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My daughter wants me to bring her 3-year-old RES to her school (3rd grade) for show and tell. Does anyone have any advice on this or tips to make it go smoothly? We're only about three minutes from the school, so I'm not worried about transport time. I was going to print out a sheet of facts about redeared sliders and pass them out. He's a really personable turtle, doesn't mind being handled, and rarely hides in his shell. I just don't want to overwhelm him. I had thought about taking his old kiddie pool from outside to put him in so they could all see him up close without touching, but it's kinda cumbersome and he's grown enough to be able to climb out.

This website has been an awesome source of information! He's a lot of work, but I didn't realize he'd be such an interesting pet!

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Lori

first off i would not let any of them hold your RES becuase they are so young. you could have a rubbermaid container or even a smaller aquarium if your RES is only going to be in the classroom for an hour or so. most likely your RES will be stressed with all the kids and movement and just unfamiliar movement.

RES get stressed easily when being handled will probably pee after a few minutes. Maybe pass around a stuffed turtle to talk about anatomy? If they do touch a turtle (preferable the shell), make sure the container is dry and maybe lined with newspaper. Turtles will more likely bite when in water... but can really bite at anytime, so you might want to avoid any petting.

*visions of professor Steve, a white lab coat, a giant stuffed turtle, and a laser pointer*

I don't think I want to have the imagination for that.

Well, I'm pleased to say it went really great. I ended up taking him in a large clear Rubbermaid type container. I held him to show the kids (no touching!) and he acted really super interested in them, he kept his head out the entire time looking around at everything. The teacher thought he was so neat, she said at the beginning of the class that she wanted to get a turtle, and then at the end, after I had detailed the amount of care it took to keep a healthy happy turtle, she said she'd just stick with fish, lol!

Thanks for all the advice!

Great to hear, thanks for the update

Just saw this thread. I took my daughter's for Show and Tell yesterday. Angelina is just a baby. I took her in the little carrier we bought to transport her home in (bought at the beach). I had no intensions of taking her out of the container, but the teacher said it was ok. I let my daughter hold her while the kids were allowed to come up and look at her (no touching). A few did try to touch her, but I stopped them. I must say she was not real happy about the trip, but I took her home immediately after, and she was happy as can be when I got home from work yesterday evening.

This brings me to a question. I've seen a lot of talk here about how handling them stresses them out. Then I've seen some talk about people that seem to handle them a good bit. What is the right way? Will handling the RES help tame it, or should we just pretty much leave it in the tank?

It depends on the personality of the RES. I think a lot of hand holding will stress them out (especially when their arms and feet are in the air) and I usually get peed on after a couple of minutes. They are less stressed if I let them crawl on me and I use my arm or hand the guide them or keep them from falling.