A few weeks ago when I came home from grocery errands I found this old plastic hip bath which we dragged home earlier this year parked on our garden path where before I left it was still in a corner of the yard. One of those silly curb finds but the plan was to wash my large duvet in it (too large for my machine) and then get rid of it again, but I'm not sure if this will still happen this summer.
A look inside made clear immediately what had happened. The BF had found a turtle in the park, decided it didn't belong there (turtles don't naturally live in the wild in Holland) and brought it home. The tub turned out to be a perfect place to keep it in with a bit of water in the lower part and leaves and branches on the higher side.
With the BF back in the park I started Googling but couldn't find out which kind of turtle I had here. An email to the official turtle rescue centre only gave me an automated answer ('these animals don't belong here, please call your local animal rescue centre') so I decided there was nothing left to do but call the pet paramedics. Where quite disapointingly the telephone operator told me next time to leave the animal where I found it! Oh? She sent out the team anyway because now that I had him I wasn't allowed to bring turtie back to the park.
Well, Googling more I found out this: the most commonly kept pet turtle in Holland is the Red-eared Slider (see picture below). Therefore often dumped it turns out they do manage to get by in the wild and in parks, but our winters are generally too cold for them too procreate (maybe better so). However once every so many years when we have a really harsh winter they all die for sure.
Then again I don't believe what we found was a Red-eared Slider. With that pitch black head and the dotted yellow line he doesn't fit the picture. Best thing was just to wait for the rescue team. Unfortunately when they finally came they also classified him as a Red-eared Slider. I'm still not convinced. The good thing though is they were a lot more happy about our rescue than their co-worker in the office and found his temporary home in the tub quite an ingenious idea.
Now I can only hope they brought him to the right place where he was properly recognized and gets the right treatment. But if anyone recognizes our turtie I'd be happy to hear from you. Sorry the pic was a quick snapshot and not very clear, please click on in to enlarge.
7 comments:
What a beautiful turtle. The third picture is very clear and I can see the read stripe so that it looks to me that it is a Red-eared-Slider...but then, I'm not a turtle expert either.
Oh, maybe I wasn't clear on that; the last picture is an example of the Red-ear, not my turtle.
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Awww, he's a cutie! Here's hoping he finds a good home!
You are right, that is definitely NOT a red eared slider. Unless someone painted his head?
I know I'm not much help because I don't know what he is, just what he isn't. =)
That's ok, Twistedwhisker1. Thanks for trying and leaving a comment. At least someone agrees with me.
I just found your blog. Its nice one.That is Red Eyed Slider. People tend 2 keep them at home as pets never 2 know they outgrow their housing in no time & abandon them in parks, lakes or highways. Its sad. They're very colorful but unfortunately are very inexpensive compare 2 other aquatic turtles. I used 2 keep semi aquatic turtles before. I had 3 of them (musk, mud and red eared slider)I bought that 1 specific just 2 add color in my tank but within few years that 1 was reached 12 inches. I had 2 call animal rescue and they took that one. Aquatic turtles can be very good and fascinating pets. I decided to adopt them out after I had my baby. I miss them so much but was told they can easily spread Salmonella to kids
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