# OT Cute Pic



## babydoshia (Jan 20, 2005)

Well, Cheesecake woke up from his hibernation theother day and I went a little photo crazy. I know he isnothing like a bunny but I thought you all may still like to see afewof the pics.

He's such a cutie. In a non-furry way .

Oh, he's an Eastern Box turtle. He's 1 1/2 years old.







Superturle!!!! Away!

I love this picture. It's my favorite one of him.


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## AnnaS (Jan 20, 2005)

He is very cute. Why did he woke up early?


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## Bo B Bunny (Jan 20, 2005)

Very cute! We had a big snapping turtlein our yard one day. We have a pond and creek behind ourhouse. He was mean! :shock:

_*wonders why a turtle would be named cheesecake?*_


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## babydoshia (Jan 20, 2005)

Cheesecake (yes, his name is Cheesecake ) wokeup early because I do fridge hibernation which doesnt last aslong. Hibernating in the fridge takes about 6-8 weeks, whilehibernating outsidetakesabout4-5months. I like the fridge methodbecause I can better control the temperature so it's a lot safer.


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## AnnaS (Jan 20, 2005)

wow, I thought turtles sleep in the winter evenif it was not cold. My mom had turtles when she was little, she saidthey slept through winter in shoe boxes.


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## babybunnywrigley (Jan 20, 2005)

Awww how cute! I have a turtle too! He is a box turtle


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 20, 2005)

Your turtles hibernate??? Are they supposed to?? lol

I have 4 turtles and they're awake year-round.


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## babybunnywrigley (Jan 20, 2005)

My turtle doesn't hibernate either:? He doesn't movearound as much in the winter, buthe still gets around.


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 20, 2005)

Mine move around lots in the winter....they eat like pigs and they're constantly wanting to be picked up lol.

My turtles are huge though, so maybe that makes a difference?

They're about 8 inches in diameter each.


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## RebeccaUK (Jan 20, 2005)

Hi

Kinda off subject but whats the difference between a turtle anda terrapin?

Rebecca


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## showrabbits (Jan 25, 2005)

okay little late in this post. I dontknow how I missed it. Believe it or not I was doing a search for turtlepictures and this came up&gt; LOL!

I just wanted to see what everyone was doing with their turtles toavoid metabolic bone disease since I know that is a major problem. Doyou use the uva, and uvb lights with the calicuim and d3 vitamin diets.I thought I would ask since I just saw a tortoise that was two yearsold and already had severe symptoms. I felt soo sorry for it. They hada good varied diet with some calcium and vitamin supplements but didnthave the uva uvb lights that starts the change reaction to allow themto use those vitamins. I think that some of the greens that they usedalso blocked the intake of calcuim so that didnt help either. 

Babyoshia, what kind of box turtle is yours. How big will it get?


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 25, 2005)

Mine don't have lights.....they just sit in atank...and try to swim...and they smell bad...bleh no matter how hard Iclean their tank they stink!! I don't like them very much anymore They smell like sewer ninja turtles...

I feed them turtle pellets and fish whenever they die. I don' think my turtles are happy, but no one else will take them.


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## babybunnywrigley (Jan 25, 2005)

My Turtle doesn't have any lights. Ididn't even know he was supposed too. We've had him foralmost 15 years and he has been fine. He eats turtle pelletsand strawberries.


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 25, 2005)

My turtles used to have a heatlamp but they don'tanymore...all 3 of 'em are cramped into a 30 gallon tank cuz there's nowhere else to put 'em and I keep trying to get rid of them cuz it'scruel to keep 'em the way they are cuz they can barely move, they haveto crawl on eachother but nooo no one wants turtles cuz they're "ugly":X


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## babybunnywrigley (Jan 25, 2005)

*MyBunnyLovesMe wrote:*


> My turtles used to have a heatlamp but they don'tanymore...all 3 of 'em are cramped into a 30 gallon tank cuz there's nowhere else to put 'em and I keep trying to get rid of them cuz it'scruel to keep 'em the way they are cuz they can barely move, they haveto crawl on eachother but nooo no one wants turtles cuz they're "ugly":X


My turtle had a heated stone, but he didn't really use it thatmuch. I went through a time when I didn't really like ourturtle because he was so messy and smelled, but I've slowly gotten overit. He has pretty much become my Stepdad's turtle and he isgood at taking care of him.


