It’s hard to believe my birthday passed over a week ago. I was really delighted and intrigued when my girlfriend gave me a Red Ear Slider, apparently her mother saved it from some kids who threw him into a swimming pool to die. He is quite small, and at first glance we often worried whether he would survive after suffering such deep exposure to chlorine. Like I said that was nearly a week ago and he is doing fantastic. We named him Bubble because of the small air bubble that he had on his nose when I saw him for the first time.

At first I only had a general idea on how to care for a turtle, I originally purchased a 5.5 gallon aquarium because of my lack of my knowledge. I figured it was plenty of space since he is only an inch or so long right now. After reading and researching I quickly discovered that my tank was about half the size needed , not to mention an array of other supplies I was lacking. About $200 down the road, and we are all set. He now resides in a 10 gallon tank with an underwater heater, a filter, dock, uvb lamp, a basking lamp, and two thermometers. At first he was not very fond of his turtle dock and spent a great deal of time just chilling on top of the water heater, but over the past 24 hours or so he has really started warming up to it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love this little guy and I will do what ever it takes to ensure his well being, but I never realized what a commitment turtles really are. From what I’ve read he will grow to be quite large over time and will out live all of my other companions if given the proper care and environment. I hope to invest in a much larger aquarium so I can get a little creative in creating an out of tank basking area for him. Any ways, this was my mini activism for the month, although I never thought I would be able to say that I rescued a turtle!

Categories: Activism, Blog, Rants and Raves
Tags: Activism, rescue, turtle