Contrary to popular beliefs, the most common reptile in rescue is not a giant. I see and receive requests to surrender more water turtles, primarily red eared sliders, than any other reptile. In fact, in one week I will get more requests to surrender sliders than I have received to surrender Burmese pythons in the entire existence of my rescue.

With Christmas around the corner, I am cringing. The wildly popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie will lead to a lot of impulse slider purchases. They are small, cute and cheap, and available at almost every pet store. They also live a long time, take a lot of care to set up properly and while the animal itself is inexpensive, a good set-up is not.

I have no problem with gifting a pet, but slider acquisitions are often made on impulse. Research will be minimal and the care sheets that are handed out are less than wonderful. The animals will come from a big box chain, and the likelihood that they have a chance to talk to an actual reptile person will be minimal.

The end result will sadly be people who talk about how horrible reptile pets are. This takes more than a blog post to fix. Reach out to friends who may be thinking of getting their very own "hero in a half-shell" for their children. Let them know the real commitment that a water turtle will take, and let us hope they do not follow the historical trend of movie impulse purchases.