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 25, 2005)

I've had these turtles for about a year now...Inever wanted them in the first place, they were John's idea...if theywere smaller turtles and didn't stink like crap I probably wouldn'tmind so much. We have a baby turtle and I love him, but these turtlesare huge, like the size of a dinner plate pretty much. And they smellso bad, like its all you can smell when you walk in the door, it smellslike the toilet blew up. And no matter how many times we clean it,after a day or two it just smells horrid again. I'm about ready to letthem go free in a pond or something...they're stressing me out. :X


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## babybunnywrigley (Jan 25, 2005)

*MyBunnyLovesMe wrote:*


> I've had these turtles for about a year now...I never wantedthem in the first place, they were John's idea...if they were smallerturtles and didn't stink like crap I probably wouldn't mind so much. Wehave a baby turtle and I love him, but these turtles are huge, like thesize of a dinner plate pretty much. And they smell so bad, like its allyou can smell when you walk in the door, it smells like the toilet blewup. And no matter how many times we clean it, after a day or two itjust smells horrid again. I'm about ready to let them go free in a pondor something...they're stressing me out. :X


I'm sorry Those do sound like huge turtles! Mineis only about the size of my hand. Turtles do smell...ourturtle is in my Stepdad's office upstairs so you can't really smellhimunless you go in there. I do know how you feelthough because they can really stink


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## ariel (Jan 25, 2005)

Wow i have never heard of people having turtles as pets , are they easy to look after???

He is sortta cute too, I like him!!


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## babybunnywrigley (Jan 25, 2005)

*ariel wrote: *


> Wow ihave never heard of people having turtles as pets , are they easy tolook after???
> 
> He is sortta cute too, I like him!!


They aren't that hard to take care (at least mine isn't), but the bigthing is keeping their tank clean which can be prettydifficult.


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 25, 2005)

She's right. They're not hard to take care ofthemselves, it's keeping the tank clean. Like I said, I have 3 in onetank and they're huge turtles, remember, turtles can get pretty big sodon't buy one just because you think it's cute and small,they don't stay that way. 

If I don't empty their tank and scrub the crap off of it everyday mywhole condo reeks like a sewage plant. Even right now they're water isalready green and there's slime on the bottom from their poop.

If you don't mind the smell and such, by all means get a turtle. Do you want mine??

I'm at the point where I can't handle them anymore. The stink is justhorrendous somedays, and my roommate is ready to throw them off thebalcony. Of course he'd never do that he just cleans the tank. Butagggh, you have no idea how frustrated I am with them. 

:Xok...I'm done ranting now.


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## Carolyn (Jan 25, 2005)

I really like this guy's face!









-Carolyn


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## SunnieBunnie Rabbitry (Jan 25, 2005)

MyBunnyLovesMe,

I know exactly what you're going through... I had 2 Female Red EarredSliders (same kind as yours) for just over 2, maybe 2 1/2yrs. Gosh I miss them, I raised them from hatchlings... Hubby decided to get rid of them &amp; took them tothe local pet store while I was out shopping ... He saidthat since my "new" hobby was going to be the rabbits, the "old" hobbyhad to go. Augh, I was so horrified &amp; depressed...They were MY turtles! But anywho... that's been done goneover with.

When the tank is properly set up and maintained, It's justawesome! But yes, when you let it go... EEWWWEEE!!!Talk about having a sewer in your living room! What type offilter are you using on your tank? That, and how much / howoften you feed has a direct impact on the tank itself.

(BTW: they absolutely LOVEGiant Nightcrawlers! and FrozenBeef Heart cubes that are in the pet store freezer. Throw aNightcrawler in there &amp; see how much they bounce to life&amp; play tug-o-war with it!...LOL.)


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 25, 2005)

ewww grubbies? nasty! lol I hate bugs... theyfight over the fish I throw in there and they toss it around and tearit apart, its the nastiest thing I've ever seen lol.

They did have an "Aquastop" filter of some sorts, it's huge, they stillsmelt sometimes though. But they're not in their tank anymore. Theyused to have a nice 80 gallon tank with a heat lamp, filter andfloating log to sit on. 

