Squirt The Turtle Pics

[king2005]

lol Squirt is a cute one, looks like he loves his food lol. He is a snapping turtle? I didn't really know you could have them as loving pets...I always heard they were wild and would bite you. That is some cool! They sound like such a neat and cuddly pet lol and you wouldn't think turtles would like fluffy things

Squirt is a Red Eared Slider (RES), not a snapping Turtle.

MY Axle is a Common Snapping Turtle. Think of Common Snapping Turtles like Cats. Some are friendly & love attention, & some are not. Alligator Snapping Turtles are NOT friendly period (it's very very very very very rare to find a friendly one, as they are always scared outside of the water.. but many will not seek you out to bite you... some will). Some will tolerate being picked, but you have to stay away from their mouths as they will bite when open.

Common Snapping Turtles are far far far more docile creatures. It is very rare one will bite you in the wild. They are more interested in keeping away from you, even if you step on one under water... it'll more then likely swim away as fast as it can without looking back. The only time a Common Snapping Turtle is a threat to people is when it's out of the water (rare) as they feel venerable on land as they can't move fast to get away... so if you go near it it'll try to bite you, but it'll warn you first. They can snap at you faster then a Rattler & once bitten, best of luck getting it to let go. If you stop moving & resisting the bite, the turtle will let go of you... but you HAVE to stop resisting & be quiet so the turtle thinks you are not a threat, dead, or gone.... They aren't what I would call intelligent animals, but they are determined to go where they want to go & no object is too big to get in their way... Commons are designed to climb over obsticals as they need to travel for MILES to get from one pond to the next.

In Canada Common Snapping Turtles are Native & Illegal as pets.. However there are loopholes & some reasons to being allowed to keep one. But it is illegal to keep more then one or to breed them & once its a pet, you are not allowed to kill it & eat it... However you can hunt them in the wild & eat them just fine... I fall into the loophole category. Axle is bound to me by law as I was a minor when I got him & it's illegal to release them. soooooo I'm stuck with him... But I don't mind, I love the big bugger.

[Kalei]

Oh wow, I didn't know all that. Thanks for the information. I think someone else mentioned snapping turtle, maybe that's why I thought it was..I don't know that much about turtles lol, except that yours sounds pretty sweet

My bestfriend when were like 16 picked up a snapping turtle and took it home. She kept it in a tank, but she released it awhile later...I bet it was illegal and she had no idea.

[king2005]

Oh wow, I didn't know all that. Thanks for the information. I think someone else mentioned snapping turtle, maybe that's why I thought it was..I don't know that much about turtles lol, except that yours sounds pretty sweet

My bestfriend when were like 16 picked up a snapping turtle and took it home. She kept it in a tank, but she released it awhile later...I bet it was illegal and she had no idea.

Squirt isn't mine :P
I'm the person who first mentioned Snapping Turtle lol

I was about 16 when I got Axle as a hatchling from the wild (you can't buy them, as they are illegal) he was near death, thats why I took him home.... since you were 16 you can't be charged with a Federal Offence like that... You might get yelled at or in some minor trouble, but nothing serious... what you more then likely did was sentence that turtle to it's death.

When a turtle is brought into captivity it is almost always put into tap water... That doesn't have ANY of the wild bacteria & parasites & can flush them out of the turtles system... so when it goes back into the wild it is quickly infested & killed. Also you could have given the turtle non-local parasites or bacteria which other wild animals are not exposed to, which can infest them & kill them... That is why releasing turtles back into the wild is a HUGE NO NO! Also the turtle might not be native to that area (RES are not native to Canada & yet they infest our waters) & cause issues down the road with pushing native species out of the area.. Just like the RES has done

[Kalei]

Squirt isn't mine :P
I'm the person who first mentioned Snapping Turtle lol

I was about 16 when I got Axle as a hatchling from the wild (you can't buy them, as they are illegal) he was near death, thats why I took him home.... since you were 16 you can't be charged with a Federal Offence like that... You might get yelled at or in some minor trouble, but nothing serious... what you more then likely did was sentence that turtle to it's death.

When a turtle is brought into captivity it is almost always put into tap water... That doesn't have ANY of the wild bacteria & parasites & can flush them out of the turtles system... so when it goes back into the wild it is quickly infested & killed. Also you could have given the turtle non-local parasites or bacteria which other wild animals are not exposed to, which can infest them & kill them... That is why releasing turtles back into the wild is a HUGE NO NO! Also the turtle might not be native to that area (RES are not native to Canada & yet they infest our waters) & cause issues down the road with pushing native species out of the area.. Just like the RES has done

Aw That is so sad. I had no idea...my bestfriend would never have known that...I hope that poor turtle survived. I guess that's what happens when your young and don't know anything.

She also caught a grass snake one time and kept that for quite awhile, it actually liked it's head rubbed.

[king2005]

Aw That is so sad. I had no idea...my bestfriend would never have known that...I hope that poor turtle survived. I guess that's what happens when your young and don't know anything.

She also caught a grass snake one time and kept that for quite awhile, it actually liked it's head rubbed.

Not too sure about Snakes, but I'm sure its the food you feed when while they are in captivity that can cause issues when released... Since Turtles & Fish live in water, its sooo much easier to cause havoc then animals on land... I'm NOT saying its ok to release land animals!!

[omgitsapibble]

Oops, sorry, I've had a lot going on lately and forgot to come back to this thread.

Yep, Squirt is a red eared slider, and as king said, they get quite large. Females get a good bit larger than males, and can grow up to a foot long. Squirt is too young to know whether he is a male or female right now, we'll be able to tell when he gets about 3-4 inches. Right now he's just 1.5 inches. He's about to be put into a 29 gallon tank, and at the end of this year, he'll be placed in his final tank, which will be 125 gallons.

He's such a sweet turtle too, he gets so excited during dinner time, it's funny to watch.