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I went to Sandy Bottom Nature Park in VA (in Hampton) a few weeks ago, and I was surprised by the conditions of their turtle habitats inside the visitor center. I took lots of pictures but didn't want to use the flash. There was a group of 8 or so turtles in a shallow tank (couple inches deep) with one basking light (I think just incandescent, don't remember) hanging over a small rock. One of the turtles, I took pictures of her, she seemed to have a shell condition. Her shell was white blotchy all over. I know nature centers sometimes take in turtles to keep, so I didn't want to assume that they were just doing a really bad job.. Maybe they took in this turtle as a rescue.. There was also a small tank, it had a tiny tiny bit of water in it, a baby RES, a baby snapper, and a frog. The frog was about as big as the baby RES.

Anyway I've read on here about pet stores keeping turtles in less than ideal conditions, I'd never heard about a nature center doing that. All the ones I've been to in Ohio have had pretty nice habitats for their turtles. I'll post some pictures later in case anyone is interested!

Yes, please do! I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't going out of their way to care for all the creatures there.

These were the basking lights:


See the little mud turtle? I couldn't get closer to it. I don't know mud turtles but it looked like an odd color for one.


This is the poor lady I was worried about:


Spotted turtle!

And there's more..

I didn't take a picture of this other tank from further away because I didn't want to look suspicious, but it was super small


See the baby snapper?


Another view of the same tank. There's a frog in there, about the same size as the RES and snapper.

Wow, that is pretty disappointing.