At any rate, my name is Ren. I have never had turtles before (unless you could the greviously neglected little half-dollar sized babies my parents inevitably killed with neglect when I was 5 or 6 years old
), though a long time turtle lover and enthusiast and have rehabbed a few natives over the years. However, if all goes well, I may soon be in posession of an adult male Red Eared Slider.
I did not choose this turtle. I am a wildlife rehabilitator, and found a deathly ill Red Eared Slider by a local pond - definitely a released exotic pet since they are non-native to this state, and this fellow had all the signs of a life of neglect. He had the single worst eye infection I've ever seen in a turtle, plus an upper respiratory infection, skin lessions, shell damage, and was dehydrated and skinny.
I've had him about four weeks and with the help of subcutaneous fluids, antibiotics, eye ointments, and a heck of a lot of dilligent wound cleaning, he is slowly but surely recovering. He is not yet self feeding, but force feeding has him about up to weight. If he continues to improve, I suspect he'll become my pet, as it would be illegal (and unethical) to put him in the wild as a non-native.
I've never wanted an RES since they have SUCH demanding care, but I am hopefully soon moving down south to a property where he could live outdoors much of the year in a fenced in man-made pond (the place used to keep and breed turtles so everything I'd need is conveniently already there!). At this point I've grown very attached and am enthusiastically rooting for this to be the outcome!
Expect plenty of neurotic questions from me about the little fellow, as I'm deathly afraid that I'll in some way goof up his husbandry and his fight for survival will have been for nothing.
Oh - and as of yesterday, I'm also the new owner of a sulcutta tortoise, which was ALSO found abandoned in a local park
