General Care Discussion :: Traveling

[cfrenia]

I am a college student and will be going home for 5 days for Thanksgiving. There is no one here who can take care of my turtle because I live in a dorm and they will be all locked up the whole time.
I would like to bring my turtle home with me...I have another tank at home and would bring home the heater, filter, basking dock, lights, etc...

My question is - would he be too stressed out traveling back and forth that much? He is very laid back - he lives with 4 girls in tiny apartment so he doesn't get stressed out very easily.
Thanks everyone.

[kmichael55]

how far away do you live from school? If it is a short trip I think it would be fine, but what you could also do is just set up a timer on your lights, and throw in some feeder guppies and live plants. 5 days may be too long to do this, but if you are a couple hours away from home, I think it would be better.

[cfrenia]

It's only an hour drive. I think I would just be worried leaving him alone that long.

[jasmiester]

Although I haven't had first hand experience with feeder fishes yet, but I know that some turts eat them as soon as they catch em'... depending on how good your turtle is at catching, he might finish all the food in one day, turtles never know when to stop eating.

[megcornell]

An hour drive is fine, take the turtle with you.
When I was in college I took my turtle home with me for breaks, it was a three hour drive. Just make sure you have the appropriate equipment at home or that you're taking it with you.
As for the traveling, here's a link of the best way to transport by car:
http://www.redearslider.com/transportation.html

[cfrenia]

Thanks for the replies!
Last time I bought him 3 feeder fish, he ate 2 by morning. I guess he doesn't know how to ration!

[mikee]

cfrenia -- I have carried mine from Texas to Florida, Florida to Louisiana, Louisiana to Indiana, Indiana to New Hampshire , New Hampshire to Charlotte and Charlotte to Chicago. I have driven them and I have checked them with my luggage on air flights. The longest driving time was about 15 hours. While on the road I put them in a styro- foam cooler with wet paper towels. When spending the night out I just brought them in and put them in water for the night. They are great little travelers.

[Sgt. Pepper]

I was wondering about this myself. I'm going home for 4 or 5 days for Thanksgiving, and home is about 4 hours away. I was thinking he'd be ok if I just got him some feeders and a bunch of plants to munch on. I was gonna clean the tank before I left, too. For Christmas I've got to take him with me though, and I have no idea what to do with my fish. My mom suggested putting them in a small container of water for the trip but I'm not sure how they'd do. The fish I'm concerned about isn't a feeder fish, he's my pet, although I'd like to not leave the feeders to just die over the break.

[marisa]

If you don't have one, don't forget a timer/s for the lights over Thanksgiving.

Don't know about the fish, though. How long is the break? What kind of set-up do you have for him.