When you ask for advice, listen.
The reptile rescue phone rings all of the time. Every now and then, the caller just wants advice about animal care.
Recently, there was a call from a woman who found a baby turtle somewhere near Loch Raven reservoir. First off, you should not take baby turtles from the wild! Secondly, if you are going to ask for advice, you should actually listen to it.
The rescue person tried to stop the caller from giving a description of the turtle over the phone because it is impossible to make an ID of a baby turtle by description alone. A photo is necessary.
Different turtle species require very different habitats and food. It is important to keep them properly housed and fed in order for them to survive. But after that explanation, the caller continued to describe the turtle.
“It has a tail.” Okay… they all do.
“It has a shell and it’s dark and has bumps.” Again the rescue person begged for a photo.
Finally, the woman sent photos from a cell phone, she didn’t have a digital camera. The quality of the photos was not good. It was difficult to see what species it was, but it was determined that the turtle was a hatchling snapping turtle.
“Do you know adults get the size of a trash can lid?” The rescue person asked.
The caller ignored that comment completely.
Snapping turtles usually hatch in the summer. Turtle eggs are laid in moist soil. The babies make their way from where they hatch, often times in people’s gardens, to their permanent homes in the water. They are often found by people, but it is not recommended that they be kept as pets. There are many turtles available locally through rescues such as MATTS, Charm City Reptile Rescue or even at pet stores that are much more suitable as pets.
The woman said she didn’t want to keep the turtle, she just wanted to keep it over the winter and release it in the spring. It was recommended again that she just put the turtle back where she found it or in a safer area close by. The woman was having none of it.
She asked about how to care for the snapping turtle. She was told to use a plastic container with about a quarter of an inch of water on one side. By slightly propping up the other side, it would be dry. The woman interrupted and said she had a ten gallon aquarium. The rescue person said, “I would recommend you use the plastic container because it is easier to prop it up on one side.”
“But I have a rock for the 10 gallon aquarium for the turtle to cimb out,” The caller said.
This argument went on for about five minutes. As the rescue person was getting angrier, the caller kept firing away with questions, not listening to the answers and giving her own answers.
If you call an animal expert to ask for advice about how to care for said animal, you should either listen politely and then do as you please -- or take the advice. Arguing because you think you know what to do, doesn’t really help and negates the reason for the call in the first place!
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