Watch out! Your turtle might be an arsonist

Make sure your smoke detector is fully functional…

Published: 25 Feb 2008

A COUPLE returned home to find their house had been set on fire by their TORTOISE.

Emma Fox had brought 70-year-old Fred inside when the pet came out of hibernation early.

Emma, 30, and partner Paul Butler, 45, left Fred – a female – in a tank under a heat lamp to keep her warm enough to stay alive.

But Fred piled her dry straw under the lamp and it caught alight, spreading flames through the house.

(more)

Advice Column: Red-Eared Slider is not eating…why?

As I mentioned in a previous post, I said I would be starting an advice column on the first and third Friday of every month. Now, I know your thinking I’m stupid, because here it is a Monday and I’m getting ready to post my first advice question.

Well, as it goes, I decided that Friday’s were just too busy for me and have changed the date to Monday’s. I have an irregular work week and Monday’s happen to be a day off for me, so this works quite well.

After my announcement, two girls logged into the Georgia Public Library System thought they would be funny by sending me questions regarding how to make turtle soup and how to get rid of turtles with suggestions of shoving them up one’s butt. Don’t hold your breathe on my answering those questions, ladies.

That aside, here is the first question of the first column. Woohoo!

From Geannine

I have a red eared slider, approx. 10 years old.  She has stopped eating.  No matter what we try, pelletes for aquatic turtles or lean meat, even small fish. she refuses to eat.  I’ve also noticed some small soft brown spots on her shell.  Can you help?

Geannine,

If you still have your turtle and she hasn’t improved, I would recommend you take her to a veterinarian who is trained in reptiles immediately. While the lack of eating can be due to many things, the brown spots sound like the onset of shell rot. Shell rot is caused by organisms that penetrate the shell through scratches or abrasions. Once in, they start to eat away at the shell and eventually at the body of the turtle, leading to serious infections and potentially death.

As for the lack of eating, that maybe be related to the potential shell rot. Again, here it would also be good for you to get a fecal sample and have a veterinarian analyze it.

The easiest way to get a fecal sample is to put your turtle in a plastic container with breathing holes and a centimeter of water over night. If your turtle likes to roam, make sure you put a lid on the container otherwise you might be in for a game of turtle hide and seek in the morning. In the morning, you should have a fresh fecal sample to take to your veterinarian. (Fecal samples should not be older than 4 hours. You will want to keep them refrigerated as well.)

Now, to answer the actual question, here are several reasons your turtle might not be eating:

• Need a change in food (shrimp is always good for getting them out of their rut)
• What season is it? Turtles will generally get more lethargic when it’s time to hibernate. (Think winter for your region, just like all other creatures that hibernate.)
• Is the water warm enough? If it’s too cold, their body might get confused and think it’s time for hibernation. They can stop eating if they’re too cold.
• Is your turtle stressed? They experience stress just like humans, so if they’ve been traveling recently, get handled a lot, or have just gotten a new friend in their tank, they might be stressed. Give them some time and peace…they should be back to normal soon enough.
• Is your turtle sick? Lop-sided swimming, nasal discharge or raspy breathing could mean you need to take a visit to a veterinarian for some antibiotics.

If eating doesn’t happen in two weeks and you think you’ve done everything right, definitely take them to a veterinarian. Something else might be going on that you can’t see.

Yet again…plastic bag is the cause of turtle death

Found this article just yesterday:

27 Feb 08

AUTHORITIES have lashed out at irresponsible litterers after a giant green turtle was found choking to death off a Darwin beach yesterday.

The adult female _ believed to be about 40 years old _ was spotted in distress floating about 200m offshore in Fannie Bay.

It is believed she had swallowed a plastic bag.

(more)

Please, please, please! Don’t litter. It affects your environment more than you know.

(Photo by CLIVE HYDE)

Advice column on Turtletopia

I’ve noticed that I’ve been getting lots of questions in blog comments on the site. So I thought it would be a good idea to start up an advice column to answer your questions as best as I can. I’ve said before, I’m not an expert, but I’m awfully good at researching information and I can certainly find the information for you from good resources, none the less.

