Well, that didn't work out the way I expected

[dreamshark]

Three of the ladies I work with went for a walk at lunchtime and came back with the teensiest baby turtle I've ever seen. Liling, knowing that I still had the turtle I found on that same walking path last year, brought it to show me and to ask if I could tell her how to take care of it. When I started in on aquariums and basking lights and such she decided that sounded too complicated and just gave it to me. I thought it would be neat to have two or three turtles so they could bask together in a happy turtle pile like they do in the wild.

Tiny western painted turtle No bigger than a quarter

So I brought the baby turtle home and popped it into the tank with Bucky -- who took one look at her new companion and decided it looked like dinner to her and lunged after it. We managed to get the little one out of the water before Bucky snapped its little legs off. Yikes. So now what? I could take it back to work and see if Liling wants it after all. We could put it into a separate tank until it gets big enough that Bucky recognizes it as another turtle instead of a snack. We could turn it back into the wild. Or... we could keep the little one and turn Bucky back into the wild. She's big enough to take care of herself quite nicely, whereas the little one will most likely get eaten by something before it grows up.

Comments

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I suggest a separate enclosure until the baby is large enough not to look like dinner. (Maybe a clear container that's sturdy enough to defy Bucky, but small enough to fit in the tank and share the basking light?)

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

There's no shortage of turtle tanks over at your place, so keep the little one if you like, or swap pets and release Bucky.

K.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Maybe a slightly larger (or painted) baby turtle won't look quite so tasty. Bucky might simply be territorial. Not usually associated with turtles, but you never know. Try again?

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

I don't think turtles are territorial. Bucky wasn't acting like an animal checking out an interloper - she went after the baby the same way she goes after a wiggling worm - "Yay! LIVE FOOD for a change!"

I would've thought she would recognize the smell of another turtle and would have some sort of inhibition about cannibalism, but... well, turtles don't have the biggest brains on the planet. And painted turtles have been overwhelmingly successful in an evolutionary sense, so I guess it works for them.

Reptile behavior is hard to predict from a mammalian perspective.

[musicmutt.livejournal.com]

If you were to release Bucky he would likely be alright. The little one would be condiderably more vulnerable. Once turtles get to a good size there isn't too much that will threaten them.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

That was my thinking. Although Bucky will have to get a lot less picky about what she eats if she goes back to shopping for her own food.

Also, of course, it's a lot less trouble caring for a turtle the size of a quarter than a half-grown one. I think Bucky is getting a little big for the tank she's in. She has always seemed to like it, what with the heated water, basking light, heat lamp and catered meals. But a few days ago I saw her scrabbling at the corner of the tank by the basking rock as if she were trying to climb out. She's never done that before. So maybe she's getting restless in captivity.

[(Anonymous)]

A turtle that is picky about what she eats? Are you sure this is turtle?

all kidding aside, i'm sure Bucky will be quite happy with whatever she can find when she has to fend for herself.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

I've read that painted turtles are omnivores, eating vegetation, insects, carrion, and whatever they can catch. But Bucky has turned up her pointed little nose at every plant-based food we have offered her. On the rare occasion where she's been fooled and grabbed a bit of vegetable matter she has immediately spit it out! She likes MEAT. Preferably live earthworms, but she will settle for raw hamburger if that's all she can get. She likes shrimp too, even if it IS dead. She won't eat beetles or flies or any kind of hard-shelled insect either. And of course she won't eat commercial turtle food (at least unless it's mixed with hamburger).

She was 3"-4" long when I found her, which I think translates to about 4 years old. I can't imagine how she survived as long as she did, especially in the shallow drainage pond where she apparently had been living. How many earthworms could there be in there? Of course she was hiking along looking for a better pond when I found her, so apparently her former home didn't fully meet her requirements.

[musicmutt.livejournal.com]

We have a loggerhead sea turtle at the aquarium who was rescued from a disturbed nest and the soul survivor of his clutch. The egg was polluted and the embrio didn't develop properly. He has stunted flippers and his tail is wonky. He came to the aquarium about the size of a half dollar in a cool whip container. He is now about three hundred pounds and thriving. He'll be turning 11 this summer.

Love turtles!

[mmagidow.livejournal.com]

When I was 11, I had a wonderful red-eared turtle. I seem to remember that I had the thing for quite a long time, and I hand-fed it raw hamburger, among other things. When I went to Ohio to see my grandparents, my father swore he would take care of it. Right. Just as it was gasping it's last turtley breath, good old dad was trying to force feed it a multi-vitamin!