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Hi! My name's Elise and I recently acquired two RES who have been named Crush and Squirt. (Not very original I know.) They are the cutest things I have ever seen and are quite the addition to my family. In my house we now have 3 dogs, 4 rabbits, 2 betta fish, about 6 or so goldfish and now my little babies.

How I got them:
Many of you may or may not know this but people are evil. They are mean to poor defenceless animals and often leave them to die.
You see I work at a pet store near my house and I have often seen the cruelty done to animals. It is quite sad.
As I'm sure you may know it is illegal to leave an animal infront of a pet store, but even still many people still do it. This is how I got one of my rabbits and my two RES.
Some one had left the two baby RES (Crush is about 3in big and Squirt about 2in.) infront of my store in a little 10"x6"x6" plastic contianer with nothing but a little water dish full of sludge for one turtle and nothing for the other. Of course the moment my manager saw this she filled the small "tank" with clean water and crafted a small landing for them with a raised cat food bowl and some gavel. (we don't sell reptiles and carry little in the way of suppiles for them) When I came in to work and saw them I knew I had to help them. So, $60 later for the nicest tank I could afford, they were mine.
I love them to death but didn't know that it would cost so much to care for one. Now, I've done tons of reserch and if I had known ahead of time how much time and effort it would take to proporly care for one I may not have taken them. However it's too late now, I love them. And I am going to do my best to give them the life of luxury that they deserve.

I will post pics of their new home and how extra cute they are soon; as soon as I get some new batteries for my camera.

[edit: 9/08/06 1:11am]
I found a pic on my comp. of their little set up. As of a few days ago it is slightly different. Bigger filter (meaning I shouldn't have to clean it every day like I used to have to) Differnt lighting (It is now clamped on the to slats to the left and it's now about a foot from the top of the tank) and a few fish (that are almost the same size as the turtles, I kinda like them, but they're only 10cent feeder fish so I'm not attached)

ANYWAY, Crush is the one sitting on the rock in the forgound. 10 points to anyone who can spot where Squirt is!

Love the riverbed rocks.
Kudos to you for saving two lives.

How cute! Great job rescuing them! Is that Squirt's head poking out of the water by the rock in the back? If so, I just got 10 points! Where do I redeem them? lol
The best thing you've done, besides saving them, is all the research you've done. We're here to help, just ask!
There's some websites that have free/cheap turtle necessities that you can pick up if the location is close to you, www.freecycle.org and www.craigslist.com. Check them out to see if you have one close to home. Keep us posted on how they're doing and if you have questions.

Welcome to the forum! Be sure to keep reading about the basic care needed, and the items needed for a set up. Good save!

very humane of you to help these cool creatures, welcome!

That's so sad how people can do that. My Zeke was dropped off at the local Petco...they of course brought everything in with him...but it wasn't an adequate setup better than some, but not great. I've had him for about a month now.

Welcome. You'll learn alot from the folks here. They are very helpful when it comes to ensure quality of life for your pets, inlcuding turtles.

Just a suggestion: since you couldn't get a larger tank, you should get rid of the most of the rocks. They take up valuable swimming space for the turtles. And make sure the light you have gives UVA, UVB and heat.

CountryGirl68 wrote: Just a suggestion: since you couldn't get a larger tank, you should get rid of the most of the rocks. They take up valuable swimming space for the turtles. And make sure the light you have gives UVA, UVB and heat.

you can't see it from that angle but there is only about a 1/2" of rocks at the bottom. from the angle it looks like the whole thing is filled with them, but it's not. and actually now, with the rearrangements i have made with the new filter and all, they have more swimming space.

Okay, glad to hear that.

Its good to hear that some people still care for these amazing creatures...i am sorta recueing the ones i am getting...the old owner had no time no space and the ability to not care for anything... i think ur setup is very nice especailly the rocks.

good luck with ur turtles

Hi Elise,

Thats a good thing you doing. I aquired my slider with the same Idea, to save one atleast.

I was visiting a friend in Cleveland Ohio back in Jan 2004. We were on the freeway and stopped at a gas station. We went in to get gas and a drink and came out with a baby turtle. I was walking around the store to get some munches and my friend says "Hey, look at these cute turtles!" I get a bag and go to the counter to find a tupperware bowl with a half inch of water and 10 to 20 tiny little turtles(how mine got the name) in it, THAT WAS IT! Right smack in front of the door, where it was snowing outside with a breeze coming in everytime the door opened! I had a reptile as a kid, so I had a Idea that they weren't being kept well. I got one for $5 and left. I then called the humane society and gave them the deal. So, know that I had a baby turtle, that I had no clue how to take care of, we were off to the pet store. I bought a ten gal tank, a couple bags of pebbles, a heat lamp and a flourescent uvb light, plus a book. Setup the tank and put the little guy in it. After reading a bit, it was back to the pet store, I bought a water heater and a filter. I tired all kinds of food to get the little guy to eat but it was so bad off, it would just swim around. I tired pelleted food chop to size, no luck. Baby fish, same out come. A week went by, so I took her to a vet. After I gave him the story, he felt bad. But, gave me the truth, it had a 10% chance of living. So, I spent the 150 dollars anyways. Three years later, She is doing great and is eating and growing very well. After all that I'm still seeking a better way to take care of her.

Sorry for the long story but its good to know I'm not the only one to go out of my way to help a turtle in need:) I have learned alot about Sliders and there care, If you ever need help, just ask. Alot of people will help. Good luck to you and your little buddies.

The most amazing people participate on this forum! You all are fine examples of human beings and help make up for all the bad ones.