I appreciate you stopping by and reading my thesis and then writing a kind comment! This site is so old that frankly I'm surprised you found it. Ralph Nader is still my hero - he's done MORE for the United States than ANY POLITICIAN and he's never been in office! Just goes to show people that you can actually achieve MORE from outside than inside the gridlock of Washington, D.C.! All the best 999drugs, Diane and Cavies...

PS. We live in Belize now and LOVE IT!!!!

Greetings from Belize everyone! I have been living her for over a year now and I LOVE it!! I can hear howler monkeys and see/hear spider monkeys from my property here in the Cayo District of Belize. I am about 8 minutes east of the Guatemalan border, about in the center of the country but on the western border. The nearest big town is San Ignacio which is a ten minute drive to the east. I fell in love with Belize in 1989 and waited almost 30 years to finally move here permanently. I rescued 4 cavies (guinea pigs) along with their mother when the quads were just 2 days old. On March 2, 2017 they turned one year old. There are 2 boys - Kamapi and Lepi and 2 girls - Kalemapi and Kalepi. They live in a completely open environment and they get along, for the most part, pretty well. I have my soul mate - Kamapi AKA Galileo - he's the most whimsical cavy I've ever had! He has a nose like a German Shepard too which is both cute and annoying sometimes! I'll be making a Belize section on this website soon, including the cavies. All the best to everyone and thank you for visiting dianeszoo!

OOPS! I noticed in my reply that I mistyped my email address so I have corrected it below. Thanks and sorry!...
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Hi Korvix, thank you for your kind comments, I really appreciate it! I did not receive your email to me directly (sometimes my email form doesn't always work right) so please resend your email directly to me: thewildzookeeper @ dianeszoo.com Thanks and look forward to hearing from you soon. Diane AKA The Wildzookeeper.

Hello Uma, I am so sorry to have not noticed all of these comments on my page in months! I do apologize for replying so late to your comment here about your eye sight. Yes, it seems like you may be experiencing what I did but truly only an ophtholmologist can tell you if you are indeed having a retinal detachment, however, you are right that in hindsight (no pun intended!), I was having a detachment over a long period of time with the difference in color perceptions between the eyes. It wasn't until the yellow thumbprint that I really knew something extraordinary was happening in a very bad way. They should be able to tell though that your eye is detaching even if not full blown like mine was by the time I got to the eye surgeon. I would definitely NOT let this continue to fester because if the detachment is not that severe yet, they can do minor treatments like laser in the office to correct it. I had waited for mine to get looked at when it was a full blown disaster so I had the most severe form of corrective surgery for retinal detachment done first - the scleral buckle. Good luck with your eye sight Uma! Please follow up with a good retinal surgeon and insist that you truly believe you are having symptoms of a detachment even if they think you are not. Remember, YOU know your own body better than any doctor does! Stay well and God speed to you! Please keep me informed by emailing me directly: thewildzookeeper @ dianeszoo.com

Thank you Ginny G. for visiting my website and for leaving your comments so that I know you were there. I am happy to know that my site has helped you, your daughter and most of all, Speedy! I do like that name!

I congratulate you on finding the best way to care for your new found friend, albeit one that found you by setting up camp in your yard. I do want to give you one piece of advice though - please do not give speedy ANY dog or cat food ever, as it will cause irreversible damage to the shell and body systems, causing a miserable life, shortened life span and easier prey to other animals. I have seen Russian tortoises that were fed this animal-protein diet (dog/cat food) and they were not pretty to look at due to their severely deformed shells and they also had shortened life spans. In nature Russian tortoises are vegetarian so giving them any animal food source is an absolute no-no. If you look on my website for the Russian tortoise name "Precious" you will see how dry dog food caused her deformed shell. She was a stray tortoise that someone found and eventually she was given to me where I did the best I could with her but she eventually died at an early age due being fed the wrong diet for what probably was a long time, years for sure. It is not too late with Speedy though as it sounds like she wasn't allowed to eat much of the dry cat food so as long as you switch her over to the correct dry tortoise food she will hopefully be fine.

The food I was referring to is Mazuri brand tortoise food: http://www.mazuri.com/mazuritortoisediet.aspx

If you have any questions about feeding it to the Russian tortoise, then I suggest you call them and get more information but I fed it to mine without any problems as it is made for herbivorous tortoises and Russian's are herbivorous. You can either order it directly from them but then you pay for shipping on heavy bags so I would ask your local feed store (where farmers and people who have horses go for their feed and other needed products) to order it for you and they should be quite happy to do so. Having only one tortoise though, you may want to get the smallest sized bag as it could last a very long time. I would also store the food in a large container so that it will keep better and longer and be tamper-proof from insects and rats, etc. A new clean Aluminum garbage can is an ideal vessel to store the food in and they are usually under $20 at Home Depot, Lowes or other similar store or you can find them easily online and they are lightweight so shipping isn't bad.

