Other Turtle Discussion :: Tell Me Not to Resuce that Urtle

[alp1977]

Somebody talk myself and my husband out of it! We went to get urtle some guppies and of course stopped to look at the RES tank. Four little guys, only two really swimming around, so much shell pyramiding, the two that weren't really active have this weird white growth on the back of their neck, when we arrived no light was on until we said something and then they had "forgotten to turn on the light", only one (uvb bulb). I mean the tank size was great but the pyramiding, the growth on the necks (which we were told "we are taking care of it, they are sick") but you are having the two sick ones in the same tank as the supposed healthy ones? And you are selling the sick ones to the public? I just wanted to vomit a little bit. My husband was talking to the guy "in charge" of the aquarium area and questioned if they knew the gender of the urtles in the tank, the guy dipped his hand in started grabbing them up and turned them on their side, I guess sexing them that way? Which seemed odd to me. Only one or two seemed even at the 4" mark.

And of course we started talking about how easy it would be for us to set up a quarantine tank for the sick ones, etc etc. Tell me we don't need sick urtles, though I am calling cooperate on Tuesday to complain. And thus why I couldn't work at those types of stores, I'd be nitpicking my way through all day.

[steve]

It's a tough situation to be in. I think when most of us see other RES not having the best care, we become very frustrated. I send in complaints (and pictures) when I see street vendors selling them, yet the city doesn't do one thing about it. I hope you can make some progress with those stores!

[VeipaCray]

I've learned that many of the chain pet stores are misinformed about turtle care. Most of the stores have a care sheet for the turtles that's just plain wrong. Petco sometimes does OK with the turtle care but the other large chain that begins with a "P" doesn't.

@Steve - maybe we should draft a 1 page basic habitat and care sheet that can be downloaded and printed from this site? The sheet could be given to the pet stores by willing members or left by the turtle displays. I know it might not be welcomed info by the stores, but if he turtles aren't being cared for and reporting them does nothing....maybe just basic information would help?

[alp1977]

@veipa - That's an awesome idea, I would be more then happy to leave them around some of the pet stores we have here.

@steve - I have heard of street vendors selling them but never actually seen it for myself. I guess I couldn't imagine such a high sales rate on them unless they are pawned off as easy to care for as a goldfish.

This was a petco, unfortunately, the mom and pop shop we usually get our guppies from was out of them at the moment and petco was the closest place. I hate those stores due to bad experiences at a different location with their bird section. I knew this one was not going to be a good trip as soon I had passed the reptile area and seen tanks with so many critters in them that they were basically sitting on top of each other. The main RES I was concerned about was the smallest guy, who basically just sat at the bottom of the tank until we mentioned something and the "expert" pulled the poor thing out of the water, tipped him upside down to "sex" him and then put him back in the water. After a couple seconds of swimming after that, he was right back at the bottom of the tank just sitting there. Due to the angle he was laying at I hadn't even noticed the growth on his neck until he had been manhandled. The other one with the growth was a bit more active but mainly spending its time basking once we told them to turn on the light.

[steve]

@Veipa - There is actually is a PDF, though it hasn't been touched in a few years. It's possible to make something for distribution.

[SINI5T3R]

Same stuff happens at our local petsmart. there is barley any water in there tank, they are all always basking when ever they seem to get a chance, they have loads of gold fish in there tank and pellets that dont even look like there for turtles. Iv noticed Family Run pet stores are way better then the big chain pet stores for animals themself.