My Pet Aqautic Turtle: Clyde the Red-Eared Slider

Did you know red-eared slider turtles can live up to 40 years? Did you know that before you adopted one as a pet? I didn't. By the time I found that out I was already fully committed to Clyde and his care. I will have to admit that it might have given me pause before I brought him home in his ten gallon tank. That was before his twenty gallon tank and before his Rubbermaid container, way before he moved into the child's swimming pool that is in my extra bedroom. It was before I learned the reality of carrying buckets of water through my house twice a month for water changes. It was also before I realized how tragic it was that such a beautiful creature should be confined to a swimming pool for forty years.I guess it’s true that no one would ever start up a relationship with anyone if they new all the possible pitfalls up front. Likewise in a good relationship it’s usually worth the work.I dream of giving Clyde all that he deserves. I can't decide if it’s a huge commercial type display case where he would be shown in all his glory, or a pond that closely replicates his natural environment. I dream of a plumbed system where buckets are a distant memory. Either way I have fund (like a college account) for his future.