Now they're all cramped into a 25/30 gallon tank, no filter, nolights... no room to swim...and they SMELL...bah...I do my best toclean the tank everyday, but man oh man is it every hard..and theysmell soooooo bad lol. 

I'm hoping John will realize they're too hard to take care of anddonate to them to the zoo or something where they can smell all thelike and swim freely etc.


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## m.e. (Jan 25, 2005)

MyBunnyLovesMe wrote:


> Now they're all cramped into a 25/30 gallon tank, no filter, nolights... no room to swim...and they SMELL...bah...I do my best toclean the tank everyday, but man oh man is it every hard..and theysmell soooooo bad lol.



So they're your boyfriend's??? :? I'm wondering why they're having tolive in what you yourself describe as miserable conditions. Does he notrealize that they need...better?

Sorry to sound mean, but that just doesn't sound like the living environment they deserve


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 25, 2005)

I completely agree with you m.e.

They do deserve better, but he's stubborn and won't let me donate themto a zoo. I don't know what to do, he's never gonna get ridof them. 

It's so frustrating.


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## m.e. (Jan 25, 2005)

I'm sorry  You really sound like you're doingyour best despite the situation. Things would be a lot worse if youdidn't at least try to keep things clean for them. Hopefully he'll cometo his senses soon...


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## babydoshia (Jan 25, 2005)

Uggg, this is what I was afraid of. 

Let me give you the basics in proper trutle care. AsShowrabbits said, turtles can get metabolic bone disease.When turtles are kept indoors they do not get the natural UV rays thatthey need to be healthy. Thesenatural UV rays fromthe sunare absorbed into their body and used to break downvitimins they eat. (Hard to explain, sorry) Withoutthese rays,turtles (and most other reptiles)willget very sick andcan easily die. A turtlekept indoors MUST have UVA/UVB lights. These are usually inthe form of floresant bulbs. They do sell them in a "regularlight bulb shape but I always reccomend using the floresant bulbshape. Putting the turtle tank in front of a window does notcut it. The glass filters out almost all of therays. Even screen filters out alot. If you have anindoor turtle they really need this light. Try and attach itso that the bulb is no more than 18 inches from the turtle and so thelight hits all parts of the enlcosure.

Turtles, being reptiles, are cold blooded and cannot regulate their ownbody heat. They need a heat sourceabove theirenclosure as well. NOT A HOT ROCK. Hot rocks arevery dangerous and turtles will rarely use them.All turtles need heat lights. It works best to use an actualheat light that is meant to give off heat for reptiles but you can usea regular light bulb. A 50-100watt bulb would giveoff enough heat for a turtle. A heat light should be no more than 12inches from the soil or water.

Onto feeding. This depends entirely on the species.Cheesecake is an Eastern Box Turtle. I feed him turtlepellets, vegetables (different lettuces, carrots, squash), fruits,worms, and various bugs. For calcium, once a week I dust hispellets in ground up cuttlebone. All crickets feed are firstgutloaded (vitamin filled cricket food), and all worms are givenvegetables.

Different turtles require different diets and differentcare. I suggest that all of you with turtles check outAustin's Turtle Pagehttp://www.austinsturtlepage.com/They have very good care sheets. If you have any questionsplease check out their forumhttp://www.turtleforum.com/forum/upload/index.php?Like this forum, they are very nice and will do all they can to helpyou properly care for your turtle. If any of you join, besure to send me a message saying hi  My name is babydoshiaon there too.

Sorry to go off like that. I hope this has helped alittle. I've seen so many turtles miscared for. Theowners mean well but there is so much inacurate information out thereabout turtle care.

Tamra, Cheesecake is an Eastern Box Turtle. He will grow to be about 5-8inches.


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## SunnieBunnie Rabbitry (Jan 25, 2005)

*MyBunnyLovesMe wrote:*


> ...they're not in their tank anymore. They used to have anice 80 gallon tank with a heat lamp, filter and floating log to siton.
> 
> Now they're all cramped into a 25/30 gallon tank, no filter, nolights... no room to swim...and they SMELL...bah...I do my best toclean the tank everyday, but man oh man is it every hard..and theysmell soooooo bad lol.
> 
> I'm hoping John will realize they're too hard to take care of anddonate to them to the zoo or something where they can smell all thelike and swim freely etc.



Oh NO!!!

In addition to what Babydoshia mentioned...

