What the shell - terrapins dumped in cardboard box

Please think before choosing an exotic pet

07.01.12

We are warning people against buying exotic pets on impulse after two terrapins were found dumped in a field just after Christmas.

Sharon Bailey was walking her dog near her home in Headington, near Oxford, on Thursday, 29 December when she came across a soggy cardboard box with the bedraggled reptiles inside.

She said:

My attention was drawn when my dog pounced on this wet object and to my surprise there were two terrapins inside.

They were pretty little things with yellow stripes, drenched in the rain.

It seems heartless to have left them in this way, and I was concerned about them surviving out there so took them home and put them in the bath to warm up.

People do not realise the specialist care exotic pets need 

The animal lover, who has experience of owning reptiles, called the RSPCA for help.

The animals were identified as yellow-bellied sliders, similar to those pictured left, and have been taken into private boarding while a new home is sought.

Animals like terrapins are often abandoned in this way after being chosen as pets by people who want something unusual or quirky, but do not realise how difficult they can be to look after.

Also, films like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles prompt people to buy these animals and, with a new version out this year, we fear it may result in many more people buying turtles on a whim.

Many abandoned terrapins now living wild in England

RSPCA Animal Collection Officer Dennis Lovell said:

Sadly, it is not that unusual for terrapins to get dumped like this.

Many people bought them on a whim after the Ninja Turtle films a while back and did not realise how big they can grow, how difficult they can be to care for properly and how expensive they can end up being.

People get them as cute little pets when they are the size of a 50p piece, then get a shock when they grow to the size of a dinner plate a couple of years later and need bigger and better tanks, pumps and other equipment.

They end up struggling to cope and there are lots of dumped terrapins living in the wild in England as a result. This has all kinds of knock-on effects to our ecosystem.

I hope the new film doesn't end up making this problem worse.

 

Read more about wild animals in captivity and meeting the needs of exotic pets.
 

---

Can you help with our investigation?

We are trying to find out how the terrapins were dumped

RSPCA Animal Collection Officer Dennis Lovell is appealing for information from anyone who might know where the two abandoned terrapins came from.

If you have any information at all about these dumped terrapins, no matter how insignificant you think it might be, please call the RSPCA 24-hour cruelty line: 0300 1234 999. Calls are treated in the strictest confidence.
 

---