Hi,I have been a member for a while and thought that I had posted pictures of my RES,but I could not find any posts by me.Anyway,I found my RES friend of the last 44 years,dead and bloated,floating on the surface of the outside pond that I had let her enjoy for the past three weeks or so.After seeing the one post of a 61 year old RES,I was wondering what an average age would be for one to live?
I got a quarter sized turtle from the teenage girl,next door,when she went to a fair and her date won one for her.She did not want him,so gave him to the little six year old neighbor boy,next door,me.My mom was afraid that Chawlie,the first turtle,an eastern river cooter,would be lonely,so we went down to Monkey Wards (Montgomery Wards,but they had spider monkeys in a cage at the front window) and got another quarter sized turtle,Erbert,my RES.
Through the years,they were always at my parents' house until they started snowbirding to Arizona and then the turtles went to live with my sister and her husband.They eventually came back to live with me and had a great life with a huge tank and nice sunning rock,but during the heat of the summer,I would let them spend some time outside in the pond in my front yard.The water is green and full of algae,but there are fish in there so I figured the turtles would be ok.
I am wondering,do you think the algae could have killed her?
I immediately pulled Chawlie from the pond,rinsed him off and put him back in the tank.
wow, 44 years? it could be from a number of factors. did you see irregular behavior from your RES? it could be from the temperature change (from being in an indoor enclosure to an outdoor pond). it could be RI. not sure about algae.how about the cooter, is it showing signs of being ill as well?
