What Actually Happens When You Buy a Turtle? 

Kudos to your efforts in making this documentary! It's great that you've reached out to the various representatives from private and public sectors. I hope that you've enjoyed interacting with your RES. looks like a potential girl that you may have there.

is she responsible though? long beans r not really the best to feed tortoise . and all the shell pyramiding and living conditions of these animals are so sad!

@@seank5065 it's a question of what's your benchmark? The best possible life a turtle can live? No one is responsible against such a benchmark. The benchmark in this case is clear: the lives the turtle would have otherwise lived if not for her. As for their diet, long beans arent harmful as far as I'm aware. And what you see is just a moment in time: Her feeding for a couple of seconds. That's no way to gauge a diet. It would be as though I see someone eat a donut and assume their entire diet consists exclusively of donuts. The conditions of the animals are to her credit actually. She is adopting unwanted turtles that lived through all kinds of poor care and housing. A testament to (1) my point above regarding the kind of lives the turtles would otherwise live and (2) her intention to look after unwanted turtles and not just pretty looking ones. As for living conditions.. the relevance of benchmark and alternative is just as important here. It would be as though because I cant afford to provide someone dying of starvation a 5-star meal that's healthy in every regard that I should then led him starve to death instead of offering a relatively safe but not the "healthiest" or "best" meal. I am also a proponent of judging the animals quality of life not by their living conditions but by the animal itself. A husbandary that may look ideal (to us) but contains depressed animals tells me it is ideal to our standards and not theirs. While a husbandary that looks questionable to us with animals that are healthy, happy and active only means we have judged the husbandary to our ideals and not theirs. All said, there is definitely the question of whether such animal sanctuaries do more harm then good by allowing an avenue for people to release their unwanted pet (and guilt), thereby perpetuating such irresponsible behaviour. That's probably a good question to ponder!

This is a much needed message but unfortunately one that most parents or even potential owners won't see. I appreciate your message and turtle love. I rescued a turtle from possibly being released into a creek area of downtown San Jose, CA. 2 boys were the owners but he had such a small tank dirty water and even the tank he had was only 1/4 of the way full so maybe 5 gallons of water for a 4 inch turtle. I had to nurse him back to the healthy little turtle he is today. His shell rot is all cleared up he has grown 1 inch in the 9 months I've had him and he has a huge tank to swim in. I am probably going to build him a turtle basking area to give him more space as he has already outgrown the basking area he came to me with and it dips in the water so his belly is still wet. I don't find very many retail platforms work well enough. Think twice before getting a turtle. I call him my plant terrorist since he is so excited when he gets new plants in his tank and eats or moves them around. They are seriously it for him to enjoy and provide some stimulation. He does not play well with fish still. I think he was not fed so everything is good for him. He does eat shrimp and worms from my hand and is not skittish around me anymore. I have seen turtles being given away on social media platforms so completely understand where she is coming from.

Yeah, it can be very deceiving for the unsuspecting customers.

Yes, I have three and my 2 girls are 20cm+ at 16 yo. Their lifespan is twice that of dogs!

bought a 100 gallon tub at local farm store for 80 bucks way cheaper than what the petshmo people recommend.

Bingo

Thanks marc!

Wise choice, George 😊

Or, make friends with people who keep well-loved turtles and get some excuse to visit their homes to see live turtles XD

And I'm glad you're back to watch too!

Thanks man! Species documentary is something I'm thinking about

Thank you!

Thanks Mackaylin. And thanks for the suggestion!

Agreed. Their shell can get what is called pyramiding if they are overfed too.

@@SGBeardedAquarist yes , In that their shells also get lumpy and they will need a big home soon !

Thank you so much for the advice bc I might have a pet turtle soon

Thanks man

Thanks Felix

Hopefully they are captive bred ones being sold. Thats really cheap. The price of one malayan box turtle here (in the rare occasion its even brought in) is approx 100+usd. They are captive bred.

Haha thanks Kelvin!

Thanks Joel

Thank you. It was 100+. Cant rmb the exact price.

Thank you so much brother!!😀😀👍👍

In general, keeping schooling fish in pairs is a bad idea. One will likely harrass the other. Im not sure how much this applies to corys in particular but ill recommend at least 2 more

Thanks Leon!

It was 100+. Cant rmb the exact price

Will try to in the future.

Thanks man. Dont sell them near you? Where you at!

SG Bearded Aquarist New England in the US they’re very strict on preserving wildlife in most areas

No wonder, makes sense.

Now this is a good question! 😉

I'm sure he did his pitch, reach out through emails or phone calls, send in the questions he wishes them to answer and the objective of this documentary serves as good education material for the general public. hence the support given by these organisations. I am also sure that he must have pull some strings where he could. :)

I would suggest that you could also reach out to local organisation who are able to match turtle owners-to-be who might wish to take in yours.

Young sliders under a year old could use turtle pellets daily with roughly 30-40% protein. As sliders can older they become more herbivorous and require less protein. So a turtle pellet designed for older turtles (~20% protein) alternated with veggies such a lettuce would be ideal.

Yeah most people think that. And sometimes out of laziness I would just tell people that too. Because most people dont know what the malayan box turtle is and its super rare to get it. So its easier to mention RES as the only legal species and then this is perpetuated on. You can see the two legal species on nparks/avs website.

SG Bearded Aquarist ah so malayan box is legal to own too. In malaysia you can keep more species but sometimes they will be confiscated even tho its legal... cause most of the workers dont know what species they are and just assume its a CITES species...

@@SGBeardedAquarist so true. most don't do their research. we didn't know until we picked one up from a pile of leaves in the neighbourhood park.. it was still a hatchling and we thought to bring it home to give it a better place. its one of the best things we did and he gave us many fond memories.

Sadly not!

It's my pleasure!

Where can you get the MBT?

You are absolutely right. Even the malayan box turtle I mentioned spend as about much time on land as in the water, hence their poorer swimming capabilities. It was a general statment that holds true for majority of turtles. Perhaps the qualifier "most" turtles would have been better. Where do you get your information regarding the misconception. Specifically, how do you know RES are not found in these forests? Is this anecdotal, based on logic or are there studies available? I'm not suggesting this is true or untrue. I ask because when I was doing resesrching there was only one published studies looking at feral populations of RES in SG and it did not cover this aspect clearly. I spoke with NUS FIB Lab and they do not research this either.

Thanks very much for sharing btw!

@@SGBeardedAquaristDespite red-eared sliders having nested and deposited eggs at the edges of regrowth forests near reservoirs like MacRitchie or Upper Seletar, they almost never encroach further in to such habitats, as a forest environment is simply unsuitable for their more open-water exploits. Their diets and lifestyles are highly-aquatic. As for our native turtles, most of them like Notochelys platynota, Cyclemys dentata and Heosemys spinosa are forest specialists, and prefer the confines of more crowded habitats with denser foliage and streams.

@@SGBeardedAquarist No problem-o man, keep up the good work! Btw, re-emphasising on the red-eared slider nests, majority of the eggs rarely make it as they're easily excavated & consumed by our monitor lizards.

Very interesting. Is this in your area of work/study?

I'm not too sure as it's always people looking to let go rather than adopt. I'm quite sure she'll be agreeable to someone adopting (not sure about fee).

Thats awesome!

Haha yes she is

@@SGBeardedAquarist does that make her a... tomboy? :D