in San Francisco getting eaten by Seagulls on Monday.

A friend of a friend volunteers at the Marine Mammal Center here, and someone brought in this tiny turtle - but they only do mammals there, and (unbelievably) no one there knew what kind of turtle it was or what to do with it. So my friend called me and they got it from the guy last night and brought it over this AM so I could tell them what kind it was and what to do with it (if it were an actual sea turtle - it needed to be put back straight away!!!, if it were a land turtle or tortoise, it needed to be taken out of the water and put into a proper set-up, if it were a native water turtle it needed to be taken to a local safe, fresh water habitat - etc.)

Anyway - it was just this tiny little RES - cute little bugger - only 3-4" tops. With a not so great looking shell, but the eyes were good/clear, no bubbles or clicks, mouth looked healthy, and otherwise, it seemed okay - and active enough. I gave her all the stuff to get started from here (food, water conditioners, bit of sea salt to clean the turtle off with - I always find this helpful, Melissa Kaplan's care sheet, etc.) and sent her to our best exotic pet shop to get the rest of the equipment she needs for a proper set-up. She has a 10 gallon tank to get things started and that should be okay for the meantime. Since it seemed not too bad off health wise, I think it will make it under proper conditions and with the right medicinal treatment - there wasn't any oozing or bad smell anywhere, just a slightly discolored shell.

She is going to keep it - she's been wanting a turtle and a RES is a great starter turtle.

Can't believe someone would let a RES "go free" on the beach! Some people are such total idiots.



I hope the little bugger makes it.

Kasie

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