Karen's Turtle Page

I have kept water turtles as pets since 1971. There were a few years that I didn't have any, but when I didn't, I missed having them. I remember my very first turtles. I was just a child and, of course, didn't know the proper care for water turtles. They never grew past hatchling size. We used to be able to buy them at any drug store. They'd have a dish pan on the counter with little green turtles paddling around in about a half inch of cold water with a rock in the middle to climb out on. Thinking about that now makes me want to cry. The horrible abuse to those precious creatures that depended on us to take care of them. We were never given any information or care sheets, just sent home with a little Chinese take-out container with a turtle in it and a container of turtle food that didn't amount to much more that dried ant eggs. And we wondered why they died. Of course, this was long before 1971. This was back in the 50's, when things such as hatchling turtles sold for 50 cents at pet and drug stores were considered disposable pets.

In 1971 a co-worker bought two hatchling turtles, and when I went to her house one day, I was shocked to see turtles that were a few inches long in a tank with a heater, basking places, and lights. I asked her about it and she told me that most turtles die because people don't know the right way to take care of them. I had always loved turtles but gave up keeping them because they always died. I begged her for information. She told me the proper care for water turtles. I went out and bought a 10-gallon tank, a proper hood, and got a rock for basking. When I was all ready and everything was set up, I got my FIRST turtles. I considered them my first because they were the first ones I ever had that had a chance of surviving. As it happened, my neighbor had bought two red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elgins) for her fish tank and a little floating ramp for them to get out on. They were pretty much bought as "decoration" so her tank would be interesting. I knew they wouldn't survive in such conditions for long, but instead of appealing to her conscience, I told her how they could grow to be 12 inches long. She gave me the turtles. I named them Snipp and Snapp. I had them for several years but both eventually died from medical problems.

While I still had Snipp and Snapp, I got Shim and Sham, two common musk turtles also known as stinkpot turtles (Sternotherus odoratus). They were so young they still had traces of the yolk sac on their plastron (underside). Now, I still knew very little about turtles, but I knew that these were dangerously young. I took them home and set up a five-gallon tank just for them with just enough water for them to paddle around in. I used a large mayonnaise jar filled with water for the heater because there wasn't enough water in the tank and they didn't have submergible heaters in those days. Shim died but I had Sham for 13 years. I had bought a book called Living Turtles of the World by Peter C. H. Pritchard and according to the book they usually lived about nine years in captivity, so I felt I did well with her. She grew to full size, which really isn't very big, and when she was old and started floating rather than swimming, I took her from the big tank and fixed up a little tank just for her with more of a shallow bowl of water. One evening while I was holding her to give her comfort she died in my hands. In the whole 13 years she never once released her musk odor at me. I felt truly honored that she trusted me so much.

In the first year of my turtle keeping the friend who had introduced me to the real world of turtles called me and said someone she knew had a water turtle they didn't want and asked me if I would take it. I got the address and went over there. That's when I met Tommy. They didn't know what kind of turtle she was. They didn't even know she was female and that's why they named her Tommy, but I decided to let her keep the name. Researching in my book, I found out she was a Siebenrockiella crassicollis. One thing I knew was that she was sick. She was wheezing and her eyes were swollen. There weren't many vets who handled exotic animals then, and even though I was living close to Los Angeles, I had to drive to Redondo Beach, an hour away from me, to see a veterinarian. I found a much closer one a few years later. I took Tommy to the vet in Redondo Beach and he taught me how to give shots to a turtle. The antibiotics cured Tommy of her pneumonia, but she always had a wheezing sound when she breathed from then on. She was about four inches long when I got her and she grew quite a bit over the years. In 1983 the heater in my tank went out. She took a chill and even though I took her to the vet as soon as I realized she was sick she couldn't be saved. This time the pneumonia won. I loved her smiling face. One of the many common names this turtle has is "Smiling Terrapin" because their mouth is shaped like they're smiling. She was friendly and when I took her out of the tank would follow me around the house. She loved it when I scratched her shell. I would love to have another turtle of that species, but they are very hard to find. They are native to Borneo but are considered sacred there now and aren't exported, which is probably a good thing. There are breeders in the United States but I haven't had much luck finding one with turtles to sell.

