Anyone work for the Humane Society?

[SassyCassie]

I have a question. I went to one of the little satellite branches last summer (in a local pet store) and they had 8 HUGE painted turtles. I said I could take them all and put them in my pond. It's a decent sized dug pond, not one of those little plastic tub kind. They were totally shocked and said 'these could never live outside, they must be inside pets' I said I'd feed them and could bring them inside in the winter, and wouldn't that be better than living in a crappy 20 gallon tank (didn't say it quite like that, i can be tactful) but they would rather keep them homeless I guess b/c they said no.

Does this make sense to anyone? I could see if it was a dog, they need companionship, but turtles don't care if they get petted. I can't see all these turtles getting adopted either - there have been so many warnings about salmonella and kids, that most parents would steer clear of pets like that.

And I still would like turtles for my pond. Not snappers, though.

[amazincc]

The general rule of thumb is 10 gallons of water per inch of turtle shell per turtle... so, unless your pond is ginormous you might want to start out w/one turtle and see how that goes.
Painteds can live outside as long as they are able to hibernate in the winter OR you bring them inside during the cold months. I have six turtles right now, all in seperate tanks, since they are definitely not social creatures. They get to bask and swim in a kiddie pool on my balcony on really hot days, but for the most part they do better when housed in individual tanks.
I have one Painted and he's pretty friendly... maybe you can talk them into letting you at least adopt one?

[SassyCassie]

I thought I was doing them a favor. If they don't want to take me up on it, oh well. As I said, they were in a tiny tank (they're probably gone by now, that store closed anyway)

I've seen smaller ponds in the wild with more turtles. The pond is 8- 10 feet deep at the middle, (depending on how dry things are) and maybe 20 X 40 feet, kind of oval. That would make it about 48,000 - 60,0000 gallons of water. Sufficient for many turtles.

[amazincc]

I thought I was doing them a favor. If they don't want to take me up on it, oh well. As I said, they were in a tiny tank (they're probably gone by now, that store closed anyway)

I've seen smaller ponds in the wild with more turtles. The pond is 8- 10 feet deep at the middle, (depending on how dry things are) and maybe 20 X 40 feet, kind of oval. That would make it about 48,000 - 60,0000 gallons of water. Sufficient for many turtles.

Yep, it's a common misconception that turts are social because in the wild they will bask in groups and on top of each other. That's purely survival instinct though... the more in a group, the less the chances of being picked off by a predator.

Your pond sounds AWESOME though... definitely LOTS of room for quite a few turtles. Have you tried a reptile rescue orginization? I could find you some links for NY if you want.

[airwalk]

Without knowing what that particular Humane Society's adoption criteria are, can't even offer a guess.

[SassyCassie]

Didn't know they had reptile rescue . Sure, If you know anyone, I'll try there.

[amazincc]

Western New York Herpetological Society
phone: 716-491-5394
email: Krissy Sokolik
Buffalo, NY
We're a group of enthusiasts that focus on educating ourselves and the public about responsible herp ownership as well as conservation of our native species. We have members all over the Western New York region including Rochester and Buffalo.

Here's a link to their page - http://www.vin.com/WebLink.plx?URL=http ... yherp.org/

Good luck!