"I found a tortoise."

[Yvonne G]

So I get this email from someone right here in my town who found a "tortoise" right in her front yard about a month ago. She put it in the back yard. But now she's worried because the tortoise is under a bush and not moving. Someone told her it was hibernating and to just leave it alone. She called me after searching online for some help. I told her that some types of tortoise don't hibernate and if she could send me a picture I would be able to tell her better how to take care of it. These are the pictures she sent me. Can anyone I.D. this "tortoise?"

Then she emailed back that the tortoise had died.

This is why its so important to not just keep a turtle or tortoise that comes wandering down your street. I know...I know, I'm preaching to the choir. All of you folks KNOW that you should try to find the animal's owner. But if this person had sought help a month ago, this WATER turtle might still be alive today.

Its a red ear slider.

Yvonne

 

[katesgoey]

I could not have I.D.'d the "tortoise" but it sure makes me sad to know it died because it didn't have its needs met.

 

[tortoisenerd]

Awww that's so sad.

 

[mctlong]

Thats horrible. Poor guy.

 

[dmmj]

I guess you could call it misguided help, she prob thought she was doing the right thing, but in this day of internet research I find this veyr very sad and 100% avoidable. but what can you do?

 

[Isa]

Poor little turtle, what a sad story

 

[Stazz]

Oh noooo I cant stand these sad stories! Poor guy!

 

[terryo]

What a horror. Probably dry as a bone and totally dehydrated. Very sad.

 

[shelber10]

thats sad what a poor turtle

 

[Shelly]

I have a slider that leaves the pond and will spend days, sometimes weeks out of the water, hiding under a redwood deck in my backyard. Sometimes she buries herself in my compost pile and stays there a long time. She spends probably an equal time out of the pond as in it. She's perfectly healthy, and has been doing this for years. I wonder what causes that behavior?

 

[terryo]

I've had many rescues that would come out of the pond and go in the leaf pile for days too. Most would hibernate outside the pond in the compost/leaf pile. I guess as long as they have access to water so they can eat they're fine.

 

[Jacqui]

I guess you could call it misguided help, she prob thought she was doing the right thing, but in this day of internet research I find this veyr very sad and 100% avoidable. but what can you do?

I keep reminding folks about this....just because there is the internet, doesn't mean folks can use it. You might be shocked at how high the population is of folks who can't read, let alone use the internet. My exhusband was one of those. He could function quite well and it was hard to spot his inabilities. My four kids were out reading him by kindergarten.

Add to that, the number of folks who have no desire to learn to use a computer or feel it is beyond their abilities.

It is a shame that it did die.

 

[harris]

That's terrible. It's a Pacific (Western) Pond Turtle, not a RES. Which I believe in California are a protected species.

 

[Yvonne G]

No, it really is a red ear. She has a yellow plastron and indistinct yellow and green markings on her carapace. Besides the telltale (that you can't see in the picture) red stripe on her head.

Yvonne

 

[Stephanie Logan]

Very sad...my kids found a tortoise/turtle about ten years ago just walking in the gutter on our street. We asked all the neighbors but no one claimed it. Of course the kids wanted to keep it and of course I said "no". We looked up a reptile rescue and took it there. I still remember that this woman had a small house filled with old bathtubs, tanks and vivariums. At the time I was just awestruck by all the different reptiles as I had no idea how those creatures live as pets.

I had forgotten all about that incident till this post jogged my memory. At least I can feel comfortable now, knowing we did the right thing even though we were totally ignorant of tortoise care.

 

[galvinkaos]

I did an inspection at a house that had 3 red ear sliders in a 10 gallon tank with an inch of water for the past 10 years. They thought that was ok. 2 out of 3 were malformed. I gave them a little info and they added more water. Unfortunately there are alot of people out there who do what they think is right and never research because they don't know any different until they are educated.
Dawna