I've had other turtles including southern painted turtles (Chrysemys picta dorsalis) and California desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) The desert tortoises were rescues from people who were not willing to take proper care of them. One was about three inches long when I found her in horrid conditions. The young woman who had her fed her nothing but lettuce and there was no water for her to drink. I finally convinced her to let me have the little tortoise when I couldn't convince her to give the turtle proper care. She was recovering and doing well when a friend of mine fell in love with her. I told her I would give the tortoise to her if she promised to continue the same care that I was giving her. She promised, and "Shamrock" grew into a beautiful turtle. The other one I got from someone who found him and put him in his yard with three Chow Chow dogs and a swimming pool. I told him if it didn't fall into the pool and drown the dogs would probably bite off his head someday so he gave me the tortoise. I named him Clover and introduced him to Shamrock. As far as I know they're still alive and well and living in California. They are highly endangered and it is illegal to transport out them of state.

Right now I have nine turtles. Meg and Jo-Jeezly are red-eared sliders. Meg is over 10 inches long and laid eggs for the first time in January 2001. I didn't know she was ready to lay eggs so didn't provide her with a proper place so none would have hatched if they were fertilized by Jo-Jeezly. Maybe next time I'll be ready. Cookie (male) (possibly a Nigorwaginan slider but I haven't found out for sure yet) and Koko (female) eastern mud turtle (Kinosternon subrubrum) were given to me by a young woman who had taken very good care of them, but with a new baby on the way, felt she couldn't give them enough care. She had a young daughter and other pets, so I took them. They are doing well and are welcome members of my family. She also gave me a 20L gallon tank, which has really come in handy. I also have a yellow-bellied slider, male (Trachemys scripta scripta) which is closely related to the red-eared slider. His name is Sydney. I bought him because Rebo, my foot long female yellow-bellied slider prolapsed her colon in January 2000 and, in spite of emergency veterinary care, which even included a 90 minute drive to Kansas State University Veterinary School and a stay of several days, I lost her. She was a wonderful turtle. A young vet who never really liked turtles before told me that she was glad she got to meet Rebo because she looks at turtles a lot differently now. Rebo was friendly and inquisitive and never tried to bite. The doctor couldn't believe it the first time we were in there and she saw me stroking Rebo under her neck. Rebo was stretching her neck out to get more attention. It showed the vet that a turtle, given care and attention, really could be a pet.

We also have a striped-neck leaf turtle (Cyclemys tcheponensis) that was a rescue from a pet store where the owner meant well but was clueless about turtles. I was looking at the turtle and pointed out shell rot and proceeded to peal off the turtle's entire top layer of carapace and plastron. She was a mess and in danger of dying if she wasn't treated. I also noticed that the turtle had diarreaha, which indicated parasites. I told the woman the turtle needed veterinary care and would probably be too scarred to sell. She decided to give me the turtle. Well, in a case like this there's no such thing as a free turtle. I wasn't turtle shopping when I went in there that day and about two months and $200 later I had a healthy but badly scarred turtle. I named her Raggedy Ann. She's really sweet too. We also have three ornate box turtles (Terrapene ornata ornata). All three were either captive ones that people had released or they had gotten out of their enclosures. None was wild and one is in really poor condition. His shell is flared, which means he's been fed a poor diet and is malnourished. Also his beak is overgrown which usually doesn't happen in the wild because they eat enough grit with their food to keep it filed down. It took a long time to get him to eat. I think he had been fed lettuce, which has no nutritional value at all. My box turtles get a varied diet of fruits, vegetables and meat. I feed the water turtles Flukers aquatic turtle food and other various things like occasional night crawlers, feeder goldfish and crickets.

I keep all my turtles warm year round so they always think it's summer. Hibernating a turtle can be dangerous. Sometimes turtles die during hibernation. Mine are well fed and probably would have no problem but I don't want to take the chance. In warm weather I have large plastic swimming pools for the water turtles and an enclosure in the yard for the box turtles but I always bring them in at night. I think they enjoy being outside and basking in real sunlight and it's good for them.

kagey@yahoo.com