During the Spring and Summer seasons, illegal merchants start showing up in not-so-nice neighborhoods and sell baby turtles on the street. They usually sell the turtles with a 2 for $10 deal. They come in a little plastic container and you can buy some pellet food with the purchase if you choose to do so. These turtles could be carrying diseases like salmonella. In addition to the health risk for the kids who get these as gifts from their parents, the turtles are usually deemed a short life since the uninformed buyers have no idea the level of care it takes to be the owner of turtles. The turtles usually never see another tank other than the small plastic one they come with. Owning turtles is a big responsibilty. You need a good size tank, a filtration system, a platform for basking, a basking lightbulb and lamp, the effort to clean the tank and filter every couple of months, and turtles also require a balanced diet other than pellets(vegetables, fruits, crickets, worms, etc). None of this information is given to the buyer, the turtles serve as brief entertainment to the kids until they shortly die in their plastic container due to lack of proper care. Please help stop this illegal business by telling the governor of NY to crack down and put a stop to it. If parents want to buy a pet turtle for their kid, they should go to their local pet shop and speak with an employee about the responbilites and care associated with turtle ownership.
