Other Turtle Discussion :: What was your turtle doing when you saw him/her for the ...

[KatieSmeltzer]

I was at a local flea market with my friend and there was an "exotic pets dealer" with some RES's in a plastic container, an alligator, a gecko, and some chinchillas. (This should have been my first tip-off that something was wrong.) I checked out the turtles, then walked around for a bit. I mulled it over with my friend and we went back. The guy said they were $20, including the kidney-shaped turtle lagoon (complete with exotic palm tree!) and a bag of pellets. So I decided to get one, and I asked the guy how to pick out a good one. He said they were all healthy and decided to flip them over (!!!) so I could see the bottoms of their shells. I had my friend pick one out for me, because they all looked the same to me!

The guy put my little Filbert in a plastic container with a lid, similar to what you would get live bait in, and a damp paper towel. Which was interesting to watch this little turtle try to move around in. I got him home, set up in his lagoon, and started researching... then realizing what I got myself into!!! (But it's been well worth it so far!)

[BMF26]

We set up the tank and did our homework to make sure everytihng was just right and then we set off to the petstore to get our new babies. There were probably about 50 hatchlings in this tank... and most of them were basking away on the platform. There were two crazy little ones swimming at the glass.... and I decided I wanted those. I had studied them for a good long while so I had a pretty good idea of what the markings were. As it turned out... that was a lucky thing to have done.

When the pet store worker stuck his hand in the tank... all of the rest of the turtles flew off the dock and into the water. It was turtle mayhem. I made him pick up each of the turtles one by one until we finally found our two!

It was well worth it.... and gave us all a good laugh

[novroz]

I always wanted to buy a turtle whenever I passed through a pet store...But I know nothing bout turtle so I let it pass.

One day, My brother brought a small turtle (less than 2 inches) inside a bottle. He gave it to me because his girlfriend's friend got bored with her. That's how Kame ended up in my house.

She was adorable and healthy. She ate every single pellets I gave her. I fell in love instantly.

Kroten has different story.
I wanted to find a male RES, then I went to a shop and there were a lot of small RES...a turtle looks so cute came walking to me, she/he was looking straight at me. I took her/him up and I tought she was a male (I later know that she is a female...now I have 2 females).

I chose her inspite of her unhealthy look, she has no nails and there's some soft spot on her shell. Today, she is so healthy and has high spirit. And she turns into a Pastel RES

[Chrissie]

Well we got both Herbert and Bonnie from a private ownerd pet store, lol..weve come to know him as the Turtle man(we go back to him for any advice on our turtle babies..hes great to talk with)..before we left with Herbert (whom we got first) he would NOT let us buy him WITHOUT the uv lamp..he said its expensive but..it ensures the turtles shell health..especially indoors, so get the lamp or no Herbert coming home . LOL..anyway..we had been in there a month before and they had a whole bunch of hatchlings, which is when I fell in love with them , we went back and Herbert and the soft shells were the only ones left. I wanted a res..so Herbert came home with us...

Bonnie we got at the same store 2 months later..She was swimming like MAD when we saw her..like she was racing! lol..David picked her up and she was timid and shy..for like 2 seconds..then she took of like a bat outta you know where and he almost dropped her! lol! So we got her..thinking he was a boy..and initially named him Oskar..till we found out he was a Bonnie

[ProckNet]

Well. Lizzy and I met when my parents came home after a long day at a flea market in Philadelphia.

I had JUST got in from a long day in retail and I was helping my parents put all of thier bags in the kitchen. My mother was so excited so I knew something had happend on thier trip.

Finally, my mother spilled the beans she said, "We have presents for you!!"

I was so excited to get fresh loose tea, three different kinds but that wasnt it. My mom went out to the car to get one last bag and under the front seat, sitting on the floor was a small plastic container, with a pink lid. I picked it up and looked inside and it was HER!!! My mother picked out the name Lizzy and I suck at names so I went along with it.

Since then Lizzy and I have been bonding and learning. I am used to taking care of animals but a RES is a first for me. What a lovely experiance!

