) it would drastically reduce improper care of pets.
 

wellington

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I do, but they simply don't care. Oh it does that all the time & flips back over. If every petco, petsmart, & large chain would stop selling livestock (including dog/cat adoptions) it would drastically reduce improper care of pets.
I have spoken to pet supplies plus, petco and petsmart. The employees, not managers. They have all made changes as i stood there and watched. Now, the problem comes with the turnaround with employees. The next new set might or might not go back to the old way. I just keep checking when I'm there and if needed, i educate the new ones. I have contacted corporate before and spoken with managers. Corp denies the care and blames it on individual stores and says they will speak to them. Of course they don't. Managers either blames corporate or says they will have someone make the changes and they dont. Best luck is with the employees, but the info just doesn't seem to always get past on.
 

kgepford

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I feel as if there are some reptiles that are readily available, and often end up being neglected somewhere down the line. When it comes to turtles, what are your top three ? What do you feel can be done to improve this? Such as pricing, education etc.

Mine are:
The red eared slider
The african sideneck
And the sulcata tortoise
I'd love to know what do you think the reasons are? I've got an idea why, at least for the sulcata.
 

DoubleD1996!

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I'd love to know what do you think the reasons are? I've got an idea why, at least for the sulcata.
Red eared sliders are often needed to be rehomed or dumped in a local pond or stream where they thrive and are potentially detrimental to the native population of turtles. They could also carry harmful parasites that may be harmless in captivity, but could kill a wild population. As far as African sidenecks, they're cheap, people keep them for a while and want to get rid of them. People release them as well and they often die over winter. I've seen one in a lake I couldn't get to. And Sulcata's get massive. People don't plan out for the future, or think they're prepared. And some people don't provide them with the space they deserve.
 

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