Customer Reviews

Cooters, Sliders & Painted Turtles (Herpetology Series)

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Great pictures make this book very useful for figuring out exactly what type of turtle you have in that tank in your home. In addition, the information on longevity and disposition is helpful in understanding these animals, both at home and in the wild.

The problem with TFH publications is that they are usually so outdated as to be completely unreliable (and sometimes harmful).

The pictures in this book look like they came straight from the early 1980's, and as always TFH has taken the opportunity to tell their readers that their own pet products should be used above any other brand. The problem with this is that half the products featured in this book are now obsolete - they aren't even manufactured anymore!

I purchased this book after someone dropped off a rather large yellow-bellied cooter that they no longer wanted. Of course, the poor guy had been wild and yanked out of his natural environment only to be quickly tired of and abandonded by his kidnappers.

The only species this book deals with are native to North America, and I feel obligated to note here that because they are native species, most of them are ILLEGAL TO OWN IN CAPTIVITY without proper permits from your state's fish and game department.

ANY water turtle under four inches in size is ILLEGAL TO HAVE IN CAPTIVITY.

Also, turtles are the messiest, stinkiest, dirtiest creatures you could possibly fit into a fish tank and I do not recommend them as pets, especially for young children. They require A LOT of hard work and almost daily tank maintanence.

That being said, they also carry the bacteria Salmonella, which makes you VERY VERY SICK (I speak from experience as I have had it, from.. you guessed it.. messing with turtles) with E. Coli like symptoms that can be fatal to small children.

It bothers me that these warnings are not stated clearly anywhere in this book, and that reading this book one might come away with the idea that it's perfectly acceptable to go catch a wild painted turtle (which are on the endangered species list in this state) and take it home to make it a pet.

TFH should stop putting out books before they cause indirect harm to more animals than I'm sure they already have.