Turtle Story

Last Friday night, I was taking Shayna and Skyler to Sugar Sand Park when we saw something slowly crawling across the busy road. we pulled over onto the shoulder after seeing it was a turtle. worried that it would get run over, I asked a passing jogger to get it off the road (on the red light of course). He gave it to me, and we held on to it to take it home later. Later that night, I did some research online and found out with 100% surety that it was a Red Eared Slider, an aquatic turtle. That made sense since there was a canal near by. We put it into the bathtub over night. The next day we decided we would keep it as a pet. I called a local pet store, and also called Gumbo Limbo, where the young man who I spoke with said he had 2 at home as pets. We went out and got some basic supplies (aquarium, filter, pebbles, food). Then Monday evening we went to the beach to find some coral and/or rocks to use in the tank, we also found a great piece of driftwood for him to use as his log. Saturday afternoon we took him into the pool, which he loved. he likes to swim to the bottom of the deep end, then when he needs air he swims up to the surface.

here is a great view of turtle up on the big coral rock. you can see the red stripe on his head which is why they call this species "red eared." he has green and yellow stripes:


another view of turtle up on the rock, you can see his legs well here and how he has "claws:"

side view of turtle, and you can see his shell:

turtle underwater, where he spends a lot of time:

turtle hiding under the log, he likes to do this:

turtle peeking up for a breath of air:

Turtle aquarium set up. we put this by the front of the house near the front door, it gets a lot of sunlight. we moved the rocks into the center after the first night because he tried to use them to climb out.

we got a turtle book. so far besides the store bought turtle food he seems to like cut up chicken. we also added 4 small guppy fish to the tank that we caught in the canal in the backyard, thinking he may want to eat them. one of them disappeared, we are not entirely sure if he ate it, as the other 3 have not been touched since.

we also still have not named him, and could use some ideas. His traits/personality is that he likes to swim, is aquatic, seems a bit rough, makes a ruckus in his tank at times. also, the turtle in the kids TV show "wonder pets" is the same type of turtle, his name is Tuck. So the only names I have thought of so far are: Tuck, Butch, Bull (as in bulldozer), and Rambo. So could use some suggestions....he really needs a name.

**Note: double click on the above photos and you can see the details more clearly.