Other Turtle Discussion :: Sea Turtles?

[theartbook35]

Why get a sea turte? If you want a high maintenance turtle, rescue a wild caught diamondback terrapin from China Town cause they need tons of care.

[marisa]

You can't get a sea turtle---they're illegal to own.

[zuse]

The only ones that are "kept" by rescue places have had fins amputated by fishing line accidents, etc. and can't survive (at least, some of the ones I saw in the Keys had this problem). Most adults in captivity I would think were being rehabbed for rerelease or something like that.

The numbers are small because they seem to have a homing instinct to return to the beach where they are born to lay eggs. Unfortunately, it takes several years for them to grow to maturity and by this point many of the beaches of been commercialized and there are no dunes left. In some areas that these turtles are native they slaughter the turtles coming to shore for meat. The eggs are sometimes harvested but many times they are just destroyed. This was true in the past at least... I think there are more regulations/laws today but with a species like the turtle that kind of damage to the population back then is a bit catastrophic.

That's how species that while technically have the run of all the worlds oceans are in such trouble.

I also think it would be cruel to keep an turtle in an aquarium/pond when it is designed to have the run of the ocean.

[SINI5T3R]

I also think it would be cruel to keep an turtle in an aquarium/pond when it is designed to have the run of the ocean.

If you think that, then you have to think the same for RES and every other turtle in a tank....

[TheComputerGremlin]

The only way I could see someone having a sea turtle is, as others have mentioned, if the turtle was critically injured and unable to go back to the sea, like they have at aquariums. But I don't believe at this point that any aquariums are so strained that they would allow private homes to care for one.

Sea turtles have so many issues. I just went to the Baltimore aquarium and they have a sea turtle there, she's just beautiful, huge. She lost a whole fin to gangrene when they were trying to save her, so she lives at the aquarium now. Anyways, they had an exhibit up saying that those lousy plastic bags that we use at the grocery store end up in the seas and turtles eat them, thinking they are jelly fish, and die. And because the sea turtle population is decreasing, the jelly fish population is increasing, which will have dire complications towards the ecosystem of the seas.

In short, support sea turtle breeding programs and don't buy turtles unless you know they aren't endangered.

[zuse]

I also think it would be cruel to keep an turtle in an aquarium/pond when it is designed to have the run of the ocean.

If you think that, then you have to think the same for RES and every other turtle in a tank....

I'm torn. I kind of think there is a difference between an ocean dwelling species used to swimming thousands of miles and a species that will willingly spend its entire life in one little pond. I also think there's just way more that can go wrong when trying to recreate an aquatic environment. And you'll never really be able to give us as much space as you could a land dwelling animal (think of the whales at Sea World... they have a MASSIVE tank and it's really still too small for some of the larger males).

Also, RES in particular are the kudzu of reptiles in nature so the turtle that I ignorantly bought as a baby isn't going to be released to harm the environment (and it would be cruel to my poor captive-raised turtle anyway). I just do my best to give her the best environment I can since I'm responsible for her. But I'm not going to get anymore turtles.

[theartbook35]

I also think it would be cruel to keep an turtle in an aquarium/pond when it is designed to have the run of the ocean.

If you think that, then you have to think the same for RES and every other turtle in a tank....

I'm torn. I kind of think there is a difference between an ocean dwelling species used to swimming thousands of miles and a species that will willingly spend its entire life in one little pond. I also think there's just way more that can go wrong when trying to recreate an aquatic environment. And you'll never really be able to give us as much space as you could a land dwelling animal (think of the whales at Sea World... they have a MASSIVE tank and it's really still too small for some of the larger males).

Also, RES in particular are the kudzu of reptiles in nature so the turtle that I ignorantly bought as a baby isn't going to be released to harm the environment (and it would be cruel to my poor captive-raised turtle anyway). I just do my best to give her the best environment I can since I'm responsible for her. But I'm not going to get anymore turtles.

I agree zuse. Sea turtles are more nomadic. An RES willingly stays in one place.

[Moose]

My now this is a VERY stimulating and educational post! I know that i did live in Hawaii for about four years and if its anything i learned it is to save the sea turtles ''the heart of the sea'' and there was a guy who tried to harbor two sea turtles and trust me the ended up getting sick and were completly miserable, THANKFULLY they were able to be rescued to the Sea Life Park aquarium due to an anonymous caller *cough* *cough* and the guy was fined a hefty set of change. lol