redearslider.com

Ok, I know this was bad now after researching on the internet, but we recently had a carnival in my town and one stand was selling baby RES turtles. They were really cute, so I bought one even though I knew nothing about them except the edited information they had on their care sheets. From what I understand, my little turtle could grow to be a foot long!

Anyway, back on task, I took my turtle out into my backyard to get some sun on saturday, but I was busy and couldn't stay with him, so I put a deep dish of water with him, as well as some rocks and then covered him with a large storage box half in the shade, half in sun (it was clear so he could still sun). I came back half an hour to fourty-five minutes later to find him gone! My guess is he burrowed out under the container.

So after I discovered him missing I searched for him for an hour, but found no trace of him. I filled the kiddie pool in the back yard and put a low ramp up to it in hopes of tempting him to return.

So I was wondering if there is anything else I can do in hopes of finding him. The neighbor 2 doors over has an inground pool, so I'm going to check with them tonight to see if they saw any turtles around, their pool is the only body of water near my house, so with him being an aquatic turtle that's the only place I can think of he would go to.

Does anyone know how long a RES can survive without water?

Any help you can give is appreciated!

Thanks again,
Megan

They can go a surprisingly long time without water. I've heard of at least one instance that a lost turtle was found after a month, dehydrated but alive. Leaving the bowl of water in the yard with a ramp was a good start! My other concern would be that an animal carried him away. Keep looking. He very well could have dug himself into the dirt or he could be hiding under a hedge somewhere. Good luck.

Hose down the yard to provide more moisture. If it's really warm where you are, you'll probably have better luck finding him earlier or later in the day when it's not so warm (he'll be more active).

You need to keep searching non-stop. Look under rocks, bushes leaves, etc. Good luck.