I’m the newbie
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Hello, Everyone! OK, so here’s my story. I work about 1/4 to 1/2 a mile away from the Cooper River in Charleston, SC. I work on 11 acres of blacktop. In Sept. 2005, I found a very small (maybe 2 in. long) turtle in the middle of the blacktop. It was dried out and inside the shell. I didn’t know if it was alive or not. I placed it in a bowl with water. After about 3 hours, it was trying to crawl out of the bowl. I took it home. I had a 10 gallon tank in the attic. I got it down, filled it with sand and water. I took the turtle to three pet stores. No one knew what kind it was. I heard everything from snapping turtle to mud turtle. That 1st night , I went to check on it and couldn’t find it. Later my son found it under the sand. so I thought it might be a mud turtle. Only it didn’t look like any I saw in the books. Anyways, a year and a half later (yesterday) I find out it is a Carolinan Diamondback terrapin. I never even heard of a terrapin. I have Raff(you know like the ninja turtles : my son is 8). He lives in a 10 gallon tank with about 2 to 3 inches of water.(I didn’t know he needed more)He eat store turtle tablets like crazy. He has a heat lamp, but doesn’t lay under it. He has a cave that he stays in most of the time. I turn on the heat lamp before I feed him, and he will charge out of the cave and scratch on the side of the tank until he is fed. Someone told me today that it was illegal to have him. But I can’t set him free. He is very domesticated now. Anyways, thanks for reading this drawn out story. I just need tips from all. Heather
Hi Heather! Welcome to the Group! First of all, thank you for saving that little ones life! Sounds like he or she was definitely going to get cooked out in the middle of 11 acres of blacktop (no doubt about that). I have to tell you, both you and that turtle are pretty lucky, because not only did you save his life, but you stumbled across one of the coolest turtles in the whole wide world!! Diamondback Terrapins are one awesome little turtles, but they get big pretty quick, so you need to start thinking about an upgrade ASAP. Bigger tank, bigger filter……you get the idea. And you need to get that turtle a good basking station and basking lamp (if you haven’t already). My #1 tip to you is to educate yourself in the finer arts of Turtle Keeping, and I know of no better web site to do this at than Austins Turtle Page! You literally can get lost on this site for days just reading all the fantastic articles that are full of amazing information (and pictures)! For some reason, I can never get a “cut and paste” to work in this Yahoo e-mail, but here is the web site you should try to visit if you have time: http://www.AustinsTurtlePage.com Good luck with your little guy Heather, Jimbo —- Heather
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