Baby sea turtles, might hobbyists help?

[Kalkbreath]

There was some discussions [now closed]about ocean turtles as pets on another site.
While I do not suggest in any way breaking the current Federal laws pertaining to sea turtles .....I do have have a perspective I would like to share.

One could make the case that due to the fact that 99.8 percent of baby sea turtles die or are eaten by predators in their first month of life ...out on the ocean.

Baby sea turtles might fare better in human aquariums during their few months of life then they do out in the wild.

A baby sea turtle would be easy to care for during its first few months .

By raising the turtle to a size [about six inches] which is large enough that it cant be swallowed by every seagull and fish that lays eyes on it.
We have all seen the videos of the feeding frenzy that takes place when the turtles take to the water after hatching out of the sand....
With Sea turtle populations continuing to dwindle , with no real hope of a change in their plight with the current protections in place....
I would venture to say that having tens of thousands of hobbyists acting as surrogate parents and raising tiny baby turtles to a viable size and releasing them into the wild ..... would most certainly increase the wild populations ten fold and save the species with in five years.
Instead of banning baby turtle possession.
Would it not make more sense to require every house hold in America to keep a baby turtle as a pet, then release the turtle back into the wild at six months or so.

What do you think would be in the best interests of the baby turtles?

[picture the movies JAWS, Quint the captain tells the story]

"Ten-thousand baby turtles go into the water, Sharks in the water too." "Gulls and groupers to boot."
"Ten-thousand baby turtles go in the water.... only twenty turtles make past it the first week!

I think we hobbyists could do a tad better then twenty turtles out of ten-thousand.

I say we let the turtles decide.

Right before the seagull swallows "Squirt" [picture the little tyke in movie Finding Nemo]
....we ask the turtle moment sform being eaten if he would like to continue down his current path , [sea gull belly]

......or come spend a few weeks relaxing in my 180 and basking under the halides until he packs on a few pounds and can reach the light switch!

I mean, what would happen if we humans let out newborns out into the streets so soon after hatching?

Seems to reason we could be better parents the the mommy turtles.


Makes you think , now doesn't it? [wink]

 

[Anonymous]

I have no issue with it.

However, if you see how people treats the red ear slider in carnival and fair, you should be a bit uncomfortable to make sea turtle such a popular pet. There is a very high probability that they also die while in people's care. Some place maybe a bit too far from the ocean to release them, and while they were in the tank, they may get some disease.

 

[Anonymous]

There was some discussions [now closed]about ocean turtles as pets on another site.
While I do not suggest in any way breaking the current Federal laws pertaining to sea turtles .....I do have have a perspective I would like to share.

One could make the case that due to the fact that 99.8 percent of baby sea turtles die or are eaten by predators in their first month of life ...out on the ocean.

Baby sea turtles might fare better in human aquariums during their few months of life then they do out in the wild.
[wink]

I seriously doubt it. Leave it to to genuine breeding programs to do. There are just way too many reasons why this is might be a very bad idea.

 

[Kalkbreath]

There was some discussions [now closed]about ocean turtles as pets on another site.
While I do not suggest in any way breaking the current Federal laws pertaining to sea turtles .....I do have have a perspective I would like to share.

One could make the case that due to the fact that 99.8 percent of baby sea turtles die or are eaten by predators in their first month of life ...out on the ocean.

Baby sea turtles might fare better in human aquariums during their few months of life then they do out in the wild.
[wink]

I seriously doubt it. Leave it to to genuine breeding programs to do. There are just way too many reasons why this is might be a very bad idea.

I have yet to see any successful breeding programs.
Seems to be a problem with group turtle husbandry.
Disease spreading , unnatural having turtles in groups and group raised turtles dont survive well when released , etc.
Raising turtles one at a time is how nature does it.
Public breeding programs cant raise turtles one at a time in large numbers like the hobby could.
Sea turtle populations are at an all time low,
seems new ideas are in short order.......

 

[Mike612]

I don't think we'd be able to help. Sea Turtles get pretty big and will need huge tanks, bigger than what most people can afford.
Also, I don't think we can breed sea turtles. Sea turtles return to the beaches they were born on to lay their eggs. How can they do that if we have them captive? There are people that go around beaches specifically looking for turtle eggs so that they can hatch in captive care but they are released when biologists are sure the turtles are doing well.
We might need new ideas to keep them alive, but raising them in captivity isn't an option in my opinion.

