Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: I have been here a while but meet Henry's new friend Oscar!

[wilso720]

Oscar is a 3-4 week old hatchling...
"He" is currently in quarantine for the next 2-3 months, most likely 3 to allow time for growth.
For those of you who don't know Henry is a 2 year old painted. Oscar, like Henry, is also a painted!

The following 2 pictures are of my shy and slightly grumpy looking hatchling...I think the markings around his eyes make him look like a grouch...hence the "Oscar the Grouch"





For a size reference he is smaller than a quarter!

[untsmurf]

cute! I'm glad to hear that you're quarantining him. Where did you get the little guy?

[wilso720]

My husband and I rescued him from a a "flea market" type place. I picked the guy I thought had the most 'hope' and 'personality'. If we had the money I would have gotten all of them. I felt HORRIBLE because there were some with obvious health issues, i.e. puffy eyes, cracked shells, lethargic movement. Which furthered my need to quarantine Oscar. I have a small .5-1 gal glad container that i put Oscar and Henry in for a size comparison and as soon as I did it I was like NOOOOOOOO>>>!!!!>........ I felt stupid for not thinking about separating them. Henry is almost 4" and Oscar being less than the size of a quarter I figured 3 months would be good for him. It will give him a chance to 1) be sure of his health 2) develop personality 3) grow a little...

Luckily my husband and I kept Henry's 10gal tank (he now has a 20gal) so when Oscar is big enough to be in a 10gal....which he is in a 1 gal critter tank for A) quarantine purposes and B) I am afraid for his swimming capabilities because he was swimming around and was breathing very heavily so I was scared he might drowned. I think Oscar was being kept by a man who knows nothing about what he was doing. He actually told us that turtles dont need heat lamps....and he is the only guy in the US to use these "sun blasting" lights that are supposedly just list the sun...

OBVIOUSLY the guy is not legit because he sold us the turtle without mentioning of it being for an educational purpose..which I think of this as a rescue situation. Oscar was by far the smallest in the tank and would have suffered malnutrition other wise..

He already has his own basking rock/cave....hollow under the rock for hiding/protection to make him more comfortable..it worked for Henry.
He doesnt like to eat, I know he is adjusting and I will update on that for possible ideas if nothing else works.

[tracksweetie_15]

aww, well good job on the rescue mission, i hope everything goes well for you!