Urgent Care :: Pittsburgh, PA - found a RES on a highway road side...help

[shana2k]

I know how to care for her, I've had store bought sliders before. But my question is...

Did I do the right thing taking her home?
1. They aren't native to PA.
2. She was bone dry on the side of a highway.
3. She's big! Approx. 8 inches or more long...I thought maybe she got too big for someone and they dumped her.

She's currently loving my pond. I have 2 small painted turtles and big goldfish in there and she DOVE in. She's only been in there a day, so I have to check tomorrow to make sure she's not going on a killing spree once she's comfortable. But I threw in plenty of food too.

I was just pretty sure she isn't native to the area. And stupid people who buy aquatic life (turtles, alligaters, etc.) who don't expect them to grow up, then throw them away when they do, make me mad!

Did I do right taking her? Or should I place her back where I found her?

[seanwb]

Given it is not native and not in a safe position (and I am guessing not near water) I think you did the right thing. Just hope you are not to attached to your goldfish!

I do have to declare that I may be biased here. Last year I found a non native large RES, not near water, not in a safe place so rescued it despite knowing next to nothing about them.

stupid people who buy aquatic life (turtles, alligaters, etc.) who don't expect them to grow up, then throw them away when they do, make me mad!

but not as much as shops who sell cute little creatures and assure people they stay small and need no special care!!!!!!!!!!

[shana2k]

but not as much as shops who sell cute little creatures and assure people they stay small and need no special care!!!!!!!!!!

Agreed! I bought from petstores years ago when I was younger, but never do now. I adopted my painted turtles from my local animal shelter, believe it or not.

I checked on her this morning...she's very shy, but she's eating the pellets. So I assume she must have been captive b4...she loves the pellets. She's not bothering the fish...yet. I put some small minnows in too (I do every year anyway), maybe distract her from the bigger fish if she gets any ideas.

I'll need a bigger tank for indoors, or need to rehome her come winter though.

[Diamondbacks4Life]

If shes eating the pellets right away like you said she had to have been a pet. Wild turtles would not knw what they are and usually dont eat right away cause there scared and stressed out.

Plus on the list of known areas in PA that res are established in. Pittsburgh is not on there. So far only Eastern PA has established res populations

[jozzep]

She probably escaped from someones pond.......
I would say to put flyers up cause someone is probably looking for her, but how do know if the person that shows up is really the owner???
Just keep her in the pond or find a shelter

[TheComputerGremlin]

You can easily find RES in the waters of the areas around Pittsburgh, though they aren't native, they do exist. My husband is from that area and he thought that RES were native to PA, until I told him they weren't. However, enough indicates that she may have been a pet at least at some time in her life. One way or another, you definitely saved her in the sense that she was dehydrated and hungry!

If she's happy in your pond and you are wanting to keep her, I don't see any harm in it. I would recommend keeping extra watchful with the 2 smaller turtles in there (if they are males, if they try to mate, she may attack them violently) and inspect them as often as you can to make sure they have all of their legs and tails. As for the fish, you'll lose a few, but a good sized fish makes a meal for a turtle that lasts a good few days, if not longer. She will likely hunt smaller, slower fish first, but you may lose some of the bigger ones. You can try keeping additional minnows in there for her to chase.

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Painted turtles wont try and mate with a res. So no worrys about that but still watch on the attacking.

[jozzep]

Oh...here's another tip to tell if she's captive raised or wild.
Most captive raised RES have some kind of "piramiding" from overfeeding them when we didn't really know much about them, instead wild raised RES are nice and smooth.
Just came up with that theory, but makes a lot of sense to me

[shana2k]

Well, everything seems fine for now out there...I'm keeping a close eye though. Thanks for the replies.

Her shell is pretty "bumpy", not like my previous sliders.

I'm keeping her for now, if it becomes an issue, I'll find her a good home.

Thanks so much!

[marisa]

If there had been a body of water anywhere near where you found her, she would have been better off being released there.

Do be careful of those painteds...