 

[Anonymous]

There was some discussions [now closed]about ocean turtles as pets on another site.
While I do not suggest in any way breaking the current Federal laws pertaining to sea turtles .....I do have have a perspective I would like to share.

One could make the case that due to the fact that 99.8 percent of baby sea turtles die or are eaten by predators in their first month of life ...out on the ocean.

Baby sea turtles might fare better in human aquariums during their few months of life then they do out in the wild.
[wink]

I seriously doubt it. Leave it to to genuine breeding programs to do. There are just way too many reasons why this is might be a very bad idea.

I have yet to see any successful breeding programs.
Seems to be a problem with group turtle husbandry.
Disease spreading , unnatural having turtles in groups and group raised turtles dont survive well when released , etc.
Raising turtles one at a time is how nature does it.
Public breeding programs cant raise turtles one at a time in large numbers like the hobby could.
Sea turtle populations are at an all time low,
seems new ideas are in short order.......

So what's the plan then? Stick them in folks' 120 gallon reef tanks in Michigan? Expose them to foreign pathogens, get them habituated to human feeding, and then the hobbyist is expected to drive to the ocean to release a cute, slightly larger, baby turtle in 6 months? Good luck with all that.

 

[Anonymous]

There was some discussions [now closed]about ocean turtles as pets on another site.
While I do not suggest in any way breaking the current Federal laws pertaining to sea turtles .....I do have have a perspective I would like to share.

One could make the case that due to the fact that 99.8 percent of baby sea turtles die or are eaten by predators in their first month of life ...out on the ocean.

Baby sea turtles might fare better in human aquariums during their few months of life then they do out in the wild.
[wink]

I seriously doubt it. Leave it to to genuine breeding programs to do. There are just way too many reasons why this is might be a very bad idea.

I have yet to see any successful breeding programs.
Seems to be a problem with group turtle husbandry.
Disease spreading , unnatural having turtles in groups and group raised turtles dont survive well when released , etc.
Raising turtles one at a time is how nature does it.
Public breeding programs cant raise turtles one at a time in large numbers like the hobby could.
Sea turtle populations are at an all time low,
seems new ideas are in short order.......

So what's the plan then? Stick them in folks' 120 gallon reef tanks in Michigan? Expose them to foreign pathogens, get them habituated to human feeding, and then the hobbyist is expected to drive to the ocean to release a cute, slightly larger, baby turtle in 6 months? Good luck with all that.

The marine lab in Galveston does something similar. All controlled by the lab. They catch them, raise them, tag the release. No private hobbiest are involved.

http://galveston.ssp.nmfs.gov/research/ ... index.html

 

[Anonymous]

I have yet to see any successful breeding programs.
Seems to be a problem with group turtle husbandry.
Disease spreading , unnatural having turtles in groups and group raised turtles dont survive well when released , etc.

There is a huge, successful sea turtle hatchery program on Grand Cayman. We have given the gift of sponsoring a turtle release many times

http://www.turtle.ky/webcam.htm

Heres a pic I took when I was there:

 

[Brian5000]

This is only kinda sorta related, but I've heard of a similar idea in repopulating crocodiles (or maybe alligators, can't remember). Volunteers would get a large aquarium and a baby crocodile. That person would raise it to a certain size. Then, officials would take it away and give the person a new baby crocodile. Maybe they want to try it with other animals.
_________________
Honda ZB50

 

[pcardone]

thats an awesoms pic.I swiped it for a wallpaper?

 

[Anonymous]

So if us hobbyist raised the turtles to a decent size where do we release them? Any ol' place where there's an ocean? Any body of water? Do we restrict those who live near the ocean to have these? You're asking an awful lot of people to do to release them if you want them to be released in proper areas.

 

[Anonymous]

So if us hobbyist raised the turtles to a decent size where do we release them? Any ol' place where there's an ocean? Any body of water? Do we restrict those who live near the ocean to have these? You're asking an awful lot of people to do to release them if you want them to be released in proper areas.

you're forgetting whos thread this is

very poorly thought out, per usual, and never taking the true realities into account

it also deals with not treating the root issues, but working with bandaids-and playing with bandaids never solves the problem

 

[Anonymous]

I like the out of the box thinking, it gets us places we wouldn't normally go.

A rescue effort for baby tortoises might be a great idea even if I think it might only work locally. That said, given that we fly frags around, I see no reason that baby turtles couldn't be flown to proper areas for release after being 'grown out'. Look to any other program that uses 'regular' people to rehab or raise wild animals for an idea about how such a program could work.

