Always do your homework on turtle ownership

I get really peeved when I go online to local auctions and scroll under reptiles only to see that many people have not done their research on owning a turtle/s.I have seen some very sad and shocking pics of turtles for sale no longer wanted because the young children got bored with them and family don't want them.Sad truth was alot of the red ears turned out to be females who grow at twice the rate of males,so need tank upgrades to suit their growth spurts.another instance was a turtle named Myrtle who looked very sad.I asked if she came with a filter,heater and light as well as the tank.Owners replied she had none of those and perhaps I could adopt her for 250$.They were moaning that they couldn't keep her tank clean duh !!!!Another thing to bear in mind is that when turtles are babies yes they look very cute and dinosaur looking but you can not tell what sex they are and if a pet store or so called breeder tries to tell you otherwise they are bs**ng you just for a sale.Turtles can not be sexed correctly untill they at least 9mnths or older.Remember pets are a lifelong commitment and cost money.So if you don't have the time or the money please don't buy a turtle who turns out to be unwanted then dumped or worse.

I agree people should take responsibility when they decide to get a pet. Not just turtle, but all pets. Unless it is absolutely necessary, they should not get ride of their pets just because they are bored. Once in a while there are people on Yahoo Answers pet section asking what to do with their pets since they are bored. A few even asked how to kill their pets quick...

Turtle is actually quite easy to care for from my own experience. Those people who can't keep a turtle properly should never have had a pet in the first place.

To keep any pets require research first. Nobody should get a pet just because they suddenly want it. All the necessary research and preparation should be done first, as well as the plan for the long run.

I agree entirely Mel. It is from a lack of research. Almost any reptile is going to require research as a pet.

I normally start with a guilt bit about what is best for the animal, it isn't well, and you obviously can't help it. I have actually told certain people that I would call the SPCA if they didn't release the animal to me, which here is the state's is a completely empty threat, as they don't much care about reptiles. And yes, I know I may sound like a jerk. But I get really irritated when someone buys an animal, can't care for it from their own unpreparedness, the animal is in bad condition, and then their primary concern is money. If they wanted to "protect their investment", they should have learned how to care for the animal properly.

O.K., back off of my soapbox, sorry...

I should just say I second Mel's thread. We need a resident turtle expert...

Fishbone I did honestly think about reporting these sorts of people to the SPCA here in NZ but not to bad mouth them they are abit of a joke with things like turtles as they do not know much of anything.Well actually our local branch rather is not on to it at all with animal welfare its a joke.Anyhow I love the fact you got on your soap box its obviously touched a nerve with you as well in terms of reptiles or any animal for that matter.Ram I have never checked out the pet section on Yahoo just as well by the sounds of it.I just get so peeved when I see these unfortunates for sale and for exhorbadent prices too I might add ie 800$ just for a common red ear slider ridiculous.

Generally the SPCA isn't of much use here regarding reptiles either. I have used the threat to get people who are clearly not taking care of an animal, and appear to have no intent to do so, to release them to me, so I can take care of them, get them cleaned up, treat any problems they ma have, and then find someone who wants to take care of them, and put them there. I hate to sound like this, but most of these people aren't bright or motivated enough to look up how to take care of the animal, so they generally don't realize that if I called the SPCA nothing would happen either.

This happens all of the time here with bearded dragons. And it does touch a nerve. I have actually been asked to leave a petsmart if I overhear an employee giving very bad care advice to a customer. I have been considering a way to get someone to force a good bearded dragon care sheet or pamphlet into our large chain pet stores. It would be far too complicated I fear. But one of those stores "care sheets" was close to inhumane torture for a beardie years ago. I haven't even read one of those things in years.

Most pet store employees either do not know what they are talking about, or can't be bothered to explain to every clueless customer walked in. I can't blame the second group too much. Too much explaining can lead the customers suspicious of the pet store employees just try to sell them more stuff, which is often the case. Yes they often need more stuff than they thought in order to set it properly for a pet. One time while I was shopping in the new Pet Supplies Plus in town, my explanation to another customer on what was needed to get a fish led him to ask me if I was trying to sell him something. I can imagine it is the same with all other pets. Most people are clueless and don't even think they need to know more.

I think there should be some kind of law to force licensed pet stores to provide free correct full basic guides for all first time pet owners. It can be done easily and cheap by simply give them a card with a link to the needed information online.

(05-02-2012, 02:33 AM)Admin Wrote: I think there should be some kind of law to force licensed pet stores to provide free correct full basic guides for all first time pet owners. It can be done easily and cheap by simply give them a card with a link to the needed information online.

I agree entirely. You can't control what people are going to do once they have the animal, but you can at least arm them with the proper information. Take a stroll through the reptiles sections of Y!answers. There are tons of people, apparently caring owners, some who sound like they have spent plenty of money, just bought the wrong stuff, asking questions about what is wrong with their dragon. The last care sheet I read in a petsmart for bearded dragons, honestly, I would have thought it was written by Joseph Mengele. The information they hand out is horrible. I have really tried to figure out a way to get them to include a decent care sheet. Or at least none at all, that would be better than the stuff they hand out now.

Let me say, I have seen a few employees that actually give good advice, and give customers good direction and good online references. But that doesn't seem to be based on store policy, as much as their own personal knowledge.

I have also heard story of when someone gave the correct advice, the sale actually went up for that one occasion. The story actually went like this, someone went into a pet store and plan to simply buy a fish bowl for a goldfish, after he was told all the basic information on how the fish should be kept, he left the store with a 180 gallon tank and all the needed equipments. I don't know how often this happen, but many people are suspicious of others, and probably would see the good advices as "marketing strategy", while see the true marketing of poorly designed products such as an unsuitable fish bowl as the correct way to go.

Stores just want to make sales with the least trouble possible. Most of them have very short guarantee time for the pets they sell. Walmart for example, they have only 48~72 hours guarantee for their fish. So they are not worried about losing money due to the wrong advices they give. In fact, the more often pets die, the more often the pet owners might return to buy more. I do not have the exactly statistics, but I always think the wrong advices also make them lose potential customers for more pet supplies by having more newbies giving up upon the death of their first pet.

Well, at any of the corporate/chain type pet stores, the things you "need to have" always seem to be something they sell. If you don't do some research before talking to people in some of those places, it can be hard to tell the difference between what it is that you actually need that they sell, and what it is that they sell and try to convince you that you need.