You can either feed the tortoise the pellets dry or you can soak the pellets in filtered water (better than tap water) and then discard the excess water and serve the "mush" on a plate for her to eat. She may take a few days to get used to it but eventually she will love it, almost guaranteed. Of course, this chow should be given along with her usual fruits and vegies, very light on the fruits as she is a desert tortoise and in nature does not eat much fruit.

One other thing to remember is that if you are going to allow her to hibernate on her own in your back yard, then you need to keep her from eating for a week or more BEFORE she hibernates for the winter. This is crucial since any undigested food left in her digestive tract while she is hibernating for months at a time can rupture her intestines and cause her death or at the least, a life-threatening infection which you would not even know about since she is hibernating. You would need to observe her habits and then keep her penned up for a period of time making sure she doesn't eat, before allowing her to hibernate.

If you plan to keep her as a pet then I suggest that you build her a very sturdy, safe, fully enclosed pen so that you can monitor her easily, keep predators away from her including dogs, and be able to feed her what she should be eating and then take food away from her before hibernation. However, in captivity they do not need to hibernate if they are living in a mild or warm climate. You did not say where you lived so I can't comment on that but if you live in a desert or cold climate then yes, allowing her to hibernate on her own terms would be appropriate.

One more thing, I strongly encourage you to find a local reptile support group, rescue group or club that can help you learn more about how to care for her and perhaps help build an appropriate pen. Certainly they would know much more about how to raise her in your local climate and terrain than I would.

Good luck with your new friend and thank you for giving her a home where she will be loved, fed, protected and cared for! I wish all of you the very best of luck! Thank you again for visiting my website and for letting me know you were there. I am glad I could be of some help to you, your daughter and of course to Speedy!

Best wishes,

Diane and the Zoo...

I always appreciate people who leave kind comments! As per my long disclaimer, I am NOT an expert and make that abundantly clear! I have taken in turtles and tortoises that were already in bad shape due to poor diet and care so you cannot blame me for the way they look as shown in photos on this website. Furthermore, soaking Russian tortoises when you first get them when they are dehydrated and full of parasites was recommended to me by those in the local reptile rescue group who ARE experienced in their care. I simply followed their advice and soaked them for a short amount of time. You are right and I agree that as high desert animals, they should not be soaked as a routine course of care. When a person takes in unwanted animals they take in the good, the bad and the ugly. Please do not confuse my kindness in taking these unwanted and not so pretty animals with ignorance or improper care of them on my part. As I readily admit in my disclaimer on the bottom of every page, I am NOT an expert and I only share my limited knowledge on this website on the animals that I have taken in. I also say that this is how I do things and that it may not necessarily be correct but that I do the best I can with the knowledge I have been given by experts in the animal rehabilitation field. I am ready to admit any mistake that I have made and therefore have reworded the section to appease the criticism you have leveled against me. And for your piece of mind, the tortoise in the photo passed away at the wildlife rehabilitation expert who first gave her to me. She was even so debilitated from lack of care and diet before she was given to me, that nothing could be done to save her by the reptile rescue experts.

3. Yes, it is possible to overfeed RES and the same is true for fish. With five RES you will be fine with two or three handfuls of koi pellets every day.

4. Your pond should probably be larger than 10 feet by 8 feet. Sandy edges are good but you need to make sure they have some rock or concrete paver blocks (12 inches by 12 inches) on the edge of the pond so they can sun themselves. Turtles almost always sun themselves by slanting their body so they need to have blocks in place to have their front claws up higher than their hind claws. If you look at pictures on the turtle and pond pages you will see how the turtles naturally situate themselves for sunning. You also need to have ramps or something else for them in the water that they can climb onto and get out of the pond. If you have a sandy edge make sure you configure at least two areas with ramps for them to get out of the pond.

I would make your pond larger. If you have two acres you should have plenty of space to make a very large pond. You will discover that you wished you made your pond larger than you did after a few months. Turtles are very messy animals in the water so that is one reason to make it as large as possible. The larger pond will also have less maintenance and algae and it will help regulate the water temperature and keep it from getting too cold or too hot. I highly recommend that you make your pond at least 20 feet by 15 feet or larger. It really isn't that much more work to make it bigger in the beginning but it sure is a horrible job to enlarge an established pond. Trust me on this one because I enlarged my front pond and it was NOT fun! It is good to make at least one section at least three feet so I agree with that. You will want to have a shallow area as well. Try to make it as deep as possible because that will also help keep the pond from getting too cold. Depending on how many gallons your pond turns out to be and the shape of it, you may need two high powered pumps. You can find plenty of advice on pumps and pond building on the internet or from the store where you purchase your supplies.

