Is this a good idea?

[NotAnotherHonda]

my yellow bellied slider is getting big. too big for me to keep in my 29gallon (hes about 4 in). i have raised him since he was a hatchling basically. anyways, i have 2 options.

1) im about to graduate and move into a house. if space/landlord allows, i wanna put a small pond in the backyard (the kind you get at home depot, maybe a lil bigger). maybe i can put my YBS and mississippu map in there

2) maybe let him go in a natural environment. I was thinking like Silver Springs (no alligator threat, hundreds and hundreds of turtles, miles to swim, no motorboats/fishing allowed, perfect central FL weather, etc)

i am NOT an unresponsible pet owner and only want the best for my turtle. the reason i got him in the first place was because he was at a dirty pet store with horrible conditions and i wanted to get him out of there. can captive raised turtles do well in the wild? if not, he'll stay with me in the backyard! thanks!

[Nate]

I have zero experience with sliders...but my gut says offer it up to someone who has experience looooooooong before even considering releasing it into the wild. I would completely rule out option 2...especially since you've raised it since it hatched. It's completely dependent on you, the owner. It probably won't survive in the wild...

[Reptilian]

To be honest I don't think he'll do well in the wild. He's used to being fed and the safety of a tank. A backyard pond would be nice for him. If you really don't want to keep him, why not look into adopting him out. There are a few turtle messageboards out there. One that comes to mind is turtleexchange.com, they have an adoption board out there and really know what they're doing.

[qiksilver]

I would not release him, there's always the chance that you could introduce exotic diseases and bacteria to wild populations especially starting with terrible conditions. But that's not what I would be worried about, I would be worried about the animal not being able to find food. And I am also very anti-exotic release into wild populations, I don't know much about which turtle is from where, so I don't know if you have yellow bellies naturally in your area, but personally I wouldn't release it. I'm not going to preach to you, but florida has enough problems with exotic release from irresponsible owners, so trying to be responsible and give him space would not be releasing your pet somewhere.

[NotAnotherHonda]

To be honest I don't think he'll do well in the wild. He's used to being fed and the safety of a tank. A backyard pond would be nice for him. If you really don't want to keep him, why not look into adopting him out. There are a few turtle messageboards out there. One that comes to mind is turtleexchange.com, they have an adoption board out there and really know what they're doing.

i want to keep him. i love the guy. i just want whatever is best for him

but yea, i get what your saying.

[Nate]

the idea of a little pond the backyard sounds pretty cool but what about him leaving the pond? will there be a perimeter in which he can't escape?

[qiksilver]

yeah, i meant to include that too, if you give him a pond, fence it in too, that will also stop racoons and the like from coming and eating him especially since he won't know to dive down and stay hidden from predators.

[NotAnotherHonda]

the idea of a little pond the backyard sounds pretty cool but what about him leaving the pond? will there be a perimeter in which he can't escape?

itll be a miniature version of the pond im making at my refuge. if you havent seen it, take a look under the wildlife topic. page 10.

[wendy]

why not? but i have captured turtles from the wild, kept them as pets till years later when the kids get sick of them, ive let them go in the pond and we see them regularly. on logs, heads poking up...they are fine. hope this helps.

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

I'd be weary of a backyard pond for him at that size. Raccoons, cats, dogs, birds of prey are all threats