I for one think that the scientific community should stop treating the hobby community for the most part like an embarrassing step child, and look for more ways to cross pollinate.

 

[pwj1286]

I don't think that would work out at all...at least not right now in this stage of the hobby.....so that would make it a terrible idea.

People think they are "hardcore" enough to take care of them but, I have job shadowed the Aquarium of the Americas back in high school. Let me tell you...they are more delicate than a fish and catch a lot more diseases than easy to treat Ick. Fungus and all kind of strange stuff that hobbyist just don't have the scope for. You would just need a giant tank for it and they are too complex for most people...

not saying I could...but Julian Sprung probably couldn't...he or any other silly hobbist would have to study it for years in a college for marine biology of turtles.

Just a really bad idea for hobbyist...Universities and private organization who specialize in this area and who have funding? I say go ahead.

No for hobbyist who just want a baby sea turtle in their 55 gallon.

Do not put it past them. They are out there.
_________________
Honda CBR1000F

 

[Anonymous]

Manybe not turtles, but corals from around Floridia would be possible. They would be passed along and propagated all over the place. I would be willing to take some even if it meant sending in documentation to verify my status and whatnot.

 

[Kalkbreath]

Let me tell you...they are more delicate than a fish and catch a lot more diseases than easy to treat Ick. Fungus and all kind of strange stuff that hobbyist just don't have the scope for.

Thats part of the benefit of limiting each surrogate mother(human) to one single turtle. Unlike with turtle farms, raising turtles one at a time overcomes most of the communicable diseases associated with raising multiple animals in a very unnatural group conditions.
{ie. your sisters cant give you turtle clap}

Similarly with the Caribbean corals, having all the "Opportunities lost" in one fell swoop is more risky then divided among ten thousand hobbyists located around the USA with one coral fragment each.
{ ...that is unless all the hobbyists have the same auto top off re filler.}

 

[Anonymous]

Aren't they federally protected? If they are, any discussion is pretty useless until you find a way around that hurdle.

 

[Anonymous]

Aren't they federally protected? If they are, any discussion is pretty useless until you find a way around that hurdle.

Yes they are. Limited to reasearch labs and the like, but if you became a remote branch of that lab?????? I'm sure if someone could prove it would be benifical and cost saving it could be justified. There would be no wild collections, just "grants" from labs and existing captive reared corals.

 

[Kalkbreath]

Aren't they federally protected? If they are, any discussion is pretty useless until you find a way around that hurdle.

So too are fla. corals and gators.... yet we both know hobbyists do a better job at raising both.
All the government institutions combined dont have the capacity nor the ability of the million or so hobbyists.
Heck , are not there more big wild cats (like Tigers) living as pets in Florida then running wild in all of Asia? Humans are pretty darn good at raising pets.

At least reef hobbyists would not likely eat their baby turtles, like they do in the Cayman Island farm.
Only one out of five farmed the turtles are released into the wild, the majority are sold for food.

Production of 5000 turtles per year (146,000 kg) for slaughter produces approximately 14,500 kg of fillet steak, 19,000 kg of steak pieces, 6800 kg of calipee/calipash (soup products), 4000 sets of skins, 8600 kg of oil, 545 kg of plastronal shell and 2000 polished whole shells. These products produce a gross income of approximately US$800,000.

GRAND CAYMAN, CAYMAN ISLANDS--A young American tourist has just heard a snippet of a conversation at the new home of the Cayman Turtle Farm inside the Boatswain's Beach marine park that has left her a bit confused.

"Do people eat them?" she asks staff member Marsha Ebanks who is guiding journalists through the park on a tour of the new $52-million (U.S.) facility.

"Uh-huh," says Ebanks.

"What part?"

"Fins, belly, steak ... everything but the shell, pretty much."

"Where?" the woman asks horrified.

"Here," says Ebanks without batting a lash.

She means that literally.

Caymanians in general are fond of turtle meat and just a few feet away from the breeding tank and turtle petting area (home to more than 11,000 turtles ranging in size from 179 grams to 272 kilograms), both the Turtle Crawl Deli and Schooner's Bar and Grille have turtle on the menu.

It's a fact that many tourists seem to have a hard time swallowing.

more here http://www.thestar.com/article/181751

 

[Kalkbreath]

OH ! and don't forget that most of the released turtles are also caught and eaten by the local islanders. As evident by an ever decreasing turtle population over the last thirty years in spite of the farms re introduction efforts.