Time for a little lunch time distraction.

Can you identify this turtle and where he should be? I found him in a grocery store on Galveston. The closest water was the beach.

If he needs a little bit of rest and recovery from his shopping trip, give me an idea on what to give him to eat and how to make him comfortable.

Thanks for your help!

Close Up and Bottle Cap for Size

Red eared slider.

Calls freshwater ponds home.

He's started to crawl around a bit. Would it be ok to just release him into the nearest pond to where I found him? The pond looks to be a man-made decorative pond in a cemetery.

Bob

ME92 said:

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Would it be ok to just release him into the nearest pond to where I found him?

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That's probably how he got there.

I used to irrigate with city wastewater. Our ponds were always full of red-eared sliders, and the ponds were built in such a way that natural runoff or streams could not flow into the ponds.

I was never sure if the turtles were getting flushed, or their eggs were. I assume the latter, as the pumps from the city to the ponds destroyed everything.

Well, everything except the blue plastic bags Walmart used to use. Can't tell you how many hundred times I found a nozzle plugged with a Walmart bag. Who in the world flushes plastic bags?

CanyonAg77 said:

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Bob

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Bob still has an antenna on a pole
Two channels come in
Two more come and go

Any freshwater pond or slow moving body of water is fine. No need to keep him. They are dirty little suckers (poop a lot).

That's Fred

Not sure but he looks cold.

CanyonAg77 said:

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ME92 said:

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Would it be ok to just release him into the nearest pond to where I found him?

---

That's probably how he got there.

I used to irrigate with city wastewater. Our ponds were always full of red-eared sliders, and the ponds were built in such a way that natural runoff or streams could not flow into the ponds.

I was never sure if the turtles were getting flushed, or their eggs were. I assume the latter, as the pumps from the city to the ponds destroyed everything.

Well, everything except the blue plastic bags Walmart used to use. Can't tell you how many hundred times I found a nozzle plugged with a Walmart bag. Who in the world flushes plastic bags?

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People who don't have to pay to fix the plumbing, that's who.

Back Home

Fred is back at his pond now. Other turtles are there to keep him company.

He spent some time outside after the first set of pictures and was more comfortable in the warmth and sunlight. But he was very happy to be back in the fresh(?) water of the pond.

Thanks for the help!

Other info if y'all are interested:

The pond is at least 820ft from where I found him. Fred would have had to navigate several fences, a road, and a big concrete parking lot to get into the store. He was in the shopping cart pick up area just inside the first set of doors. Somehow, he had ended up leaning against the wall with his back, much like you would lean your cell phone against something to watch a video.

I thought he was a toy when I first saw him. Then I thought he was dead because he didn't flinch when I poked at him. Glad he came out of shell so he could get back to where he belongs.

We live on a golf course about 100 yards from a creek. We also have a large Koi pond. We get about a dozen Bob's hatching out, that get in our pool or pond every year.

Some kid probably set it there when his mom told him he couldn't bring it in the grocery store. He's probably still looking for it

Charismatic Megafauna said:

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Some kid probably set it there when his mom told him he couldn't bring it in the grocery store. He's probably still looking for it

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This is kind of what I was thinking. I don't know if I'm the villain in the kid's story or the hero in the turtle's or just some random crazy human injecting chaos into the world.

I actually name all my pet turtles Fred. I'm on Fred lV. Colorado river map turtle I found when he was the size of a quarter. I'll probably release him into the River this fall.

They scatter after they hatch so they end up crawling all over the place.

I call them all Fred because I had a friend named Fred who broke his back and ended up in a "turtle shell" brace. So I call him Turtle and turtles Fred.

All of the above!