My next door neighbor has contracts with 2 local home improvement stores, he picks up their damaged/returned water heaters that would be thrown out if he didn't take them. He repairs them then sells them as is.
This morning about 5 minutes after I woke up I get a call to please come outside to the fence. The wife handed me a fairly large male box, he's larger than the other 2 males we have.
She said her husband had picked up a load of water heaters this morning & found this boy trapped between some where he couldn't get out. He thinks the turtle had been trapped in there for at least 1 week (he couldn't be sure of that but he knew for sure it was not longer than 2 weeks) & it's been in the high 90s, low 100s every day this past week. Poor little fellow!
OMG I need another male like I need a hole in the head! First thing I did was set him down on the ground, he looked really lethargic, didn't try to run from me or anything. So I put him in my turtle water dish where he couldn't come in contact with any other turtles right now. He drank & drank & drank. He stayed in the dish for at least 20 minutes if not more, then he buried himself in a pile of leaves because by then it was already getting too hot. He's going to have to try some food this evening.
I have to get pictures of him but I think more than likely what I'll do is take him to my vet & let her keep him.
The vet has way more space than we do & she has indoor & outdoor box turtle housing already built. I really don't think that keeping another male here is going to work out but we can't leave him stuck in a pile of water heaters, fenced in on asphalt behind a huge home improvement chain store!
The neighbor suggested he be named Whirlpool since that's the name brand on the water heaters. ::groan::
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PHRatz
