A few years back before I started Turtle Basking Spot, a friend sent me an image she’d found on the internet. It was of a slider, or at least it had the head of a slider, the shell instead of being a convex slope from the middle down to the edges was turned up like a bowl, exposing far more of it’s neck and skin than I’d ever seen. Her shell bulged at the back and in short she was the most disfigured turtled I’d ever seen, and trust me I’d seen my fair share.

For those of you who know of Audrey R. Slider you’ll recognise the description. For those of you who don’t here’s a quick summary.

Hatched as a perfectly normal Red Eared Slider Audrey was purchased by an owner that obviously didn’t know enough to care for her properly, and didn’t care enough to get to know how either. For the 20 years she lived with that owner she was kept in a bucket and fed a diet of egg whites. The photos show the results of this.

It’s often assumed that the shell deformation is solely because of her living conditions, but the dietary element is more likely to blame. The high protein diet was not only too high in protein, but also deficient in just about everything else she needed. Calcium, fibre, various vitamins and other minerals, none of these were present in her diet. The wonder isn’t that Audrey grew to this shape, it’s that she didn’t die like hundreds of other turtles kept in poor conditions.

The shape of her shell prevented her breathing normally, of doing what turtles do, that is tuck up in the shells if they’re afraid, stressed or sulking. Kept in a bucket that she could barely turn around in she had no chance of swimming or walking or basking. In short her life was no life at all.

Never fear however her life took a turn for the better, firstly her owner died, and secondly her owners family decided the kindest thing to do was to have her euthanised. Luckily the vet she was taken to decided to give her a fighting chance, and she was eventually found a new home with Little Res Q, Ontario Canada. An organisation that takes in reptiles and tries to find them new homes. Like most of us the world over they too are full to bursting and have a 3 year waiting list to take on turtles.

Suddenly this one deformed turtle was doing the job that a thousand bloggers and an army of helpful Facebook friends couldn’t. She was the face of what can go wrong. She hadn’t died and been thrown away to be replaced by another hatchling, she’d fought on deformed shell and all, and was all the evidence we needed that you do need to take care of these amazing creatures, that they’re not just a rock with heads, and also the proof that some of us needed that people do care. She was a visual visceral reminder for me of why I write these blogs, and why I go on line and get called names when I try and suggest changes to peoples set ups.

You may notice I’m referring to this brave little turtle in the past tense. On the 5th of May 2015 Marc, Audrey’s owner President of the rescue and the voice behind her Facebook page, twitter feed and countless other ways the message got out, posted a sad message. After 4 years of pampered luxury she’d finally succumbed to the passage of time and slipped away from her deformed body. Audrey R Slider was no more.

We as turtle lovers need to keep this little girls voice alive. She needs to still be the message we want to get out there. Yes we know your turtle is fine now, but look what can happen, yes I know tanks, and lights and proper food is expensive, but look that’s what they need, yes we know those hatchlings are cute and your kids really want one, but this can be the result. A picture says a thousand words, and these pictures have some pretty harsh words to say.

What do you think, what needs to be done, have your say in the comments, or I’ll see you over on our Facebook page. If you get chance head on over to Litte Res Qs page, or Audrey R Sliders page to let them know this girl is gone but not forgotten.