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this damn turtle...


mchookem

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  • 2 months later...
On 11/12/2021 at 2:49 PM, mchookem said:

... needs a new home! any ideas?

red-eared slider...i rescued him from a friend's daughter about 20 years ago (they bought on a whim in CA when daughter was like 5...i'm an animal lover and couldn't stand seeing him kept in a shoebox, he's a damn water turtle! 🤬)

anyway... brought him home and progressed thru increasingly sized aquariums until my husband built him a pond on our patio where he now lives happily with several goldfish.

but we're planning to list/move in the spring and i'm not sure what to do with Spot 😕

releasing to the wild is not an option as he would likely starve. most turtle rescues are either full or don't take RES.

does he convey with the house?? i mean i would be all 'hey that's cool!' if i was buying this house but i'm sure i'm the exception.

i've been thru a cat and four dogs since i've had him...i did not know they live like 50 years 😐

anybody want a turtle?? 

How’s Spot doing? Did you ever find him a home?

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nope...sought out one reptile refuge in Bastrop but it was a nogo, red-eared sliders are in the 'way too many people think they make great pets but quickly tire of them' category (which is basically how i ended up with him), so i guess most refuges already have too many 😒

i think he's gonna have to convey with the house. or make my realtor take him 😄

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  • 1 month later...

guys...i have a lead for rehoming Spot! Thad might be off the hook 😄

my college roommate lives on about 1 1/2 acres up off Dessau, they've got goats and prairie dogs and six-toed cats...and her daughter is very excited about possibly adding an aquatic turtle!  

they have a small pond already, no critters but lots of aquatic plants... so I'm going to take Spot for a visit next week and we'll check it out! it will be a more 'natural' habitat (no heater, pump, etc) but he would still be fed which is the main issue (since he doesn't know how to get his own food). 

and I think he'll be okay temperature wise...he should just hibernate when it gets cold...last year during the winter apocalypse when we lost power for 5 days (thus no heater), he literally just sank to the bottom and took like a 4 day nap... and woke up fine (even though there were like 100 dead fish in there lol)

cross your fingers it works out! 🐢 

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rare basking in the yard...eyeballing the pool lol.

took him out to give him a good washing so he can make a good impression, off to visit his potential new home 🤞

ETA before anyone asks, yes that's outdoor turf lol. spent years trying to get different grass to grow in that area, just too much shade. and with the pool too much potential for dirt/mud, so we put that in several years ago. it actually looks fine. 

 

20220322_165911.jpg

Edited by mchookem
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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • 3 weeks later...

so Spot will stay where he is for now... and we will see if anybody wants him (i mean he's basically no maintenance).

it will not be a deal breaker as my friend's place will be backup...but who knows, this guy might be grown up and buying his first home in Austin!

200 (6).gif

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  • 1 month later...

well...shit. i just found out today that the new owner is actually planning to remove the pond altogether! so now i'm in a rush to find 7 large goldfish a new home in addition to Spot! 

(to be clear, i'm not holding it against the new owner at all, fish and turtles are different kinds of pets, i was just hopeful!)

i still have option B for Spot (my friend's property) but it's still not ideal, and i honestly feel like there's only a 50% chance that will work out well (survival, that he doesn't just wonder off permanently, get stomped by a goat, etc)...

so right now i'm doing an urgent NextDoor plea... 🤞

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On 6/15/2022 at 11:00 AM, mchookem said:

well...shit. i just found out today that the new owner is actually planning to remove the pond altogether! so now i'm in a rush to find 7 large goldfish a new home in addition to Spot! 

(to be clear, i'm not holding it against the new owner at all, fish and turtles are different kinds of pets, i was just hopeful!)

i still have option B for Spot (my friend's property) but it's still not ideal, and i honestly feel like there's only a 50% chance that will work out well (survival, that he doesn't just wonder off permanently, get stomped by a goat, etc)...

so right now i'm doing an urgent NextDoor plea... 🤞

are you in Austin?

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Just saw this thread. Had red eared sliders for almost 20 years. Kudos to you for creating a great home and your due diligence finding him a new home. With his new home having that much room conflict should be nonexistent. Not sure he's a he. Male sliders have HUGE nails, like Wolverine type long nails.

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  • 1 month later...

 

On 11/30/2021 at 12:24 AM, millhouse said:

Did they pave over the turtle pond behind the tower?  Any reason not to rehome him there?

 

On 11/30/2021 at 12:40 PM, hookemATL said:

There’s an extensive interview/vetting process involved, so it may take longer than you think. 

 

On 11/30/2021 at 1:24 PM, TexasEd said:

Yep, They only take the top 6% of turtles these days.

 

On 7/19/2022 at 2:53 PM, Bevo said:

I just received an email and apparently UT has a turtle pond. It is just north of the tower. Maybe you could knit a neoprene UT jersey for him and he can fit right in.

There were at least 3 posts about it on page 1.

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  • 4 months later...
On 6/18/2022 at 11:55 AM, mchookem said:

well guys... just dropped Spot off for transport to his new home...

a 17,000 gallon backyard pond in Cedar Park with one other adult and two baby red-eared sliders and dozens of fish!

he's not gonna know what to do with himself with all that room 😊

the lady wasnt sure if the other adult was male or female... so he's also got a 50/50 chance of getting laid for the first time! which is better than JerseyMan's odds, so he's got that going for him 😁

fish will be rehomed to a neighbor's pond in Brentwood in about an hour.

everybody found great new digs! now we just need a new house 😄

Yo @mchookem, just saw your post in the other thread. Got any updates on Spot’s new life for us? 

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