With that, I’ll start running an advice column bi-monthly, on the first and the third Friday of the month. That gives you guys about two weeks to get your questions in and I’ll pick them out as I can answer them. I’ll even let you ask them anonymously, if you like. It also gives me time to think up a catchy name for the column.

Send me your questions and let’s see if I can help you out!

Tiny Turtles Illegal in Florida!

Well…not quite yet, but as of July 1st, turtles smaller than 4 inches in length will be illegal to own. Stores have already stopped selling turtles as of last July, in compliance with a Florida state law outlawing the sale of exotic creatures.

The law comes from having so many red-eared sliders released into the local population. Being quicker on land and in water, the turtles are overrunning the locals and interbreeding, creating a new species of turtle.

So, while you may have a red-eared slider now, in the future you will have to apply to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for a free permit to possess the turtles. If you live in Florida and you own one, consider yourself lucky to do so.

(Photo courtesy of Elma Avdagic.)

CORRECTION: Thanks to reader Katrina, we’ve been informed that it was actually the sale of red-eared sliders that was banned in Florida due to their cross breeding with the native yellow-bellied sliders. Please see her comment below for the full details.

Turtle Hospital Tours at the South Carolina Aquarium

How neat would it be to get a behind-the-scenes look at a turtle hospital? Well, now you can! The South Carolina Aquarium has opened up there sea turtle clinic for tours so that you can see the care they give to sick and injured turtles admitted to their hospital.

From their website:

You’ll meet the current “patients in residence,” and hear from staff and volunteers about the types of treatment and daily care that help to nurse them back to health. You’ll also hear case histories of some of the nearly 25 turtles that have successfully been released back into the wild. Plus, you’ll learn what you can do to help keep the local sea turtle population healthy.

Thirty-minute tours operate this season every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1:00 p.m.; for advance tickets, call (843) 579-8600. Admission is $10 per adult, $5 for children (2-12). Reservations are recommended.

This sounds like an awesome opportunity as well as a great experience for young and old alike.

Dress like a turtle for Halloween!

…Or you could just go hang out with a few for a good time (no costume required.) Tomorrow, there are two holiday events that are sure to be “spooktacular”!

From the Chicago Turtle Club website. (Event is in the Chicago area.):

Join your fellow turtle enthusiasts for an informal afternoon of turtle fun and knowledge. To celebrate Halloween, feel free to bring in your scariest turtle to thrill the gathered throng. As usual the public, children, and turtles are cordially invited. No turtle experience necessary. Free admission and parking.

Sunday, October 28
1:00 PM ’til 4:00 PM
North Park Village Nature Center Classroom
5801 North Pulaski Road – Chicago

For more information, e-mail Chicagoturtle@geocities.com.

From the Georgia Sea Turtle Center blog. (Event is held at Jekyll Island, GA.):

Looking for a way to get into the Halloween spirit? Well, put on that costume and head on down to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center! This Sunday, October 28th from 12-5pm you can trick or treat with the sea turtles at the first annual Turtleween!

We will have turtle-inspired games and crafts for kids of all ages, including face painting, cookie decorating, pumpkin painting, and more!

Come in costume and get $1 off admission! All kids wearing their most creative, original turtle costume will be entered in our costume contest.

Bring your treat bucket or design one here, and come trick or treat with the GSTC staff. We will all be in costume and we hope you will too! You gotta come check out our costumes! We’ll give you a hint… what do sea turtles eat?

This event is free with paid admission to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. For more information, call (912) 635-4076.

Win a chance to release a turtle!

If you live in the Caymans, you could win a chance to release a turtle during the Cayman Turtle Farm/Boatswain’s Beach 27th annual turtle release on Friday, November 16th. Apparently, they’ve been doing this since the 1980’s and have released over 31,000 turtles into the wild. I think that’s absolutely amazing.

