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Ok so I was a silly 19 year old getting drunk in China town NYC about 5 years ago and saw "CUTE TURTLES" and HAD to have them.
I proceded to name them after an ex and his favorite actress...finding out 3 years later they are both boys...
Anyhow long story short: I fell in love

So now 5 years later i have two 5 inch long (shell) RESs in a 55 gallon tank

this past spring my roommates dad found a baby no bigger than a quarter in the local river and decided to give him to her because I had turtles.

I put the little guy in my old first tank (10 gallon) with some stones for basking and bought her the light and the food and everything... two weeks later she said she didn't want him so either I took care of him or we sent him to her mothers house to live with her sisters baby RES.

I kept him.

now I am moving out to a new apartment which is small too small to have two tanks let alone my one 55 gallon

little guy is about 1.5 inch (shell) by now

I have 2 options what do i do?

1. Give the turtle to my roommates little sister (and break my heart because I am attached)

2. Put him in the 55 Gallon with the two bigger turtles. ( I am scared he will get hurt because one of the big guys (Kyle) kicks the other big guys (Scarlett - its a boy though) butt and i've had to have his finger removed)


PLEASE HELP ME

If you only have those two options, I say give up the little one to your roommate's
little sister. With prior hostility, it's quite dangerous to put a little turtle with two
bigger turtles.

By the way, you have your turtle's finger removed because he kicked the other
turtle's butt? That's not a good thing to do. Poor turtle. You should have separated
them right after the first aggression.

no no no
oh boy
no
Scarlett got his butt kicked by Kyle and his finger got cut
and he kept biting it and no matter how well i cleaned it
it kept getting infected
it was a bone infection in the end and so it had to be removed before it spread
th 500 vet bill was then followed by a 300 $ bill for a 55 gallon and a stand
i had a 30 gallon before that

yea your looking at giving the small guy up. 1.5 is just way to small to put in with the big guys. They could easily accidently kill it.

Your turtle would have to be around 3.5 to be anywhere near safe to be put in with them.

WAHHHHHH

I am really sad

I need like a RES loss support group to get over this
I know he isnt going to die but he wont have my care he is gonna feel abandoned right?

idk how long ago u took that turtle from the wild but maybe there is a chance u could release back to wear it was found

I live in NY so I actually think it is illegal to release RES in the wild because its not their natural habitat and they destroy everything because they are naturally more aggressive then the wildlife here. the little guy was probably a little china town gift to some kid who gave it up. I bet if he wasnt found he would have died because he was so small.
I had to piss him off and make him open his mouth and put a piece of a pellet in his mouth just to get him to eat because he went almost a week without eating when i first got him. He is a voracious eater now... i think thats why he went from the size of a quarter to about 1.5 inches in less than a year

Im so attached i dont know what to do but it sounds like I have to give him up...my heart is breaking

caf08,

Got it. Seems like you know how to take care of your turtles well. Well, think of
giving the little guy up this way: he has a better chance at living wonderfully.
Then, pour all your love to the two big turtles. You can visit the little guy once in
a while.

Whatever people say, I don't think turtle is a social animal. It's humans who
get attached to turtles, not the other way around or even both ways.