I was just wondering and wanting some advice on letting a turtle go. I am not doing it anytime soon, but I have a few res's and decided that once they got pretty big I was going to let them go. I have heard that it is not good for them, but I have also heard it wont hurt them. I would like to hear what you all think. THANKS!
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Is it good to let a turtle go after having it for a long time?
leighann
Nov 19, 2003 05:31 AM
Replies (4)
alebron
Nov 19, 2003 07:15 AM
Where do you live?
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1.2.1 Leos
2 WTF
2.1 FBT
0.0.2 RES
Too many fish
demunchkin
Nov 19, 2003 07:56 AM
You cannot let captive RES go. It is against the law. Captive RES can cause problems in the wild by spreading disease to wild RES.
If you don't want your RES anymore, you have a few options. You can contact a turtle rescue center and give your turtles to them. There are several users in this forum that operate one. They can try to find another home for them. You can also humanely kill them. I know it's a hard thing to do/think about, but it's better than killing who knows how many wild RES.
Had you considered building a pond for them once they get big?
Devin
Anddawede
Nov 19, 2003 10:35 AM
Well... let me just say this. I have a turtle that was wild caught by someone else; a turtle that passed several hands within a 3 day period. Now, I took the turtle because I wanted to put it back in nature. I could have done this if I knew where the turtle came from but I didn't. So now I have a turtle I didn't want (but love having now).
If you caught them in the wild and only had them for a few days, yeah, go ahead and put them back where you got them. Otherwise, if you don't want them, find homes for them.
>>I was just wondering and wanting some advice on letting a turtle go. I am not doing it anytime soon, but I have a few res's and decided that once they got pretty big I was going to let them go. I have heard that it is not good for them, but I have also heard it wont hurt them. I would like to hear what you all think. THANKS!
wbrown
Nov 19, 2003 11:19 PM
The release of pet herps is a major problem not just for that animal, but more importantly, the native herps in that area. You have no idea what diseases/parasites that turtle may be harboring. It may look healthy to you, but releasing it could potentially wipe out an entire herp population and I am not just talking turtles; snakes can also be killed by a disease carried by apparently healthy looking turtles.
Even if a pet turtle is 100% healthy, it may very well be from another locality altogether. This poses another serious problem: the transfer of foreign genes into the gene pool of a wild population. Most turtle species have an expansive natural range covering a variety of habitats, anywhere from sandy, coastal areas to rocky, cool mountaintops and many areas in between. Wild populations have adapted to their local conditions (soil, climate, vegetation, etc.) for millennia. Research has even shown that turtles of the exact same species inhabiting different areas of their range prefer entirely different temperatures. Releasing a pet turtle into an area where it may breed with wild turtles is like throwing a monkey wrench into the gears of a finely tuned machine.
As a wildlife biologist conducting herpetological research for the National Park Service, I feel I am very qualified to make the above statements. I certainly hope you will follow my advice and that of the others here that feel the same way about releasing pets.
Will Brown
BlueRidgeBiological.com / Rare Natural History Prints
BlueRidgeBiological.com / Rare Natural History Prints
