Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone hear ever had to "dump on the run?" I just did, as some here might know. Seven fine turtles down the drain. I don't want to dump but sometimes just can't hang on to these res's they get so big and difficult to handle.

I guess I feel really guilty. Any encouragement or other stories might help. As you know, I found a res lately and am starting all over again.

I really dont think you should start over again. I dont think you are stable enough to take care of it. When you have a home of your own and settled down for the rest of your life then maybe, but right now you are only doing harm to yourself and the RES's that you find or buy. Stop this cycle, dont get any more pets (children to me). You wouldnt go out there and have a baby just because you thought it was cute and exciting, but then throw it to the curb because now it is grown, walking, talking and getting into things. So why with pets? Take care of yourself first before taking care of anything else. It will be best for you (emotionally) and best for those animals. Good luck and God Bless
Deejay

I agree fully... Why is this turtle diffrent then the last bunch you decided that you didnt need anymore. Its hardly been 2 weeks since you discarded them. Pets are like children and what you did is drop yours on strangers door steps. Wait till you have yourself and your life sorted out because you obviously dont.

Oh and in your post you said you dumped 12 turtles... now its 7? Then again its not my story so carry on...

I personally can not believe that you did this, then come on here and tell everybody, then tell us how you found a new turtle to take care of. What makes you think you can take care of this one? The responsible thing would have been to find them a home. Your post sounds like you want sympathy, sorry, all you did to those turtles was give them a long, slow death. When you said you feel guilty, you should, you should feel terrible. If this seems harse, it should be so maybe you will stop and think about it before you do it again. Julene

I guess the other post was deleted, so I'll answer you these questions more politely, or less angrily. Hope no offense to any one here, but this is the truth of it all.

I thought I could rescue these turtles, and hoped to let them ago again in the Spring. Four I fetched from a polluted river, all of them malnourished and one with a cracked shell. Four I rescued from a pet shop, three of which were bitten and almost eaten by a pignosed turtle while they were hatchlings and had chunks of their shells missing; and two more were juvenile res's kept in aquariums with no light and no heaters. Only two or three did I actually find healthy.

These critter heaping up on me, I made a large pond in my apartment veranda, sealed the windows, and commenced to raise them until springtime. I actually hoped to take care of five, and that for, well, as long as I was alive. But this is what happened.

The damn boss at work and some crappy employers cause some problems, thereby making me lose the job and the apartment they give you here. In Asia, you sign a contract and they give you an apartment. Once the contract is broken, which I never would have suspected, this being on the employer's part, you lose a place to stay. I very well couldn't lug twelve turtles around with me, although I did try. Pet shops here would not readily take that many, so I gave one kind lady five.

To put it bluntly, I reached out to any one here that might've had a tragedy or personal problem occur to such an extent that they might've had to dump and run. Realize I'm in a foreign land and can't rely on many people. Realize too, that this hobby and turtles a like are not understood nor taken care of as well as those that understand and take care of turtles in the West. This is why I feel guilty, not specifically because of the event that passed, although yes, I could've done more to keep a couple from ignorant hands. Yet I kind of had an emotional break down, got stupid, and felt even stupider banging my head over something that was just too stressful in light of my own situation and being out of work.

Hope you understand.

Sorry but no sympathy here. You took in wounded animals from the wild and thought to have them for a while (for your own amusement)? just to discard them in the spring? As many people on this site have stated, buying them from a Pet Store because they weren't treating them right only allows for them to get more money to do the same thing to another batch of turtles. Another point is, You were going to release the pet store animals in the spring too? Did it even once cross your mind the effect that would have on the turtle. Not to mention the environment or any other turtles that already existed in what ever happy lil place you DUMP them into? You want us to give you stories about how we would do the same thing? I would never in fact you disgust me really. You should never have taken in any animals unless you were sure you had a stable environment. As for the other turtle you now have I truly feel sorry for it, its sick and your going to take it to a vet as soon as you feel like it. For the love of the gods stop trying to save animals your only causing more damage in the end!

no sympathy from here either. you do more damage than good with your practices. it's an outrage that people who think they know what they are doing actually don't have a clue. IMO you would do best to leave the "rescuing" to people who truely rescue animals, they don't just dump them, they care for and truely love the animals they rescue. a rescued animal needs a haven, not a few weeks reprieve only to end up in a worse situation.

uh...i dont know if i'll be insulted or anything, but i dont care, i can understand this guy's point of view, but that's because i personally dont understand 100% how to take care of a turtle, i just recently started taking care of my turtle a few months ago because i had no clue how to take care of it, i've only had dog, birds and the typical pet most people have, how i understand it is that these turtles were seen as birds, theres a corean story about a bird who was attacked by a snake and its leg broke, but a kind person helped take care of it until spring and let it go, and it returned as a prince of birds and rewarded this man.

ok, so it's not exactly the same thign, but he saw them hurt, and wanted to heal them and let them back into their world with their family. i persoanlly would have done the same thing because i dont know jack [bleep] about turtles, but if they're really malnourished and has really bad situations, i would make them better and then put them back into their habitat. sure it may be bad, but now that i know im hurting it more, i wont do it, maybe that guy didn't know either, just lay off, he said sorry like 100 times and is beating himself up for it, what's with the sympathy in this forum? jeez...

o and by the way, i know what he means by asian cruelty against animals, its so hard to find people's sympathy towards any animal as a matter of fact, it took me a whole year to find ONE person who actually took in a pet because he loved it and took care of it, animal sympathy just doesn't come easy, and it's amazing in my opinion that a lady took in 5 turtles. my freakin dad practically starved my own dog, which im happy to see he has more sympathy after he saw i was hurt after he kept teasing him with food. look, im an animal lover, and i totally see them as a person, and mebbe thats why i'd take it in just until spring, if i saw a freakin 4 year old kid on the streets without anything to eat(malnourished) and raggy clothes (cracked shell) i would take him in and do anything i can to help him to be better, even if i was poor myself...

my point is i understand why he did that and i understand he wouldn't do it again

I realize that there are already RES living feral in Asia, but to collect injured specimens, make them healthy, and then release them is not helping the environment. As I've stated before, experience has taught me that humane euthanasia IS a viable option - and often better than the alternatives - when one cannot keep an animal and cannot find a good home. Release of non-native animals, even if they are already there, should never be an option.

I do understand, though, that in your area you might not be able to find a vet capable of humane euthanasia of turtles.

Perhaps it would be better to find a conservation group such as the Tortoise Reserve, which might have contacts in your area, to see if you can help a conservation group with education, so that eventually you can help stop the cycle of slider hatchling purchases and releases by the locals. Such a group might also be able to provide the means for humanely disposing of unwanted and/or feral sliders.

And, as a side, trust me when I say that most of America does not consider the slider a "life-long pet". If that were the case, then I wouldn't be asked to place so damn many of them.

Katrina