Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was out yard sale shopping today and found a turtle in the middle of the road in a residential area. No water around and she was going to get hit, I had to stop traffic.

I did lots of looking at pictures and I am 99% sure that I have a RES. I can't place her back where she lived, or at least where I found her, so I was thinking about keeping her. I know this is not normally a good thing to do, but I had been thinking for awhile to buy one and I figured since I saved this one and know I can give good care I might keep her. Is this a REALLY bad thing to do?

Well if I do decide to keep her I need to know what to feed her. She is about 4 1/2 in. so is she still eating more of a bug/fish diet, or more of a veggie diet? Is what I am seeing on care sites true, is it normal to only feed them every 2-3 days?

What size tank is good for her? How much of the tank needs to be water and how much land? It needs to be kept at around 75deg, correct?

Any other info would be great. Thank you for your time.

RES can get quite large so you will need a large aquarium or rubbermaid type container, heater, UVB light, a good cannister filter. Water temp sould be around 78-80° and you also need a dry basking area with heat lamp. Good foods are crickets, mealworms, guppies, minnows, earthworms, collards, Reptomin, dandelion greens, cantalope, strawberries, etc, etc. Good sites are:

www.unc.edu/~dtkirkpa/stuff/overview.html

www.anapsid.org/reslider.html

www.chelonia.org/Articles/trachemyscare.htm

members.aol.com/MMcart3475/chefood.html (very good info about food)

Thank you for the responce. I decided that the little guy really needed to be set free, I took him down to a pond and set him near the water, he jumped in pretty soon after that. I would love to have a RES, but I think it would be better if I wait and get a captive breed one. If I were that little turtle I would be very upset and confused as to what was going on and would be very unhappy. I hope he can have a much happier life in the pond and who knows, maybe some day when I am down there I might see him. Thanks agian.

Good for you, for returning the turtle to a safe location RES in the wild tend to have a lot of parasites, and the stress of suddenly being captive probably would have made her a poor choice for a pet. It sounds like you will make a great RES owner when you are ready to get one. Look into adoption, there are plenty of RES in need of a good home.
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A mans got to do what a mans got to do. A woman has to do what he can't.

Mom to:

1 little boy born 7/19/04
2 male RES, born 1999
1 ribbon snake, age unknown
3 FBT, ages unknown
1 female bearded dragon, born 5/2002
1 male lab mix, born 5/24/03
1 female calico cat, born 6/7/04

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sig file edited 1/29/05 [phw]