With them living in a condition like this, they're VERYsusceptible to RI (Respiratory Infection), which can lead to Pneumonia,which leads to a very slow and miserable death by slowsuffocation! Another site that I found very helpful(especially with Red Earred Slider Turtles) is the RES Oasishttp://www.resoasis.com/There'salso a link on that page (toward the bottom right) for the Turtle Forum(same one Babydoshia linked to earlier).

I really hope you're able to find a new home for them soon... but inthe mean time, Please at least provide them with the proper care theyneed and deserve. It's not fair to them and it's yourresponsibility, as their caregiver and current owner, to provide themwith proper husbandry.

It's not tolerable to neglect and deprive a rabbit of sufficient cagespace, food, clean water, and care... Turtles should be no different.


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 26, 2005)

They're not my turtles so please dont blame mefor their living conditions. I don't have money to buy special lightbulbs and heaters and what not. If it were up to me I'd put the turtlesin the pond outside with the rest of the turtles and frogs. I've triedselling them, I've tried giving them away for free... no one wantsthem. What more can I do? The only person who wanted them was a ChineseLady who thought they'd make good soup.

They're not my pets. I take care of my buns, fish, frogs and thelobster, and I do what I can with the turtles. So I would not considermyself to be the type that mistreats animals.


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## m.e. (Jan 26, 2005)

MBLM-

There is a rescue in Ontario called Turtle Haven (I'm having troublefinding their website). They may be able to help, or offer suggestions.:? Whether or not they are yours, they do deserve a lot better, andsetting them free or giving them away could be even worse for them


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 26, 2005)

John says if I get rid of them then my rabbits are going to the butchers


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## m.e. (Jan 26, 2005)

I know it sounds like a really tough situation :?Why is he being so stubborn on this? I mean, have you asked him ifthere is some reason why he's so resistent to letting them go? Or atleast improving their environment? 

I just wouldn't be able to live in a house where my own animals wereproperly cared for, but I had to neglect others because they weren't"mine". I understand your predicament, but I would be raising a prettybig fuss about it.


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## showrabbits (Jan 26, 2005)

Wow that is so hard. Sounds like you are tryingat least. Okay I have a couple of cheap options for you. Try to lookinto those storage bins that they sell at wallmart. When we found a redlegged tortoise that was 14 pounds, and 14 inches long when I waslittle that is what I did. I begged my sister into taking me to thestore before my parents got home and found it. It only cost me 10dallors. It also had wheels so I would wheel him outside. At the time Ididnt know about the all spectrum lighting and I dont know if anybodyelse did at that time but I thought that he injoyed the fresh air. Iwould flip the ben on its side and hose it out. I would also let Jeaniewalk around and munch on the grass. My dad also fenced in a spot undera tree with some old gardening wire. He loved it. I would take him outduring the day and bring him in at night. Another easy way to make aoutside pen is get some shelving either the wire ones or wood one andthen put three of four of them in a square and put them out in the yardin a flat part. Of course supervise them at least at first. A couplehours can do wonders for daily requirements of UVA/B and the turtles gocrazy when they are allowed to run around in yummy grasses. You shouldhave a shady spot for them too.

Also turtles love alfalfa (it gives them needed ruffage which theveggies these days dont realy have, at least like they use to).

Also pet stores have a item called cuttle bone. It is for birds but itis basically calcuim. Our store has it them for ten cents. They last along time and the turtles can bite off pieces for needed calcium.Vitamin and calcium supplements should also be added to the foodsesspacaily if you donot have lights. A bottle of it lasts along time too. 

OH also for you guys who have water turtles with stinky waters there isa product that works wonder. You put a drop into the tank water asneeded and it eats up that stinky bacteria. It works great. Its callbiotozer or something like that. Let me see if I can find a link to theproduct. You guys would absolutly love it! 

Oh and check out the uva/uvb lighting because alot of times you can getthem for nice prices and they last a year or so. I think a light andtube costs about twenty dallors. 

Oh and also turtles can live for very very long times. 40 to 100 years.And tortoises that stay smaller than 9 inches are better than turtlesbecause of that stinky water problem. They are easier to take care justin case any one was wondering. 

