Said goodbye to my 5 year old turtle yesterday

we found our southern painted turtle five years ago in Calaway Gardens in Georgia. he had hatched and headed up the hill rather than down to the pond and was destined to be roadkill as he made his way across a busy parking lot. He was the size of a quarter. literally. so we took him home with us. we made a great environment and he thrived in his large tank with a stone island and heat lamp, feeder guppies and vegetation. He came to know me and my husband and we could feed him by hand. He was active and comical and always interesting to watch. What a great pet he was especially during a period of black deprpession for me. He was one of the few things I would react positively to.

As we began the transition to the NW from the south we discussed for months whether to bring algae- north with us and return him to callaway. Yesterday we let him go in a small pond near a chapel that has no boats and no fishing. the banks is filled with weeds and water plants. He wasn't afraid or shy when my husband placed him on the shore. he loooked around for about two minutes as if to say " Hey this is a cool place" and then he slowly entered the water and explored. He popped his head up a few times to get air but looked calm and happy. we waited about an hour in case he changed his mind and came towards us expecting food but he was content in the pond. He had never lost his startle reflex around strangers and I fed him live fish often so he was an excellent fisherturtle. we will miss him and imagine him with a girlfriend and buddies with which to sun. We helped him grow and thrive when he might have been roadkill and now it was his time to rejoin his original home and explore.... sorta just like we are doing with our move up here. Bye Algae. I will always love you.

You did a very kind thing by rescuing Algea from that parking lot. We did the same thing years ago. We found ours trying to cross a busy highway. After about a year we took her down to a pond and let her free. They really are great pets. Ours was named Twiggy. I still miss her but I'm sure that she is happier with her own kind. I'm sure that Algea will be very happy in his new home.

I have 5 sliders at this time. When they get about the size of a saucer plate we release them. I always stop for turtles. Box, sliders, and even a few alligator or snapping turtles. I help the box turtles to the other side and if the sliders are too big we take them to a pond. The snappers are handled with extreme care and released.


I have two red-eared turtles but they are never released. They live in the pond inside the cat enclosure.