This little guy (or girl) was rescued from a swimming pool on Sunday. Not too far away from the pool is a pond. It's hard to imagine that something this tiny could walk all the way from the pond to where the pool is. It's quite possible that he was destined for a large bird's lunch, and was dropped by mistake. Anyway, he is in a pie dish on my counter with some stones where he can climb up to rest, and some leaves floating around so he can hide under them when swimming in the water.
I've been doing some research on painted turtles. That's a green bean you see floating. Supposedly they eat them, but he isn't interested. Probably because it looks so giant to him. They're also supposed to eat dandelions, but he seems to like to just push it around. The flower gives you an idea of how tiny he is.
I don't think it's a good idea to bring animals from the wild into your home, but I think if he has the opportunity to grow a bit bigger, he'll have a fighting chance in a pond some where.
Looks like I'll be looking for an aquarium so that "Sparky" has more room to grow. I've bought reptile sticks, and brine shrimp, but for now he's only interested in the one fly a day I've been catching and putting in the water.
If you have any information about painted turtle care, please send it my way. Sparky and I will be mighty grateful!
I had a turtle when I was little. It swam around one of those plastic containers with a ramp and a plastic palm tree. I'm pretty sure my mom had to clean out the bowl every day. Hope Sparky grows up so he can get back into his own pond soon.
Posted by: Lynn | May 12, 2011 at 09:02 AM
He's so tiny! Hope he grows up soon so he can go back home.
Posted by: Pam | May 13, 2011 at 01:35 PM