5. I know nothing about painted turtles so I cannot give you any advise on whether they would live with RES. I do know though that RES are very mild mannered turtles and do get along with other species of pond turtles. But don't expect that your RES will be sweet with you once you put them in the outdoor pond. In essence, they will be living in the wild although obviously in captivity and a controlled environment around humans. The RES I have were friendly when younger and given to me because they were raised in aquariums and held often by their owners. Once I rescued them and put them in the pond they gradually became more shy and adverse to being held. However, sometimes I can still pick them up out of the water and hold them for a few seconds before they begin to claw me and try to bite. One "bite" of advice - do not EVER put the mouth of a RES near your body, especially your face, because once they bite they do NOT let go! I had a turtle bite me on my lip and I could not get that darn turtle off my lip for anything. I ended up having the pry its mouth apart and pull it off of my lip. It hurt like hell and really shook me up. I learned that turtles are NOT guinea pigs which are snuggle bunnies! I would consult a local reptile rescue group for guidance with adding other species to your pond. I also suggest hooking up such a group anyway so that you can learn more about the RES and meet other like minded people who enjoy reptiles, especially turtles. You can do a Google search and find groups in your area.

The only other thing I would suggest to you Howard is to add goldfish and rosy red minnows to your pond. They do well in cold climates and can survive in a pond that has frozen over as far as I know. Turtles will eat the rosy red minnows and also eat goldfish if the goldfish dies. I've seen four turtles literally rip a large dead goldfish apart. It was quite interesting to witness. I would also highly recommend putting some water plants in your pond - you need research what plants are native to your climate and try and get some of those plants. Ebay is an excellent source for finding pond plants and pond supplies like liner and pumps and other items you will need. I also highly recommend putting volcanic ash in the pond to help keep it clear. Its very good for the fish as well. You can find it on Ebay. You can also read my pond pages on my website for more information on maintaining your pond.

I wish you the best of luck with your five new friends and hope that they do well in your pond. I'm sure they will adjust just fine and be happy to have a large area to swim and live in rather than living indoors right now. If you have any additional questions please feel free to email me.

Happy New Year Howard!

Best wishes and warm regards,

Diane and the Zoo...

Dear Howard,

Thank you for visiting my website and for leaving your comments. I appreciate that people are interested in learning how to properly care for their turtles and tortoises! I will try to respond to each of your questions as best as I can but I am not an expert on turtles like many other reptile rescuers are but I'll try my best.

My answers to your questions:

1. Red eared sliders are native to the United States and their range is east of the Rocky Mountains down through Texas and about as far east as southern Illinois. They can live in cold weather but since their range is not towards Canada, I would suggest that you research further if the RES can live year round outdoors in your pond in your particular climate. Since I am in Florida I do not have to worry about my pond freezing over but I can tell you that in the winter here even in south Florida, we get down into the low 40s and upper 30s at least a few nights every winter. Both the fish and the turtles have always been fine. You should NEVER EVER feed them when the temperature is below 50 degrees. This is true for fish as well. The reason is that the food in their digestive system will not digest in the cold temperature and as a result of the food sitting in the digest system, it can rot and kill the fish and turtles. So if you keep them outside in a cold climate you should not be feeding them in the winter. Usually turtles go into a mild hibernation or stupor and their system slows down and allows them to remain alive despite being in a body of water that has iced over on the surface.

2. Turtle food from the pet store is fine but I highly recommend feeding them the Mazuri brand koi pellets because most reptile experts recommend it. The fish will also eat it. You should feed them once a day and give them several handfuls of the pellets but again, only when the temperature is above 50 degrees or won't dip down below that during the night. Turtles don't eat that much in the winter anyway, at least mine don't. You can have a local feed store order the Mazuri koi pellets for you in the 20 or 25 pound bag. It is much cheaper to buy it that way than at any pet store because they are ridiculously expensive for the amount of pellets you get. Most feed stores will have to order it for you but once you ask they should be happy to order it for you as they know you will be a repeat customer. I put all the koi pellets in ziploc bags to help preserve them as it can take quite a while to go through those big bags of pellets. Then I store the ziploc bags in a metal garbage can in my house so they don't attract rodents and ants.

I would also occasionally give your RES romaine lettuce, endive, green beans, tomatoes, apples, and other fresh fruits and greens. Never give them iceburg lettuce though as it has no nutritional value. All of these foods are also good for fish which also need these fresh foods in addition to the koi pellets.

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Thanks Gladiola, I'm "Glad" you left such a nice comment for me! I hope that you enjoy gardening as much as I do - wherever you are! Best wishes and cheers, Diane and the Zoo...