Tips on Moving with Turtles

Tips on moving with turtles have been generously provided to us by Lori, whose family bravely made an 1800 km move to a new province. Two adults, two kids, two turtles, two dogs, one cat, and five fish made this massive trip in two vehicles, with two overnight stays in hotels.

Lori's account of how the turtles did with the move:

Both arrived fine. We took them out of the aquarium which we had strapped into the back seat of the car. We actually used styrofoam food containers to carry them into the motel. They work well as they can be closed easily and have a lid! We keep them in a bus-pan (you know what they use in restaurants for dishes) that we placed in the bathtub - in case they climbed out. Diamond loves to climb. She is a character. We added some warm water and fed them and left the night on all night because they had limited light during the day. AND - are you ready to hear this? Obviously the trip didn't bother her a bit because she layed an egg on the way!!!! AMAZING! It didn't survive though but it amazed us none-the-less.

We took a spray bottle with us and occasionally sprayed the turtles to keep them moist. They didn't seem to mind the travel at all - AND it was a 1000 mile (1800 km drive) drive. Too bad they couldn't enjoy the view from their seats.

As well we gave them a really good and hearty feed a couple of days before we left and once in their aquarium again on the second day they were there - gave them another good feed.

Anyhow the turtles and the fish are now in our very large kitchen on an inside wall. Where they can sees the action. The turtles love the action of us walking by. The dogs can see into the turtle tank as it is at their level.

Lori also let us know how the other pets fared on the trip:

Dogs & Cat:
I was worried about our lab mix Comet as he barks but he was great. He also gets car sick so we gave him a little gravel. Bear the other lab was great but a bit nervous as was the cat.

Fish:
The fish we had packed up by Al's Aquarium in Mississauga. We took them in a big bucket with their aquarium water. They transferred them into two bigger double bags, gave them some anti-stress stuff, filled the bags with pure oxygen and then put them into a styrofoam container with lid and placed the entire thing in a cardboard box. All for free! Very nice of them I might add. Each night we took them into the motel but did not open the box. Exposing them to light would increase their oxygen use. Keeping them in the dark decreases it. So we were given strict instructions not to open the box until their aquarium was set up. We took the aquariums with us both the fish and turtles, filters, heaters, food etc so we could set them up right away. The scary moment was when we opened the box. They were fine - which we had pretty much figured out as at night when we were driving or sleeping in the motel we could hear them splashing around!!! Very loud actually. A week after we arrived one of our barbs died and another one did the next day. But everyone else is fine!

Thanks to Lori for sharing her tips and experiences. For more advice on preparing turtles and keeping them healthy during travel, see "Transporting Turtles."