Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yesterday was the last day of session one for my kid class. The last day is parent day and show & tell day. Wednesday we finished up the kid's pet care booklets and let them take them home.
Yesterday one of the mothers came up to ask me about feeding box turtles because the caresheet they were given was written by Melissa Kaplan and it contradicts what the woman's neighbor says about box turtles. Like too many people the mom who spoke to me has one or two box turtles in the backyard.
The mom just couldn't get over the idea that I had told the kids that we don't feed cat food and iceberg lettuce to box turtles.
She told me her neighbor has 30 something box turtles and he told her it's ok to feed them anything, he feeds his cat food and leftovers from the table like mac & cheese because hey they'll eat anything.
::::faints::::

I told her that ya know kids like to eat chocolate but we wouldn't want them to eat it all the time. I told her dairy products are even worse than cat food.
OH MY GOD there are too many people in this town keeping them in the backyard.. why can't they do a little research if they're going to keep 30 something turtles? I wonder how many of this idiotic neighbor's turtles die every year? He's probably one of those people who keeps every one he finds where ever he finds it.
Macaroni & cheese, now I am the one who can't get over it.

The only good news about this is that the mom had already read the MK caresheet so maybe she'll pay attention & start feeding hers the right way.
There is no law here that prevents people from keeping them in the backyard so there's nothing I can do but keep trying to make an impression on these kids.
Arrgggh it's frustrating sometimes!
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PHRatz

Macaroni and cheese, huh? Wow, that's a new one!

Yeah, I know of someone who has kept turtle for years and 'just feeds them browned burger meat and they do fine'. Right.

This same person also couldn't get over the fact that the females here lay so many eggs every year, which in turn grow in to healthy little hatchlings: apparently she's been unsuccessful with that.
Hmmm.

>>Macaroni and cheese, huh? Wow, that's a new one!

Yeah that was a new one on me too. I've heard of things like bread but mac & cheese is much farther out in left field.
YIKES!
>>
>>Yeah, I know of someone who has kept turtle for years and 'just feeds them browned burger meat and they do fine'. Right.
>>
>>This same person also couldn't get over the fact that the females here lay so many eggs every year, which in turn grow in to healthy little hatchlings: apparently she's been unsuccessful with that.
>>Hmmm.

Ok that's another new one on me. I've known people who would feed them raw hamburger but not browned.
Well I'm glad to know it's not just me who knows people that refuse to get it.
What frustrates me is that they're adults, they're capable of looking up info the same as the rest of us have done. I never understand why they can't bother to do it.
Especially now because there is more turtle and reptile info available than ever before in history, yet they can't lift a finger to learn something that just might be helpful to their own pets.
Is it that they're too proud to find out they are not the experts they think they are or are they just lazy?
I can't tell for sure which it is but it's a shame that the turtles are the ones who have to suffer for it.
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PHRatz

Some people don't know they don't know and don't want to find out. Here is an idea though. Collect some photos of neglected, sick, and malnurished turtles. That way you can show them what happens when people don't get the prper information. I'm sure that there are a lot of rescue groups and vets that would submit photos for the educational program that you run.

Some people are so concrete in their thinking processes that they need to see what the end result could be in order to avoid it. Then there are those who still dwell in a fantasy world of ignorance. At least you can help the others.

>>Some people don't know they don't know and don't want to find out. Here is an idea though. Collect some photos of neglected, sick, and malnurished turtles. That way you can show them what happens when people don't get the prper information. I'm sure that there are a lot of rescue groups and vets that would submit photos for the educational program that you run.

That's a great idea, we've never done it before but I'm already ahead of you.
I'm not sure why I suppose because Kid's College isn't real college or school, the college doesn't give us the best equipment in the classrooms for this program.
The VCR/DVD player I requested didn't show up,instead I got an ancient VCR to use that seems to be on it's last legs.

However for session two that begins this Monday what you said here is exactly what we're going to do. My teaching partner just got a lap top computer, I don't have one.
I did an hour speech with slide show on turtle/tortoise nutrition on April 22, 2006 for a continuing education seminar for RVTs that the college sponsored.
Because of that I already have a whole CD full of closed eyes/sick/deformed turtle & tortoise pictures so my partner & I are going to use her new computer to show the next group of kids what they look like when they're fed crap for dinner all the time.
I have surgery videos too but I think they're just a little too graphic for 1st-6th graders. The vidoes I do take with me are programs I've recorded myself from Discovery & Animal Planet, or checked out from the county library...but I think these photos I have will make a huge impression.
We're going to try this for sure. In fact, I'll let ya all know how it goes.
This was very impressive to people at the RVT CE program in April, that's because the majority who were there deal with dogs, cats, horses 98 percent of the time so turtle/tortoise info was all new to them.
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PHRatz

I would like to hear how it goes. I work in special education and find that the only way I can get some of the kids to learn a particular concept or the importance of someting is to show them the alternative.

I agree that the surgery videos are probably too graphic for the younger kids. Good Luck.