How should I tend a store bought painted turtle?
The true painted turtle is usually too smart or too shy to be captured. This is why he is hardly ever bought in a pet shop. There we find multitudes of poor little creatures dressed up to pass as painted turtles. And, sad to say, the gaudy paints daubed on their helpless little shells usually ruin their lives. Mother Nature herself decorated the true painted turtle. Usually he has a border of red tiles around the edge of the shell on his back. His under shell is plain yellow or mapped with blotches of red and yellow. And there are red and yellow stripes on the skin of his neck. It is not likely that your store bought turtle resembles this handsome fellow. Chances are, your pretty little pet is a baby slider turtle daubed with paint. And the first order of business is to do your best to remove this daub. This is not easy because the shell of your baby pet is quite fragile. The paint can do serious damage but ordinary paint removers can be even more harmful. If you are lucky, you may fin
