Did You Have Pet Turtles When You Were Young?

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

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Location
New Jersey
Almost all my neighbor-friends had turtles. We used to "race" them up and down the street sometimes. They were such cute little things. Over the years, I heard that N.J. outlawed owning turtles but I had a business associate who had a fairly large one. I found out that it is not illegal here, but one must obtain a hobbyist permit from the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife, I highly doubt our parents had to do that back then. So did you have one or more?

Internet photo

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Coconut said:
Yes I had turtles! Sometimes they would not live very long. I would get so upset.
I still like turtles to this day.
🐢
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I don't think mine lived that long, but can't remember how long we had it. My business associate's turtle (or perhaps hers was a tortoise). I think being held in captivity may have shortened their lifespans because both turtles and tortoises can live a very long time.
 
We had all sorts of dime store pets from Woolworth’s and Kresge’s.

A visit to the pet department at the 5&10 cent store was like a trip to the zoo for this little country bumpkin.

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I enjoyed them as a child but was relieved to see the ban on the sale of live animals sometime in the late 60s or early 70s. I can’t imagine the suffering for those little critters as they passed through the supply chain and ultimately were sold as ‘toys’ to be handled, abused, and neglected by small children.
 
Aunt Bea said:
We had all sorts of dime store pets from Woolworth’s and Kresge’s.

A visit to the pet department at the 5&10 cent store was like a trip to the zoo for this little country bumpkin.

View attachment 497389

I enjoyed them as a child but was relieved to see the ban on the sale of live animals sometime in the late 60s or early 70s. I can’t imagine the suffering for those little critters as they passed through the supply chain and ultimately were sold as ‘toys’ to be handled, abused, and neglected by small children.
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I'm sure mine looked more like the top right picture you posted. You're right about what they must've gone through and as I said in my reply #3, that's likely what led to our pet turtles' early demises.
 
I did have small water turtles when I was young.
When we lived in Sarasota FL, we often left the garage door open during the day. One day I heard this knocking at the door, so I went and look, there was this big turtle that wanted to come in! I picked her up and took her to the woods next to us.
Where I live now, I often come across a turtle trying to cross the street, so there again, I picked her up and put her on the grass. We have a lot of turtles in the community. I like to watch the water turtles in the lakes.
 
We used to find snapping turtles when we were kids but I haven’t seen one in years.

We were always taught not to touch them.

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I had tropical fish for a couple of years. I enjoyed them, but my parents got rid of them too. Even though it was my father who got me started and encouraged it. We had a parakeet once, but my mother let it fly around the house, and it flew out the door that she left open. I loved my mother. I related to her much more than my father, but she was absolutely Hell on pets. We had a hyperactive wired haired terrier, that she hated. She opened the car door on a busy city street. The dog jumped out and was killed in traffic. I don't think she liked the parakeet either.
 
I remember when they sold the little turtles with decals on their shells. That couldn't have been good for them.

I remember as a kid going somewhere and they were selling little turtles in "turtle bowls" (there's a picture in a previous post) AND little lizards with string harnesses on them. The string was attached to a safety pin that you could attach to your shoulder and let the lizard wander around your shirt.

I sooo wanted a lizard but had to settle for a turtle. Of course, like the goldfish in a tiny bowl of colored water you could win at a fair, they were all belly-up in a matter of days.

Here in Florida, you have "house lizards", whether you want them or not.

My brother-in-law has a 67-year-old turtle that he got when he was 10. That thing is going to live forever..... I periodically have to go to North Carolina and babysit it.
 
jujube said:
I remember when they sold the little turtles with decals on their shells. That couldn't have been good for them.

I remember as a kid going somewhere and they were selling little turtles in "turtle bowls" (there's a picture in a previous post) AND little lizards with string harnesses on them. The string was attached to a safety pin that you could attach to your shoulder and let the lizard wander around your shirt.

I sooo wanted a lizard but had to settle for a turtle. Of course, like the goldfish in a tiny bowl of colored water you could win at a fair, they were all belly-up in a matter of days.

Here in Florida, you have "house lizards", whether you want them or not.

My brother-in-law has a 67-year-old turtle that he got when he was 10. That thing is going to live forever..... I periodically have to go to North Carolina and babysit it.
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When my daughter was living in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands she said the Iguanas would walk in her house, and the place she worked, just like they owned the place...so would the chickens that roamed everywhere.
 
Aunt Bea said:
We had all sorts of dime store pets from Woolworth’s and Kresge’s.

A visit to the pet department at the 5&10 cent store was like a trip to the zoo for this little country bumpkin.

View attachment 497389

I enjoyed them as a child but was relieved to see the ban on the sale of live animals sometime in the late 60s or early 70s. I can’t imagine the suffering for those little critters as they passed through the supply chain and ultimately were sold as ‘toys’ to be handled, abused, and neglected by small children.
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Yes.. a couple of them like the one in the picture ^ and their bowl was similar to the one in picture, too.
My Aunt bought them for me at Woolworth's. 😁
 
Aunt Bea said:
We used to find snapping turtles when we were kids but I haven’t seen one in years.

We were always taught not to touch them.

DSC_0321.jpg
Click to expand...
Years ago when late hubby was still with us, he'd catch snapping turtles and we cooked them and used the muscle parts for
soup. It was a rough few years of recession then 1970. They really don't taste bad at all surprisingly. I draw the line at eating insects.
 
I didn't have a little turtle when I was a kid, but I babysat my friend's turtle when she went on vacation and wound up killing it!!!! I think I overfed it. I still remember bring so nervous about telling her about its tragic demise. 🐢
 
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I was age 10 when we lived in Japan. Behind our house was a path into the woods where I found about an 8" box turtle. I brought him home and Daddy asked "have you named him yet?" Yes..."Curly". He laughed so hard and asked "Why Curly!?". "His tail is curved a little". The next day I returned him to the same spot in the woods and faced him going in the same direction. I thought he'd be happier there.
 
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