Reptile & Amphibian Forums

im sure ive mentioned before that i work at a petstore... i really have to vent about this because it makes me so angry and frustrated.. every year, starting in april and on until the middle of summer, i get dozens of people who find turtles (not just boxies of course, but those are the ones that i feel the most hopeless for) and want to keep them as pets... i am the only person at my store who really deals with reptiles, so of course, they are always referred to me.. sometimes i can convince the people to release the turtle.. but more often than not, they want to keep it as a pet... NO MATTER WHAT I TELL THEM! maybe if i thought that they would actually take good care of them.. but honestly.. after working at petstores for 6 years, i dont have that sort of faith in the majority of humans.. i hate it... on a few occasions ive even offered to buy the turtles from them in order to let them go again.. only once has that worked.. nothing i can say will make them give up thier beloved pet (of less than 3 hours...) not even explaining that they are becoming scarce in the wild due to collecting, or that they anything but an easy pet, not even that it is technically illegal to keep them... arg.... i wish i had mind control powers or something just to get through to them that just because you can catch it, doesnt mean its not a wild animal...

i had a guy come in today that found an eastern box turtle and has kept it in a 20 gallon tank for the last 4 weeks, it hasnt eaten but he doesnt want to release it.. no heat lights, no flourescent, nothing but a thin layer of cypress and a rock cave. i really hope he lets it go before its too late. rawr... sorry for ranting..
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, red eye treefrogs, chameleon treefrogs?, mossy treefrogs, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, five cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

You are in a unique opportunity to help these people. Will your place of employment allow you to give out handouts with the proper care information? Can you add resources like this forum and other care website? If so, you would be doing these people a favor. They obviously want to do some good for these animals if they are coming to a petstore-- the one place they think they might get good information. I hope you will do a search on box turtle care and put the URL's on the caresheets you create.
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Tess
Kingsnake.com Forum Host

I understand your frustration. Next month I'm coming up on my 8th year to teach "Reptiles & Rodents" to grammar school aged children. Every year it's the same thing, lots of them bring in box turtles & RES on show & tell-parents day.
I've seen them come in with prolapses, broken carapaces, toes bitten off their feet, horrible looking turtles & the parents had no idea anything was wrong until I pointed it out to them. To the parents these THINGS are nothing more than toys for the kids.
I give them hand outs written for adults not children because I want the parents to read them. Many do & many get it but there's always a bunch who won't get it.
They could if they wanted to but they don't want to understand.

It's frustrating & it just goes to show you why I could never do the job you do. I admire you for being able to put up with what you put up with. I know I couldn't do it.
This job that I do lasts for one month per year.
June only, if it went longer than that I don't think I could it this either! :-x
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PHRatz

care sheets are one of the things i have done to try to give the foundlings a fighting chance... my boss is very understanding of my passion for turtles and is allowing me to give out sheets with care info and such.. at the moment i have one on the care of red-ears and other sliders, one on box turtle care and a little about habitat destruction, wild collecting and conservation, hatchling slider care, since this is also the time of year that i get tons of people who either go to daytona beach and buy a "quarter turtle" or find them in thier yards, etc.. and also one explaining the "4 inch law" and why it was created.. i feel resigned to the fact that people are going to keep them no matter what i say, so the only other thing i can do is make sure that i do my best to enlighten the new owners on how to keep thier new pets alive and happy.. i always hope that the expenses and keeping requirements will deter people from wanting to take them from the wild. but if it doesnt, then i just cross my fingers that they are willing to take on the responsibility and actually provide what the turtles need..

thanks for letting me vent..

oh, and if any of you know of a good box turtle conservation site, ill include it on the care sheets. . or any other useful turtle information for that matter..
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, red eye treefrogs, chameleon treefrogs?, mossy treefrogs, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, five cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

It's great that your boss is agreeable about the care sheets & cares about the turtles too.
Melissa knows I am using her article as an educational hand out. This is the one I print out for parents to see:
http://www.anapsid.org/box.htm

I also have a sheet that I hand out that has nothing but URLs on it so that people can look this stuff up on the web themselves.
Here's a few:
http://boxturtlesite.org/
http://www.chelonia.org/
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/care.html

Good luck dealing with these people...
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PHRatz

ill definitely add those.. thanks so much... oh! and i talked to the guy who has been starving his poor captive and he finally decided to let the turtle go where he found it.... im so happy... i told him he was doing the right thing and that if he wanted any help finding a captive bred boxie that i would be more than happy to help him... that was the best thing that happened all day..
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, red eye treefrogs, chameleon treefrogs?, mossy treefrogs, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, five cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

>>ill definitely add those.. thanks so much... oh! and i talked to the guy who has been starving his poor captive and he finally decided to let the turtle go where he found it.... im so happy... i told him he was doing the right thing and that if he wanted any help finding a captive bred boxie that i would be more than happy to help him... that was the best thing that happened all day..

YAY!! It feels so good when someone actually listens to you then does the right thing.
I'll bet that really made your day!
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PHRatz