I took the turtles, so we're good.
I love them all.
This is Pat.
This is Kendrick.
That one's Tafiti.
That one's Stewart.
That's Rob.
That's Chyna. There's tater tot.
There's Crash and Squirt. Hey, buddy.
This has to be one of the weirder things I've done in my life.
I don't even know how to start this one.
I guess- I guess I'll just like cut right to it.
This is the story of how I went to go get my hair cut.
And came home with 80 turtles
I actually cannot get over this napping turtle. Right here, guys.
Look at him~
He's just takin' a little nap.
He's just doin' his best.
I LOVE that one right there.
I love that one right there, with his little feet sticking straight out.
How you doing buddy, hanging in there?
Get it? Cause you're like hanging on.
You know when you were in school, or if you're still in school?
And there's those math problems that are like
Sally bought 50 tomatoes with her friend who also got?
35 dogs, and what could the possible equation be of the watermelon
And then you read those problems and
You're like who would buy-
50 Tomatoes or whatever you know
Well, I've become a living math problem because I went to go get my haircut and I came home
With 80 turtles yeah, that's- that's right quite a few. A lot. Okay, that's a lot of turtles.
Let's
Get to the story, shall we.
So, I went to go get my hair cut, the other day.
Which you can never tell when I do, because
I have extensions in my hair
I was actually out running errands with my mom so she dropped me off at the hairstylist
She went out and she continued to do her thing and then when I was done.
She came and she picked me up
Well, my mom made a big mistake, or maybe
Maybe not because now I have 80 turtles.
My mom decided to mention that she saw a guy on the side of the road selling turtles.
And I- That set me off. If you don't know selling turtles on the side of the road
99% of the time is illegal.
I don't know where you live if
This is a normal thing, but in Texas sadly, I see it all the time.
There's guys and girls on the side of the road selling what normally are baby Red-Eared Sliders
That were taken from the wild.
There is a loophole around this being illegal. Basically if they're over four inches
You can sell them legally on the side of the street.
Most of the time, they're not that big.
Now, these people sell them for some insanely cheap price like five dollars for a turtle.
And they give you a little container for the turtle to go in and they just send you on your way with the turtle.
And they tell you nothing about the care that goes into this turtle.
Nothing about the fact that they'll get 12 inches in diameter.
Nothing about the fact that they need land and water and a filter and a heater and a basking spot
They don't tell you anything
Just ship you off with your tiny cute little baby turtle for your little kid
And they tell you to have a good day, and that turtle lives a miserable life until it ultimately dies
Sorry if I sound weird I have bronchitis.
Anyway,
Basically if you see a guy on the side of the road selling turtles. Don't tell your friends about it,
Don't take pictures with the turtle. Don't buy a turtle which I know this is going to sound very
Contradicting to the fact that there are 80 of them in my kitchen, but just hear me out here, okay
So my mom told me that there was a guy selling turtle in the side of the street
And I just had to go look at him. I had to go talk to the guy
I had to tell him what he was doing was wrong.
Because no matter what even if it was completely legal,
Selling turtles for five dollars on the side the street and not informing people
Anything about the care that goes into them is wrong. I don't care if he has a permit
I don't care if it's legal. It's wrong
I went over there, and I walked up to him, and it's really hard to hear on my footage, but this is what happened
Saw them in little tubs
Hi guys
What?
Like where did you get them? Did yall have a permit to do this?
Cause they're really small and if they're under 4 inches then they can only be sold for educational purposes.
You know that this kind of stuff isn't sustainable for them, right?
but do you let the people know who are buying them that they get massive?
They get the size of a dinner plate, they do. They need one side that has 90 degrees-
Are you here to buy or?
I'm here to look because they are for sale on the side of the road for 5 dollars.
Man: Is getting harassed by people- The best cop that came told me that if we get harassed by people again just call them.
Well, you can call them.
it's fine that it's legal but it's still unfair for them
and where they're going.
People don't know what they're going into.
What kind of home are these guys going to? Are they getting a good home?
exactly
But why do you want your business to be about animals not getting good homes.
they're not just selling them in little containers.
At the pet store, they tell them 'oh you have to get them big containers'
Man: Anybody would know that its temporary.
I've had many people come in not knowing it's temporary
Man: They're healthy
I know yeah, but people just see them and go. Oh five dollars. I can grab my kid a turtle
They'll love it, and it's going to go home and it's going to die.
Man: Well, that would be the public's misunderstanding.
I know that's just why- why even put it out there for people to do that is what I'm saying.
Basically, I went up to him,
I asked for, you know, his permit. I asked if what he was doing was legal.
He ensured me that what he was doing was very legal and that he got all of these turtles from a pet shop in El Paso
I said, "what's the name of the pet shop?" He just said "somewhere in El Paso"
I was like "well if you got a hundred turtles from there-
you should probably know the name of them. Since it's probably what you do for a living.
Doesn't know the name of the pet store
So this tells me one thing. No matter where he went and got them from if it was a friend or something.
They were caught from the wild.
He's selling them for five bucks on the side of the road
He did not go to a store and pay full price for them to sell them for five bucks on the side of the road
And he can't even tell me where they're from.
Let me interject real quick here also and throw this in real quick before I continue
I am in no way trying to demonize this person
I talked to this guy and apparently he's fresh out of jail and has a family support and can't get a job anywhere
Okay, sure he needs to make a living because he has a wife and a kid I completely understand
But why not go sell ice cream or something?
Why do you need to sell a living being on the side of the road? Go make ice cream or something okay?
