Harvey
Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 3:12 pmHi! Thank you for creating this forum!
I'm in Houston, and while my house was fine during Harvey, we do have several local creeks that went over their banks multiple times during the storm, displacing lots of creatures. By last Friday, my neighborhood was all dry and as I was driving home in the afternoon, I saw something just as it went under my bumper that looked vaguely turtle-like. It isn't unusual to have to pull over and help turtles cross the road in my neighborhood, even under normal circumstances, but this little guy/girl was so tiny I just couldn't bring myself to just leave him behind.
So I brought him home and contacted TWRC to see what I should do. I initially intended to grow him for a year or two and re-release him. They simply said that since he isn't a protected species, I could keep him as a pet. After some consideration and research, I came to the conclusion that if I would either have to let him go now to let nature deal with, or keep him as a pet, since he might not get his survival skills if I feed him and protect for a couple years so early. I didn't have the heart to just leave him in a creek, so here we are!
I've got a temporary indoor set-up now, but ultimately I would like to dig him a pond. I'm looking forward to seeing all of the advice and expertise here! Thanks again!
I'm in Houston, and while my house was fine during Harvey, we do have several local creeks that went over their banks multiple times during the storm, displacing lots of creatures. By last Friday, my neighborhood was all dry and as I was driving home in the afternoon, I saw something just as it went under my bumper that looked vaguely turtle-like. It isn't unusual to have to pull over and help turtles cross the road in my neighborhood, even under normal circumstances, but this little guy/girl was so tiny I just couldn't bring myself to just leave him behind.
- turtle.png (457.33 KiB) Viewed 5144 times
So I brought him home and contacted TWRC to see what I should do. I initially intended to grow him for a year or two and re-release him. They simply said that since he isn't a protected species, I could keep him as a pet. After some consideration and research, I came to the conclusion that if I would either have to let him go now to let nature deal with, or keep him as a pet, since he might not get his survival skills if I feed him and protect for a couple years so early. I didn't have the heart to just leave him in a creek, so here we are!
I've got a temporary indoor set-up now, but ultimately I would like to dig him a pond. I'm looking forward to seeing all of the advice and expertise here! Thanks again!