Hopping on the turtle bandwagon

[SixPapaCharlie]

I found this little guy in my pool today. He was struggling for all he was worth.
Every time I moved near him to try and get him out, he would dive down to the bottom.

I finally got him out. I really hope the saltwater didn't cause him any harm.
I'm giving him a snack but he doesn't seem to have an appetite.

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

He's so tiny.
So do I just let him go in the yard or what?

I am afraid if I do, he will go back to the pool and get sucked into the skimmer and drown.

 

[falconkidding]

 

[flyingron]

You need to release it near some body of water nearby. That turtle is a water turtle. He can't feed on land which is why he's probably not too interested.

 

[write-stuff]

Here's one I rescued a few years back. He was trying to traverse a busy 4 lane highway.

 

[Everskyward]

Calling @RJM62...

 

[JOhnH]

According to the recipe, I'm guessing you are going to need around 80 to 100 of those little guys.

Perhaps you could try feeding him some cole slaw.

 

[DutchRoller]

Here's one I rescued a few years back. He was trying to traverse a busy 4 lane highway.

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

Here's one I rescued a few years back. He was trying to traverse a busy 4 lane highway.

That thing looks mean

 

[eman1200]

[7500]



[/7500]

saw this lil feller today. do we have a frog guy on PoA? 24 hour frog-cam?

 

[texasag93]

Feed it fish food.

We found three over the years and they live for a while. We have had one for 3 or 4 years.

Watch out, they carry salmonella.

 

[ktup-flyer]

Looks like a yellow belly slider

 

[simtech]

Found this guy last month while walking our property . Dang thing was big enough it could have taken my arm off! Between turtles, beavers, and nutrea's I don't know how I still have both arms and legs.

 

[weilke]

Found this guy last month while walking our property . Dang thing was big enough it could have taken my arm off! Between turtles, beavers, and nutrea's I don't know how I still have both arms and legs.

Last year I found a smaller one in the pool skimmer going round and round and round..... He was a bit fierce and didn't want to come out of the skimmer. Eventually I got him out and sent him on his way.

 

[GeorgeC]

Saltwater pools are a thing? What a country...

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

Saltwater pools are a thing? What a country...

Only way to go. Nearly zero maintenance.

 

[Sundancer]

Might as well fill it with Listerine . . .

 

[weilke]

Saltwater pools are a thing? What a country...

The salt concentration is very low, 0.3%. The salt is only there to provide the chloride ions for the electrode that produces the free chlorine for disinfection. Pretty nifty system. No messing around with hypochlorite, chlorine pellets etc. All you do is add some acid every week and check the pH and salinity. The electrode controller does the rest.

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

Fear the Turtle....

 

[wsuffa]

I guess you'll be Happy Together. Might need to name it Elenore.

 

[RJM62]

It could be a red-eared slider or a yellow-bellied slider. At that age they look pretty similar. Could also be a cooter. If you can get it to extend its head it will be easier to tell. The carapace coloration looks a bit more like YBS than RES to me, but there's a lot of variation and some hybridization possible.

Are you planning to keep it? If so, you may want to check out https://www.myturtlecam.com and http://www.austinsturtlepage.com first so you know what you're getting into. The start-up expenses and amount of work required are considerably more than is required for most other pets.

Also, you'd have to set up a uncycled habitat, jump start it with something like Tetra Safe-Start and/or Seachem Prime, and monitor it very closely until the nitrification process is fully established (usually between six weeks and three months). High ammonia or nitrite levels will kill it, and high nitrate levels will make it very uncomfortable (and possibly kill it).

Female YBS and RES can grow to a length of more than a foot, and the habitat should have at least 10 gallons of water per inch of carapace length. So you're looking at an immediate 20 to 30 gallon tank and an eventual 120 to 150 gallon tank, depending on how you mount the basking area. The water requirement refers to the amount of actual water, not the tank size; so if you mount the basking area inside the tank, you lose the top five or six inches of space when it's an adult.