I understand, Times are tough, sure, he's not like "I hate animals. I want to make them suffer."
I'm positive that is not where his state of mind was but it's still wrong.
Just wanted to throw that in there that I'm not trying to make this guy out to be like the devil or something
I'm just trying to say, this is not
Good.
He told me that they were from El Paso somewhere
But he couldn't really tell me where for some reason and it's completely illegal and that
It's not his fault if people go home and don't take care of the turtles
That's the person's fault for impulse buying a turtle.
Well, who else do you think is going to buy turtles off the side of the road
Do you really think it's someone who has just been dying for a pet turtle?
But cannot humanely find a turtle available anywhere except the side of the road?
No
There are people who are just driving home and go
"Oh turtle! Let's get that for my kid for five bucks!"
Every person you're selling them to is an impulse buy.
Okay, when I used to work at a place. We'll call PetShmo
I used to have people come in all the time with their kids
I used to have people come in all the time with their kids holding a little turtle in a little jar going-
"Excuse me, what should I feed this?"
I just bought it off the side of the road and when I broke the news of them that
They're going to need a 40 gallon tank
That they're going to need a basking spot. So they need filtered water a UV lamp. They just go crazy.
They're like well the people that sold me this didn't tell me that! I'm not going to pay all that.
Please
Do your research
Before you buy a pet
This guy was just trying to give me every excuse in the book.
Showed me his permit, his permit clearly stated that if they were over four inches he could sell them.
If they were under four inches he could only sell them for educational purposes
These turtles were an inch and a half he was not selling them to a school
He was not selling them to an education program
He was selling them to random people on the side of the street
So then we left and I went and we drove around for a while
And it kept getting hotter outside it got to about 105 degrees
And I started to like panic about the turtles
thinking about them boiling outside in little containers all stuffed together.
I know it's going to pay this guy for the day
I know he's going to go home and have a good meal profiting off his little turtle illegal turtle thing
But I need these turtles to be okay, so then I went to the bank and withdrawed $500.
We're gonna save some turtles! We're gonna save some turtles!
Turtle saving today, Woo!
I have a weird question, but do yall guys only take cash or do yall do card too?
only cash
so if I go get cash
How many of these guys would you give to me?
If I brought enough money for all of them would you give me all of them?
So I have the bucket and my money. So I'm gonna go sit with them until
the dad gets back and then we're going to try to get all the turtles
They look pretty healthy which is good, but there's just so many of them
Now I took the turtles, so we're good
So now these guys are going to go find a new home.
So, permits for educational purposes only I guess you know that loophole.
So I'm actually falling in love.
They are
So cute. Oh, they're so hot! Babies~
Oh my oh my God
Plan is we're going to move my betta fish from the Beta Sorority tank into the ten gallon tank
Temporarily
Then all- all of the turtles are going to go into the
46 Gallon bow front tank in my kitchen
And we're going to keep them there until we can find them new home
What did you do with your day? Well? I got a haircut, and then I just casually picked up
You know like 80 turtles or something like that.
Then I came home.
This has to be one of the weirder things I've donein my life.
Baby, oh, you're so cute
Generally, please don't buy any of them to "save" them just call the game warden guy.
Just call the FDA.
Call whoever locally takes care of those kinds of problems.
The only reason I bought them is because this video is worth way more than $500
I could spread so much awareness with these turtles.
We're actually taking these turtles to a turtle sanctuary
We're doing a whole other video about re-releasing these turtles and giving them a new home and a giant ponds at a turtle sanctuary
Because I have these resources this is why I bought them.
Not because you should always go out and buy them every time you see them, ok?
That's how I ended up with 80 turtles.
This is like the weirdest story I have to say this is like, It's a new new
High?
I wouldn't say a new low.
I mean you wouldn't call owning 80 turtles a low.
It's a high thing.
Another great thing is the game warden guy did call us back.
Did let us know that what he's doing is illegal
Did get his name. did get his information and is going to pursue something against him.
So, this wasn't all for nothing.
If you're having a conversation with people that want pets.
If you're having a conversation just about animals in general
Bring up the fact that the turtles on the side of the road are illegal.
Bring up the fact that they're taken from the wild.
Bring up all of that.
I know that seems like a really random thing to bring up to your friend to your aunt to your grandma
But the cool thing about that is then they'll probably tell other people if they ever hear about
Turtle being sold on the side of the road.
They'll be like:
"Oh my daughter my granddaughter my friend my nephew my niece. They told me they told me that this was illegal"
"They told me that this isn't right."
Maybe those train of conversations will stop people from impulse buying them on the side of the road
No animal is cheap
No animal is $5.00
No animal is stress-free, cost-free, worry-free.
Every animal you bring into your home is your responsibility until they die.
Which you should aim for them to live the longest they can.
So please!
Don't buy turtles on the side of the road!
Thank you for listening to my story about
How I went to go get my hair cut and came home with 80 turtles.
So until we get the turtles to the sanctuary my bettas are living in here.
We have all my 4 bettas that I actually started a beta sorority tank and that video is coming soon
I started a beta sorority tank again, and I made a whole video about it, but then my turtle thing happened
And we had to take the betas out of the sorority tank which was this tank right here and fill it with 80 turtles
I'm gonna feed them so you guys can watch how cute they are when they eat.
Cute. Look at that little guy's foot
He's just trying to do a swim
He's so cute. He's like having a little turtle dreams
His little foot was moving.
I hope you have a good day, and yeah
Thanks