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hey my name is brittany i live in the south of the US. I have always grown up with turtles and have named them all sam/ sammy . My 1st RES came out of a crawfish net, about to be boiled at a crawfish boil, but saved by me. Today i went to my new house which my backyard is nearly a swamp and found 2 RES turtles trapped in muddy water. Since they are wild, do yall think they will adapt to humans? And i was wondering how do i determine the sex of the turtles, i really don't want them to mate right now so if i can prevent this, determining if they are males or females would be helpful! thanks! glad i found this site

-britt

Hi Brittany! I also live in the south and we LOVE crawfish boils! I've never found any RES though.....good luck with raising your "new one's!"

wild RES do not adapt well to captivity. You should take them back to where you found them, and release them. It was great that you saved them, but best to keep them in their natural habitat

I hate to be the bearer of sad news, Bradhart but you are wrong in stating that wild RES won't accept captivity. Where do you think your turt came from if it wasn't from an original pair of wild caught RESs? How can you make a baseless claim like that having never caught a wild aquatic turtlle and seeing for yourself how readily they adapt to captivity?
Brittany, you go right ahead and keep those turts. They will very soon take food from your fingers and will scramble to you to be close. A males claws are very long ( think 'Edward scissorhand ) and its tail is fat at the body going to a sharp point with the vent further out near the end. The females claws are much shorter, by comparison and the tail is like the tip of newly sharpened pencil and the vent is close to the body to facilitate egg laying. It's well into the month of June so I doubt that there will be mating anymore this year. Good luck with your 'wild turtles'.
George

How big are they? Hatchlings will adapt to captivity, but think long and hard as to whether you can/want to take care of them. You won't be able to sex them until their shell lengths are around 4 inches. If they're around this size, I'd let them go--they made it this long out in the wild and have gotten used to fending for themselves.

Thanks! well i think i am going to keep them for awhile and wheni move to my new house, where i found them, then i will let them go. Which will be about 3-4 months. So thanks for the welcome!

well welcome Brittney all I'm going to add to what has already been said is this......there is gr8 info. on this forum,telling you how to sex em the habitat needed feeding light etc. etc so plz take the time to search and read the stickys you will be glad you did and it may help you decide if you are able to keep all the turts, each turtle needs 10 gal. water for every inch of shell so if all turts are 2 inches you already need like 30 gal. of water not to count basking area etc. and they grow! also if u are only gonna keep the little wild ones for a month or so I suggest u release them now, not fair to hinder them for a few months of ur pleasure then they gotta figure out whats next ok so think about sending them on their merry way now instead of later o.k.

the res I bought, OldTurtle, were bred for captivity. But, regardles, I don't feel it's right to disrupt a wild animals life for our amusement. The turt taken from the wild already has everything it needs to survive.

I think most people who take animals out of the wild for captivity or as pets do so because they think they are helping them. If the animal is healthy then I think they should be left alone. Only when an animal is injured or in a dangerous area would I move it.

Captive RES of all ages are easy to find and better suited for new owners.

steve wrote:I think most people who take animals out of the wild for captivity or as pets do so because they think they are helping them. If the animal is healthy then I think they should be left alone. Only when an animal is injured or in a dangerous area would I move it.

Captive RES of all ages are easy to find and better suited for new owners.

Co-sign

I agree. But the res in question we not in any long term danger. They had not been hit by a car, no severe physical damage, so MBD, they weren't miles and miles away from water. All they needed was a little nudge, but they got nabbed instead

I can see both sides. But for me personally, if a larger/wild turtle is found and is healthy/not injured, I'd let it go in a safe place as near to where it was found as possible. It's survived in the wild, has a much better chance of continuing to so do and would continue to populate the species. A hatchling, however, has the odds stacked against it (not that many make it to adulthood) and if I thought I could care for it, I'd keep it. This would depend on the species (endangered/threatened or not). If I couldn't care for it or it showed signs of illness, I'd find a wildlife rehabber to take it.

And rather than support the turtle trade, when getting a turtle, I'd try to adopt one from a re-homing agency if at all possible.