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.
