Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was out herping today and saw that some idiot had spray painted a bright orange happy face on the shell of a red eared slider, and wonder what should be done about it. I know it is not good for the turtle but is it too late already to help, and even if I do catch it what could be done? I could probably find this turtle again easily seeing as it can be spotted in the water from far away due to the bright orange paint. Just wondering anybody's opinion.

I once found a yearling box turtle covered in gold spray paint.
I kept her for a week, I used a hand cleaner called Fast Orange on her shell. To avoid stressing her out too much I used this to scrub on her for a few minutes twice a day. I used an old tooth brush that was worn out so much it was soft. As time passed much of the paint loosened enough that I was able to peel quite a bit of it off with my fingernail.
After 1 week I finally got all the paint off of her.
Why I used Fast Orange is because it's non toxic, the active ingredients are citric acid and ground pumice stone.

If you could catch this one this Fast Orange might work out for you too.
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PHRatz

Fast Orange would be a good option as mentioned. If you don't catch it though I think it will shed scutes and eventually the paint will come off with little effect to the animal. Unfortunately, with those bright colors he is a sitting duck for anyone predator or stupid jerk human that would want to do him harm.

I read a article once about a kid who painted this "ugly" turtle all these bright colors to make it look pritty. And he realased it and never saw it again. Gee I wonder why. Later in the article his brother killed his beloved bird. Not that I liked that it died I was just gald that stupid idiot suffered haha. Some people just make me mad like that. Who would do something like that to a poor animal. I hope you can catch it.

Thanks everyone, i'll try and see if I can catch the turtle and get a closer look when i'm out there this week and probably give the fast orange a try I have a bunch of it since I work on cars all the time.

>>Thanks everyone, i'll try and see if I can catch the turtle and get a closer look when i'm out there this week and probably give the fast orange a try I have a bunch of it since I work on cars all the time.

Great! I grew up with a father who worked on cars and could fix anything that's broken. My husband can fix anything too. I've always known about different hand cleaners but usually when I talk about Fast Orange to someone else these days I have to explain it to them. They have no idea what I'm talking about.
I'm glad you know what I'm talking about to begin with.
Let us know if anything happens with this turtle.
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PHRatz

That sucks! Hopefully it is only that temporay fluorescent orange spraypaint that people use to mark on lawns and streets. If so, it will dissappear in a few days as the turtle suns itself.

If it will shed (its' outer dermal layer), why not tape off the orange spots if you have trouble removing them, and spray paint them dark green? I guess that could be a last resort. At least he wouldn't be so visible to predators, mischevious humans included.

andrew

BTW, howdy folks, my first post in the turtle forum!!!
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1.2 "normal" bp's

how big is it?

Contac your Game and fish Department asap.

Sorry here i'm in the process of moving and forgot to check back on this topic. As for the size of the turtle it is about the typical adult size that is seen, not too large and not too small, I can't be too specific since i've never measured a turtle. I did contact the Texas Parks & Wildlife department the day that I saw this turtle and they told me that there is no agency that has any regulations regarding red-eared sliders in the state. I've been back to that spot several times and have not seen this turtle again yet, but it's been raining now for weeks and due to the lack of sun there haven't been many turtles basking.