Due to the commercial harvesting of sea turtles in the Caymans, a population that at one time was abundant is now almost extinct. Where once there were so many turtles, that even Christoper Columbus dubbed the Cayman Islands with the name “Las Tortugas”, there are now less than 30 adult female green sea turtles nesting there each year.

Farm raised turtles are being tagged and released into the wild with successful results. The data returned by the taggin is showing that they are following the migration patterns of wild turtles, allowing them to adapt to their new environment and potentially reproduce to increase the population of sea turtles. This is the reason why the turtle release is such a great thing!

Now wouldn’t that be neat if more coastal turtle rescue hubs did just the same? I would jump at this chance in a heartbeat! Wouldn’t you?

Plastic Bags are not Turtle Food

Photo from Are You Ready? Campaign, Melbourne Zoo

Can you imagine a turtle eating a plastic bag because it thought it was a jelly fish? A look at the photo from the Melbourne Zoo shows that’s exactly what has been happening all over the world. Do a Google search for “turtle plastic bag” and you will find thousands of pages detailing how marine life, not just turtles, are suffering from our careless use and discarding of plastic waste. While I’m finding articles dating as far back as 2000, I still see plenty of present day articles and blogs discussing how this is still a very serious issue with no end in sight if we don’t get actively involved.

Now you might say that the easiest way to effect change is to request paper bags when grocery shopping. However, while paper bags degrade in a month’s time (versus the 500 to 1000 years it takes for a plastic bag to degrade), the energy usage to create that bag is enormous, not to mention that we are quickly cutting into our earth and losing all the lovely green scenery that we tend to enjoy.

So what’s the answer? Responsible consumption. That, of course, will be an individual decision and while we would all probably like to be completely green, compromises may have to be made. For me, I was already reusing the shopping bags from my grocery store trips in waste containers all over the house. I’ll be switching to using a reusable canvas tote bag to do my shopping, but still use garbage bags to dispose of my waste. Once I use all my shopping bags, I’ll probably switch to containers that don’t allow for trash to get stuck in them (right now I have wicker trash baskets in the house), so that I can dump the trash into one main bag easily. To me, it’s worth all the effort if it will help save our marine life.

If you’re interested in more information on plastic bags, their life cycle and how they are affecting turtles, marine life and our environment, please visit these resources:

• No Bags, Thanks!
• Sea Turtles Don’t Shop
• Save Sea Turtles from Extinction – Take the Plastic Bag Pledge
• Patagonia’s Oceans as Wilderness Campaign

Looking for a source of reusable bags? You can get them at Ecobags or Reusable Bags.

So what are you going to do to reduce your use of plastic bags?

Care Sheet: Red-eared Slider

Habitat:
Red-eared sliders love water. Allow them plenty of swimming space. A heat source and light for basking should be given if unfiltered sunlight is not available. Providing a basking log and a transition section so that your slider can move back and forth from basking to swimming with ease.

Temperature and Humidity:
It is recommended that warming water be at least twice the turtle’s shell length, at a minimum. Temperature of the warming water should be about 75-86 degrees F and a large basking site are essential for red-ear sliders. Be sure to provide ample lighting and humidity.

Food:
Red-eared sliders are mainly carnivorous as juveniles, becoming more herbivorous as adults. The young eat water insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and tadpoles, then turn to a plant diet as they mature. The most important dietary requirements are vitamin D, calcium, and phosphorus, which are necessary in sufficient quantity and in the correct proportions to form the bones and shell of a growing turtle, without which the shell would become soft and deformed.

Their diet is somewhat varied, so they can be feed worms, snails, water plants, fresh vegetables, and small pieces of raw meat. (As a side note: Raw meat should only be fed as a treat, since it is high in fat and grease soils the tank quickly.) Commercial prepared dry turtle food is acceptable as long as it is used in a well-balanced diet.

Cleanliness & Health:
Aquatic turtles, by general nature, are messy. It’s best to inspect your turtle thoroughly before purchase from a breeder or pet store. Other possible health problems include both internal and external parasites.

Further Information and Related Web Site:
http://www.anapsid.org/reslider.html