Turtles in captivity also need a light source that mimics the sun in color, intensity, warmth, and both UVA and UVB light. This is a life-or-death thing for them. Most captive turtles kept by beginners die from metabolic bone disease due to improper lighting. (Poor water quality, improper temperature regulation, and overfeeding are the next most common causes.)

Don't bother trying to feed it out of water. It can't eat out of the water. Water turtles don't produce saliva.

On the positive side, once a proper turtle habitat is fully-established, they're relatively hardy, moderate-maintenance pets. They also can be left alone for a few days if need be because they're opportunistic feeders, so they can go a few days without feeding. In fact, the most common feeding schedule for adult aquatic turtles is every other day.

Rich

 

[GRG55]

According to the recipe, I'm guessing you are going to need around 80 to 100 of those little guys.

Perhaps you could try feeding him some cole slaw.

That's worse than trying to assemble dough for one cookie by raiding the ice cream bucket...

 

[RJM62]

[7500]

View attachment 52814

[/7500]

saw this lil feller today. do we have a frog guy on PoA? 24 hour frog-cam?

Gray tree frog, I believe.

I do have a frog site, but it's specific to African dwarf frogs. https://www.myfroggycam.com .

Rich

 

[eman1200]

It could be a red-eared slider or a yellow-bellied slider. At that age they look pretty similar. If you can get it to extend its head it will be easier to tell. The carapace coloration looks a bit more like YBS than RES to me, but there's a lot of variation and some hybridization possible.

Are you planning to keep it? If so, you may want to check out https://www.myturtlecam.com and http://www.austinsturtlepage.com first so you know what you're getting into. The start-up expenses and amount of work required are considerably more than is required for most other pets.

Also, you'd have to set up a uncycled habitat, jump start it with something like Tetra Safe-Start and/or Seachem Prime, and monitor it very closely until the nitrification process is fully established (usually between six weeks and three months). High ammonia or nitrite levels will kill it, and high nitrate levels will make it very uncomfortable (and possibly kill it).

Female YBS and RES can grow to a length of more than a foot, and the habitat should have at least 10 gallons of water per inch of carapace length. So you're looking at an immediate 20 to 30 gallon tank and an eventual 120 to 150 gallon tank, depending on how you mount the basking area. The water requirement refers to the amount of actual water, not the tank size; so if you mount the basking area inside the tank, you lose the top five or six inches of space when it's an adult.

Turtles in captivity also need a light source that mimics the sun in color, intensity, warmth, and both UVA and UVB light. This is a life-or-death thing for them. Most captive turtles kept by beginners die from metabolic bone disease due to improper lighting. (Poor water quality, improper temperature regulation, and overfeeding are the next most common causes.)

Don't bother trying to feed it out of water. It can't eat out of the water. Water turtles don't produce saliva.

On the positive side, once a proper turtle habitat is fully-established, they're relatively hardy, moderate-maintenance pets. They also can be left alone for a few days if need be because they're opportunistic feeders, so they can go a few days without feeding. In fact, the most common feeding schedule for adult aquatic turtles is every other day.

Rich

Dude......it's a frackin TURTLE*.


*not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[flyingron]

Looks like a yellow belly slider

I was thinking it was in the "cooter" family (can't see enough of the bottom of the neck to tell for sure). Either way, they are aquatic turtles. While they are air breathers, they really need access to swimmable water to survive.

 

[write-stuff]

That thing looks mean

Not mean, but he was plenty mad! Common snapping turtle. Snap your finger like a twig.

 

[RJM62]

I was thinking it was in the "cooter" family (can't see enough of the bottom of the neck to tell for sure). Either way, they are aquatic turtles. While they are air breathers, they really need access to swimmable water to survive.

That's also a possibility. Shots of the head and plastron would help. But it's not that easy an ID at that age and with the natural color variations and the possibilities of interbreeding. I'm just a hobbyist, not a biologist, much less a herpetologist.

@steingar would surely be able to tell if he were still hanging around on POA.

