redearslider.com

Aloha -- I live in Hawaii and our area was recently flooded -- including my basement. The fire department pumped us out and we've been doing the normal cleanup routine. That started about 2 weeks ago. Yesterday my husband opened the door to the basement and found a turtle inside. It appears to be a red eared slider (as opposed to the green sea turtle variety that is common here). My question is: where did he come from and how did he get in my basement? And what do we do now?

A possibility could be that it was someone's pet in and outdoor pond and got swept away with the flooding ?? What you do now is read, read and then read some more. A good place to start is with the downloads on basic RES care..

Which can be found here.. Downloads

You can go through the post on the forum and read the main website also. There is so much to know and so much to learn that it's a never ending learning experience.

Welcome to the world of RES ..

I would say he was someone's pet either lost accidentally (during the flood?) or released after they didn't want him and that's how you ended up with him.

To know what to do now would depend on what you want to do with him, keep him? or find a new home for him? If you decide to keep him, I suggest reading up on here and the main site for all the info needed to maintain a healthy habitat for him. If you can't or don't keep him, I would try to place him with an animal shelter/rescue group that can care for him and find him a new home. I wouldn't just let him go in the wild since he's not native to your region.

Good luck and let us know how things go.

Well, I scanned a few of the posts and read some from the internet regarding his species. We put him into a bucket with enough water for him to swim and tossed in some food -- he seems to love chicken and live bugs and carrots lol. My husband fixed him a makeshift "tank" made out of an old mail box that has a water pool, with sand and rocks around it. He looks healthy and perky -- and looks like he's trying to figure out a way to get out -- although he isn't trying to climb the wall. His (or her) shell is 4 1/2 inches long and 3 1/2 inches wide. If I go down in the basement and find more ..........

Ella

PS thanks for the prompt replies.