Turtle question?

Question

A neighbor of ours gave my little girl 2 turtles that he found in the middle of the road, from a vacation to Arizona that they took. These were wildlife turtles, and he kept them for over a year in an aquarium, in which they lived, and seemed okay. When I found out about the situation, I felt what he had done was wrong to these turtles, am a big animal lover, too, but, do not know a thing about turtles. I thought it was cruel to cage them, as they are actually wild animals. I tried to research what kind of turtles they were, but, could not figure it out. He was not using any type of heat light for them, and to me they seemed kind of sad. However, we live in Illinois, upper to central Illinois. I decieded to let them go in a local wildlife pond, full of fish, turtles, frogs, ducks, and all other types of wildlife. Just wondering if they would be okay, as the climate is competely different here than in Arizona. I hope I did the right thing, because I did not know what else to do?

Answer 1

I would say that it isn't the wisest decision if you didn't know what kind they were.  They could not be native to the state and not only have trouble adjusting to the climate but impact the environment.  A better thing would have been to give them to a local rescue or the humane society, but unless you can somehow go back, identify and catch them there isn't anything you can do about it now.  I agree that it wasn't right to keep them in those conditions or to take them out of their natural habitat in the first place.

Answer 2

*****check out the  ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€Âœherpetologicalsocieties.com“.

Good luck

Answer 3

sweetie your heart was in the right place and it was good that you thought of these turtles welfare before any thing else, but it is illegal to release any turtle into the wild, especially if you do not know if it is native to your area, a non native turtle can really upset the natural balance of things,whether it will survive or not we can't tell you that but we can pray it all works out and you released two turtles that are native, don't feel bad as you were only doing what you thought was best for these two wild turtles it should be your neighbor that feels guilty not you he should never have taken them from where they live, hopefully they will live their live freely and happy, you were only doing what you thought was the right thing so no one can judge you for your thoughtfulness, it may have been wrong but you were only doing it for the right reasons, best of luck honey.

Answer 4

your heart was in the right place but you did the wrong thing. it is against the law to transport wild-caught turtles across state lines.  these laws are in place for a reason, as the other poster indicated.  how do you know they were water turtles instead of land turtles.  i doubt they could survive in the environment in which you put them.

when a turtle is found in the road, if you can safely stop and get them out of the middle of the road, take them off the road in the direction they were going.  wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands.  i cannot say that enough.