The Rehab Turtles!! pic Heavy!!

We placed over 40 Red Eared Sliders into forever homes today! One Dr. took 2 & a retired guy took the rest! They went to an awesome man-made pond in Niagara Falls that he built for turtles. His pond can hold more, so we'll more then likely visit him again next spring with another load of turtles. He was so excited with all the turtles we brought him as he is fascinated by them.

33 of them came from a Turtle Rehab (a friend of our Rescue), shes retiring from Sliders & sticking to just Native Species, so we're helping her place all of her Sliders into new homes as we have more homes then Turtles right now


A Salcata (her pet)
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This guy was fed nothing but high end Steak by his old owner. This caused his shell to sink in due to a terrible diet! (Common Snapping Turtle)
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Isn't his shell terrible looking??
Poor boy :( (Common Snapping Turtle)
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I forget her issue, but shes really yellow!(Common Snapping Turtle)
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This guy was hit by a car & was patched back together. He's usually a timid guy & has never opened his mouth to anyone & he was timid the last time I held him(Common Snapping Turtle)
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Some of his shell repair/damage.(Common Snapping Turtle)
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All the wires holding his shell together. He was a lucky boy!(Common Snapping Turtle)
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Apparently his usually aggressive, but he allowed me to give him chin rubs & never opened his mouth to me. (Alligator Snapping Turtle)
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He's so CUTE I wish I could take him home, but I can't care for a turtle that'll grow to 300lbs!(Alligator Snapping Turtle)
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Kissy Kissy!! ooooo he's too darn cute! LOL(Alligator Snapping Turtle)
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BABIES!!!!!! (Common Snapping Turtle)
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This is my favorite girl! (Common Snapping Turtle)
She was born with NO eyes, not even eye sockets! Shes completely missing the whole section her eyes should be, so her face is shorter & she has an under bite.

She is a trooper though & VERY timid.

Her old owners hatched some snapper eggs that their dog dug up & tried to destroy (he killed some) them. The owners collected all the eggs & managed to hatch them ALL!

The last snapper they were about to release was this girl. They knew she would never survive so they took her in & taught her how to eat off a fork. Apparently shes a very gentle eater & has never shown signs of aggression.

Shes a sweetheart for sure!

Oh, her tail & all her nails are also deformed too. Her tail is oddly stubby & so are her nails.
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These all are such lovely and cute turtles. I wish I could get one from somewhere. My opinion about the deformed last female turtle is that maybe when the dog attacked, this turtle might have been effected by the attack and might have got hurt and so she was deformed. The same happened after the nuclear bomb blast in Hiroshima, many later generations were deformed. Or maybe this might have ran in her family, a turtle was deformed and so she got the same sickness. Anyways, she looks harmful. I hope she lives a long life and without pain and sorrow. I really feel sorry for her.

Aww, what beautiful turtles! You're so lucky to get to help out with them. If there was a turtle rehab organization around here I would be first on the bandwagon. :) They are definitely some of my favorite creatures. I'm glad that gal with no eyes is doing well, she's really lucky that her situation was realized.

Thanks for posting this, it totally made my day.

Don't the baby snappers look especially prehistoric? You look at them and just know in your gut that that is how they looked back when dinosaurs were wandering around!

Thanks for sharing the pictures with us! Tell them they do great work!

Very cool of yall with the rescue and rehab work. The pics are awesome. Not sure Ild want to get near a grown snapper though.

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Originally Posted by blue

Very cool of yall with the rescue and rehab work. The pics are awesome. Not sure Ild want to get near a grown snapper though.

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Its the same type of Myth, like the Pitt bull Myth. They will not go crazy & attack you.

In the wild they are fearful of larger creatures as they are quite vulnerable to harm. If they are in the water they will usually see you LONG before you are there & if you startle one in the water (swim near it, step on it, kick it, etc) they will dart away in fear for their lives without snapping... They wont snap unless you pin it down in the water. On land they get mouthy & LET you know they want to be left alone by hissing & snapping the air. Its all warning.

Its idiots who poke them with sticks, kick them & torment them are the idiots who get bitten.

Trust me, they do NOT go looking for a fight.

Now like everything there is the odd Snapper or Pitt Bull, or Human, any animal that was born aggressive, but those are rare. Your more likely to be struck by lightning then to be attacked by a snapper :)

those are some serious turtles.. lol.. I thought they were all tiny babies... haha..

than man made pond must be huuuuuuge

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Originally Posted by Husky_mom

those are some serious turtles.. lol.. I thought they were all tiny babies... haha..

than man made pond must be huuuuuuge

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Those snappers can get larger, but with them being mistreated, who knows :(
The one with no eyes is 11yrs old. When I get my status/licence, I want to take her LOL Angie will never give her to me, but when she retires I'm sure she'll give her to me then :)

We have many ponds on our list (too many). They have to obey/follow strict rules so we don't harm our native species while finding homes for our rescues.