[weepixieni]

When i first saw Harvey he was in a old clear bucket type thing it was gross n dirty, then his wee head popped out and i thought awhhhhhhhh hes so cute i want him now i paid the guy 25 quid and took him straight home and watched him most of the nite just baskin.

[nativekiwi]

I am in NZ so we don't have any wild turtles, we have no snakes at all in the country and only a few rare types of wild gecko and one monster reptile called a tuatara. these are protected species and very rare so you only see them in zoos where they do breeding programmes. so our knowledge of reptiles is limited. as pets we only have RES and snake necks, bearded dragons and blue tongue lizards and they are VERY expensive. A hatchling RES is around 100 to 150 bucks. I was looking at fish tanks for my son to get a betta on Trademe (NZ type of ebay) when i saw a five ft tank with two adult RES, full set up with filter lights heater etc. i bid and won at 300 bucks!!!!!!!I couldn't believe it! thats about 100 US. I went to pick up and saw them scrabbling around their empty tank. Heifer (the female) was HUGE!!!!! the biggest turtle i have ever seen, she's 9yrs old. she's close to 40cm long!Rocko (the male) is half her size! The tank is the flashest i seen, i think no one bid very high as the turtles had to go with the tank. I am completely in love!!!! The old owner looked after them well but ran out of room for the huge tank. I think they are loving the attention and constant parade of admirers!!!

[Lilsaint]

I got my RES from a taiwan night market. There were games where u use rods with hooks held by thin string and use it to hook a paperclip which is taped to baby RES's back on the shell. They were pretty cramped up. And we couldnt save all the RES but we could save 1. And so we decided to play. We had to pay for every rod cause the string breaks after 1 or 2 terrapins. We clocked up $10 on the strings and were short of 2 RES be4 we could bring home 1. So we continued till we could bring 1 home. And we named her 30. Cause it took us about 30 minutes to bring her home. She came with a small plastic tank. And we brought her back to Singapore.(not gonna tell ya how) *winks* And since she've been with us.

[turtlelbs.]

I was at Petsmart, decided I would buy a Red ear slider that were for sale. Because I didn't know were I could adopt a healthy turtle. So I walked with $25 to the Petsmart I was lucky to have available one avenue away. I saw Koopa as he would be named on the basking platform with long nails (male). The other turtle was in the water a sign that's not optimum for picking. He was in the lowest reptile section of the display with all lights and heater.

He may have been basking with his legs out, maybe when I first saw him.

He was for sale at $19.99 + taxes I recently, in late 2009 gave him up to a turtle keeper after 3 years and donated $20.00 (back) to help the turtle mission.

[Twilite25]

It was Christmas Eve and I was standing in the living room with my boyfriends hands over my eyes. "No peaking" he said, as I tried to guess what my surprise was. When he finally let me see all the lights were off except for our Christmas tree and the spot lamp pointing at my new baby turtle swimming in her tank!

[SINI5T3R]

Mine were in 3 little separated cups on the corner of a street where some Mexicans were selling them 10$ each or 3 for 25$ lol... so I got 3...

[menrb827]

When I was in Los Angeles for the Chinese New Year celebration, 2007. My boyfriend and I were walking around chinatown and we saw these cute baby turtles. They were like a quarter size. So cute that we bought two to bring home.

[Cosmin]

- was desperately looking like a ray of hope! and I felt sorry when I saw him struggling and I got it!

[coreyvht]

well sanchez was in a shipping box i got him from that one website and as soon as i opened his litle cup lid his head was sticking like hes was say hi ,..then well monkey was in a plastic toat with some filter fuzz for cushion and she tryed to bite my finger off and the otheres where just like omg please get me outta here xD

[Cosmin]

- Hey to me it was funny! first which I bought from a pet store was a male tortoise of Florida! have a bad habit you like to be the shoes, to me can go where they are free second was a female and all day I was watching as the boy runs after the female next two I got from them were weak man,- or how to communicate with each other because they go very intelligent group and have very good memory,and hunting like wolves (give live food) which offers an interesting view to have settled very quickly! realize very quickly that it often makes the difference between myself and strangers