Oh and for the people that were wondering... I found jeanies owners twomonths after I found him since i new that red foots were not native tothe area. The people didnt want him back at first due to him notbreeding for them... But turns out him is a her and later that summerwe found eggs in her outdoor pen and the last owner decided that shewanted her back. We reluctantly gave her back since she was a costlyturtle at the time. Sigghhh but she was only twenty nine years old andI was only about twelve years old so yeah it was a little hard to tellwhat I was going to be doing for the next fifty to 100 years. lol


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## showrabbits (Jan 26, 2005)

BIOTIZE that is what I was looking for! I foundit. It works realy realy good! It takes the stinks right out of thewater. Here is a website with ithttp://www.turtlesale.com/water-treatment1.html

Its only six dallors and ninty five cents and shippin is included. It also has alot of other great stuff too.


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 26, 2005)

I don't have that, but I do have stuff for myfish tank called "waste control" it cleared my fish tanks water prettygood, do you think I could use that??


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## StickyBird (Jan 26, 2005)

Aw... poor Turtles... hopefully you guys can figure something out eventually.

Those are great turtle sitesbabydoshia! I'm actually glad that someone posted some,because I've always been interested in getting a pet turtle (someday,right now, I have a certain bunny and two fish to dealwith!). Now I can read a little and get some knowledge behindme for future refrence! And Cheesecake is a cutie.=)

--Melissa and Umbra


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 26, 2005)

Anyone who wants turtles can gladly take mine... lol.


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## Spiced77 (Jan 26, 2005)

you say they're not yours and not to blame you,but you just said if anyone wants them to take yours! not to mention itsounds like you're the one feeding and taking care of them. sayingthey're not yours doesnt relieve you of responsibility if you're thereand can do something about it! sorry to sound ranty and rude, but ifyou're right there, you should be doing something about it..


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 26, 2005)

Yeah well unfortunately my rent is $850 and bythe time I feed myself and the buns, there's nothing left over. I feedthem their turtle pellets and when a fish dies they get that as atreat, I clean their disgusting smelly tank, so, am I not doinganything about it?? 

So what if I don't have a UV Light for them, they've never had a damnlight like that in their lifes, they're 10 years old, they've lived ina store pond forever, they didn't have UV lights or heat lamps thereneither. 

Maybe all turtles don't need lights like you may think, who knows.

All I know is I'm sick of their smell and I do what I can with them, ifit were up to me they'd be gone by now. But I'm not cruel enough to dosomething like that. When John decides he wants to get rid of them I'llbe fully supportive.

But please, don't you dare accuse me of not being responsible with animals.


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## m.e. (Jan 26, 2005)

MBLM-

I know you do your best. But these turtles need better. It sounds likeyou really can't provide that (and, for some reason, John won't). So ifyou are unable to give them all they need, you should contact a rescueor shelter and see what they can do.

Please don't get defensive and upset. You're telling us these turtlesare living in poor conditions, we can't help but want to help! Even ifit's not directly your fault, you're having to deal with this, and wereally are trying to give you some suggestions to improve life forthese babies.

Bottom line: you're doing the best you can, but it's not good enough.If you were unable to give your bunnies all they need, would you keepthem, or try to find a better home? Keep pressing John about this,we're all behind you


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## MyBunnyLovesMe (Jan 26, 2005)

I've been trying to get him to get rid of themfor months. He just won't let them go. I told him they can't live likethat, I know its not fair for them. If I had the money to give themwhat they need I would do it in a second. But I can't do it.

He won't be home until March 1st. I definitely can't do anythingwithout his consent while he's gone, that wouldn't be fair to himneither since they're his pets. 

I'm getting so frustrated with them though. I've tried selling them ,I've tried giving them away for free, I even took them back to the petstore to see if they could take them and they wouldn't. It's like we'resupposed to be stuck with them the rest of our lives.

I'm at a giving up point with everything now, I've got too much in mylife I'm worried about right now that I just want everything to die soI have to stop worrying about added stress.

I'm gonna go for now I'm getting way to worked up over this.


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## m.e. (Jan 26, 2005)

I understand. I've had animals dumped on me I haven't had the time orresources to care for. I understand, and I'm sorry you're having to gothrough the same thing.

Take a deep breath, snuggle your bunnies, and don't get too worked upwith turtles. After all, it's not their fault  Maybe if you got allyour thoughts together and were really able to articulate them into a"speech" for John, he'd finally understand.


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