Rich

 

[James331]

He's so tiny.
So do I just let him go in the yard or what?

I am afraid if I do, he will go back to the pool and get sucked into the skimmer and drown.

View attachment 52811

Go take him to something resembling a wetland or something and let him go, that's what I did with this little snapper I found a while back.

 

[eman1200]

Go take him to something resembling a wetland or something and let him go, that's what I did with this little snapper I found a while back.

aaww man, a video of the monkey riding on this guys back would be AWESOME

 

[PaulS]

It could be a red-eared slider or a yellow-bellied slider. At that age they look pretty similar. Could also be a cooter. If you can get it to extend its head it will be easier to tell. The carapace coloration looks a bit more like YBS than RES to me, but there's a lot of variation and some hybridization possible.

Are you planning to keep it? If so, you may want to check out https://www.myturtlecam.com and http://www.austinsturtlepage.com first so you know what you're getting into. The start-up expenses and amount of work required are considerably more than is required for most other pets.

Also, you'd have to set up a uncycled habitat, jump start it with something like Tetra Safe-Start and/or Seachem Prime, and monitor it very closely until the nitrification process is fully established (usually between six weeks and three months). High ammonia or nitrite levels will kill it, and high nitrate levels will make it very uncomfortable (and possibly kill it).

Female YBS and RES can grow to a length of more than a foot, and the habitat should have at least 10 gallons of water per inch of carapace length. So you're looking at an immediate 20 to 30 gallon tank and an eventual 120 to 150 gallon tank, depending on how you mount the basking area. The water requirement refers to the amount of actual water, not the tank size; so if you mount the basking area inside the tank, you lose the top five or six inches of space when it's an adult.

Turtles in captivity also need a light source that mimics the sun in color, intensity, warmth, and both UVA and UVB light. This is a life-or-death thing for them. Most captive turtles kept by beginners die from metabolic bone disease due to improper lighting. (Poor water quality, improper temperature regulation, and overfeeding are the next most common causes.)

Don't bother trying to feed it out of water. It can't eat out of the water. Water turtles don't produce saliva.

On the positive side, once a proper turtle habitat is fully-established, they're relatively hardy, moderate-maintenance pets. They also can be left alone for a few days if need be because they're opportunistic feeders, so they can go a few days without feeding. In fact, the most common feeding schedule for adult aquatic turtles is every other day.

Rich

Ok, how did they determine it doesn't produce saliva, dry kiss?

 

[flyingron]

Note that those turtles get much larger. We've got the Florida cooters in the lake here and they are large. My wife has one that is now outgrowing its third tank. I'm going to be building it's new (and hopefully final) tank soon. My wife got it from another school teacher up in Virginia and we've had it ever since (16 or so years). While they don't take much are, they do need sunlight (or at least UV), food, clean water, and appropriate temperatures.

 

[write-stuff]

There a number of terrapin varities (cooters, sliders, etc.) that look like this when juveniles. Very difficult to tell them apart. To ID a little guy like that requires someone who really knows his stuff and also knows where geographically he was found.

 

[ktup-flyer]

He said lettuce wraps are for communists.

 

[Dave Theisen]

In the past, you could just ask it's mother, nowadays, you have to let them grow up and see if they identify more as a cooter or a slider.

 

[flyingron]

Actually, sexing turtles can be rather difficult. We're not sure which Buzz actually is. Her tankmate was definitely female (she died of complications of being egg bound).

 

[RJM62]

Actually, sexing turtles can be rather difficult. We're not sure which Buzz actually is. Her tankmate was definitely female (she died of complications of being egg bound).

That's another complication of keeping reptiles. Some of them are exceedingly fussy about nesting areas.

Rich

 

[steingar]

Actually, sexing turtles can be rather difficult. We're not sure which Buzz actually is. Her tankmate was definitely female (she died of complications of being egg bound).

Determining the sex of most North American Chelonians is extremely facile. Determining the sex of most North American Serpents is quite difficult.