Turtles are one of the most adorable pets to keep. Not only are they docile, they have peaceful smiling faces, attractive patterns and gentle habits. This belies the fact that they are high maintenance pets which need alot of care and space to develop naturally. They require specific conditions like lighting, temperature and filtration system. Many turtles perish because of the inability of pet owners to fulfil those conditions. Some go as far as sending turtles by mail which invariably results in their death. If maintained properly, they can go for decades which can engender fatigue to those who are not in it for the long haul. Some of them free them which is equivalent to criminal desertion and this is illegal since it exposes them to diseases and other risks. It doesn't help matters that turtles can carry salmonella which is infectious. Others inundate rescue groups with calls to take the pets. I suppose that in order to keep turtles as pets, one should dedicate a full time employee to look after them.
My goodness, that is quite a dissertation on the miseries of keeping a pet turtle ! ! I have had turtles before and didn't really see that they needed a lot of high-maintainence.
Actually, one of the first pets that I had when I was a little girl was a pet turtle. Back then, pet stores and dime stores (now a thing of the past also) sold turtles for under a dollar, and they all had pretty pictures painted on the shells.
Of course, the paint wore off fairly soon, but it did make for an attractive showcase of colorful little turtles.
My mom got one of the little fish tanks that were designed more for turtles, it was round; but not very tall and easy for me to reach inside and take the turtle out of the fishbowl.
We put in a container with water, and some sand and dirt on the rest, and he crawled in and out of the water as he pleased.
The turtle was what is called a painted turtle, and the bottom of his shell was a beautiful design of pinks and yellows.
He didn't grow very fast; but we had him a long time.
I actually do not remember what became of him anymore, but I think I might have forgotten to bring him inside from out in the yard one day and he probably crawled away and became a wild turtle.
Turtles have always fascinated me in the wild, and every so often I will run across one when I'm out strolling near a pond. I've never kept one as a pet however, even though I once kidnapped a wild turtle for a few minutes to show my nephew when he was a toddler. I'm not sure I would know enough about them to keep one as a pet, because they do have a particular diet that I'm not sure fish food would fully accommodate.
Plus, if given enough space they will grow to their full size and some get pretty large. They are long-lived animals so if you get tired of caring for them when they get bigger, that's an issue too. It's sort of like when the goldfish gets too big for the bowl and you don't have an aquarium... what do you do... give him away to someone who is better equipped or do you drop him in your local fishing hole? Some folks do make the wrong decision there, which is why goldfish are now found just about everywhere, including the great lakes.
