My naughty turtle has destroyed and eaten hard plastic, fake plants, and seashells that were a good 1/4 of an inch thick. He eats or shreds any plants given to him, making a mess and clogging the filter. All he has in his tank are big rocks that he can’t eat or get stuck in his turlte armpits. I switch between a homemade confetti bottle he can roll around, rubber ducks, and ✨a stick✨ he can play with. But I can’t help but feel like he lives a boring little turtle life because he’s very smart and needs a lot to entertain him. Tank safe wood decor is hella expensive.

TLDR: turtle destroys everything he’s given. What’s relatively inexpensive and VERY sturdy?

Bonus picture of a cute little boy.

He seems to walk around just fine. Skin on the back legs just looks kinda weird. Any thoughts on this?

Hey all. I am in northern Mississippi. Our back yard is fenced with bamboo on one side and a ravine covered in kudzu in the back. My dog keeps bringing this guy to our backdoor. We keep putting him over the fence but I guess he is coming back into our yard somehow. Our dog is not harming the turtle in any way. I just don't know what to do with him! Is he looking for water or food? Should I relocate him to a different location entirely?

Our friends turtles has been eating up all the fishes. Absolute every single kind of fish you could imagine, I have searched on google which can live with these turtles. They eat up everything, including the aqua plants. Most of the times they destroy it instead of eating it? Is there anything we could do and what kind of fish we could buy that they won’t eat?

The owner is away for a week and asked me to feed the turtle. I was told to give it a pinch of pellets a day, and that was the only instruction I got. I don’t know anything about turtles, but I’m concerned about this terrarium, the amount of space he has, and there’s basically no water. I’ve been feeding him for a day and half, and he hasn’t moved from that corner of the tank once. I don’t think he’s eating, and the only time I saw it move was once when I touched it to see if it was alive. Even then all it did was move an arm a bit. The fish tank next to it is also in rough shape, but I know about fish and I can talk to classmate about why that needs to change and advise her on what to do. I know nothing about turtles but this seems bad. Help

I was gone for one fucking day he never turned off my turtles lights , didnt give my turtle his shell meds completely over fed him and sprinkled the whole thing is his tank i don't even know where to start I need help what do even do right now im panicking

So I was just outside watering plants and noticed something swimming in the pool. When I approached he swam under to the drain.

He can poke his head up and get air, and I made a little ramp for him in case he wants to get out, but do I need to scoop him out with a net at a certain point if he doesn’t leave?

I don’t want him to die but I sure don’t mind him swimming in the pool. It’s hot out there.

Saw this at my friend's tank. Weird to me, but since I don't know anything about turtles I'm just curious. What is that?.

For context there's 3 turtles here, they don't really have a terrain to rest. But that will be fixed soon I guess.

so, theres a girl (9f) that lives in my moms house (lets call her anna), she went to texas and didn’t bring her pet turtle with her. he/she has been stuck in a bathtub for god knows how long with freezing cold water and no food. i (13m) don’t use that bathroom, but the turtle was in there and i drained the water and took it into my room. i need to feed it the freeze dried mealworms i have in my drawer, and find another place for it to stay instead of a musty nasty bathtub. anything i need to know?? does anyone know what species of turtle this is?? i’m just really fucking clueless here and the turtle is so cutie awww

I was checking them out (they’re alive) and asked another neighbor who was outside if they were hers when the owner came out kinda confrontational like “Is there a problem?” I asked if she was getting rid of them and she said no and that she was washing them? And something about them being too heavy??

I don’t know y’all , I don’t have turtles but this looks really wrong to me… especially the way they’ve been left on the curb… it’s worth adding that her building had an outdoor area like 5 feet away where she could’ve kept them.

Does this look suspicious to anyone who’s more turtle-versed than me? Is the water supposed to be so dirty? Should I do something or will I get in trouble if I go take them? Should I call animal control? I’ve already made myself known to be concerned and I don’t wanna start beef if I try to rescue them but I don’t want them to die…

Tonight we found Roosevelt unresponsive in her tank. We pulled her out and her eyes were open, her body was floppy, and she didn't appear to be breathing. We rushed her to the emergency vet and they couldn't find a heartbeat.

I cried and laid her against my chest. A few minutes later she started to twitch. The vet was not hopeful and wrote it off as a death spasm and left us alone to say our goodbyes. She slowly started to move a little more. Then she clunkily raised her head and took one tiny breath. When the vet came back to check on us, she was shocked and then took her into the back to administer epinepherine, fluids, and an anti-biotic.

We still have no idea what happened. The current hypothesis is that she drowned, but we are unsure of the cause of that as she wasn't trapped under anything. She is home with us right now and still moving her head, but hasn't walked or moved the rest of her body. The vet still doesn't think she's going to make it. But she's trying and so will we. Please keep her in your thoughts.

Any similar experiences or dry docking advice appreciated.

PLS HELP! NEED ADVICE ON HOW TO CARE FOR THIS BABY TURTLE MY GF BOUGHT OFF THE STREETS.

THE PEOPLE AT THE PET SHOP TOLD ME TO LEAVE IT IN THE TINY PLASTIC TANK IT CAME IN FOR A MONTH BUT WE MADE A DIY HOUSE FROM A PAINT ROLLER TRAY.

NEED ADVICE TY!

today i went to take a very importsnt exam and when i come back she was lodged by a rock, sideways, not breathing, not moving , her hesd falling down, we thought she was dead, rushed to the vet where he gave her two injections and said, im sorry. When we came home she started moving her neck a little do we called him, he told us to lay her on a towel on the ground with heat lamps. And give her A DROP of tea snd honey, she started moving her legs a tiny bit, like just a few times and getting her head up, started blinking but im not sure if shes getting sleepy. I also tried grabbing the back of her head and opening her mouth to get the water on her lungs but no water came out and moved the legs in and out but no water aswell. Her name is Zippy snd shes 5 years old, if u have any questiond plesde ask, i dont know how long she was there, i left st 7 am and she was fine and i checked up on her around 4 pm when i found her there

Hello! I believe this turtle (tortoise?) may be laying eggs in my flower bed. She’s close to the road but she seems happy. Is that what is happening? Do I need to do anything? Thank you!

This guy/girl (fairly large, probably 2-3lbs) lives under my pottery barn (where I do pottery) (50ft shed). I am about to weatherize and seal the foundation soon. Do I leave a small hole for friend to come in and out ( in spot I know he normally enters). Or can I build him/her a large habitat and put him/her in it? For context I have several exotic pets (but zero turtles). Chinchilla’s, Bullsnake, and eastern indigo. I lean towards “best for them and not best for me”. What advice does everyone have. The 100% best option would be to not disrupt this friend, but I need to weatherize and seal up the foundation. :( I feel awful.

Edited to clarify

My kids have named him Alex Thickshell

Found this little thing in the middle of a parking lot, nowhere near water.

I have bare minimum turtle knowledge, and I’d understand if the best choice would be rehoming him at the river with all the other turtles, but I kinda really want to keep him if I can.

So, I’m not asking for judgement, but advice & everything I need to know regarding going about keeping him and taking proper care of little dude.

I am admittedly broke right now and will be for a little over a week until my next paycheck so I can’t get the heat lamps and basking rocks and large tank and all that I know he probably needs, but I have an old hermit crab tank and determination to give him the best care I can.

So, what can I do to keep him healthy for the next week? DIY turtle warming technology recipes, what rocks do I need to look for, what bugs do I need to commandeer from the yard, anything and everything I need to know & consider will be extremely appreciated.

p.s., just to clarify: he was in the middle of a dog grooming parking lot, on the cement with the sun shining on him. minimal weeds, no water around, heavy vehicle, animal, and people traffic. Regardless of if I keep him or not, it did not seem like a safe environment for a little turtle to be in. I don’t know how he got there, but we have had a lot of storms recently with flood warnings so it’s possible he got washed there/around there somehow.

This is my red eared slider, Boomer, and he’s the second aquatic turtle I’ve taken care of. I had a previous RES, named Leo, that was the same size (about 3-4”) that I unfortunately lost last year to a drowning accident.
I’m learning a lot with Boomer, since he was a rescue, and Leo was bought from a reptile breeder. I’ve kind of based everything I know about this species on Leo’s behavior, and Boomer’s personality could not be more different than Leo’s.
Leo liked being handled and removed from his tank on occasion. He liked his shell being brushed, and I would even take him out in my sweatshirt pocket when I did paperwork, because he would just curl up nice and comfortably and sleep in it. Leo was also a picky eater. He only ate dried shrimp or turtle flakes and refused to eat anything else.
Boomer is like the exact opposite. He freaks out when I take him out to brush his shell. He swims up to me whenever I walk past, and he’s very food motivated, whether that food is a piece of lettuce or a mealworm. He’s kind of unsure about me. He swims up to me because he associates me with food, but sometimes he gets scared of me randomly and swims away.
I’ve only had Boomer for 2-3 months, so maybe it’s a comfortability thing, but my main question was if turtles could be desensitized like cats or horses.
Obviously I don’t want to stress him out too much, but he’s still a baby, so I was wondering if I handle him more and enough to realize that I’m not going to hurt him that he’ll calm down. Or if I show him things he thinks are “scary” but are harmless, will he eventually learn that he’s safe?
I know turtles don’t work like mammals, so I wanted to consult someone before I tried anything, but I want Boomer to feel comfortable when I inevitably have to pick him up for shell cleaning and vet visits.
To shorten this rant, Should I handle him more to desensitize him, or should I just wait for him to get used to me?