Surrendering Your Pet Turtle

WE ARE CURRENTLY FULL! Complete a surrender request form to add your turtle to our waiting list.

Red-eared slider turtles are the most surrendered reptile and, because they are frequently abandoned in non-native habitats, have become one of the world’s most invasive species. Few people purchase these turtles prepared for a long lifetime and the eventual large housing requirements. Rescues like Dancing Turtle receive many requests to take them in and space here is limited.

We will accept most legal (non-native) pet species of turtles from homes within New York’s Adirondack Park, if space and financial resources are available. We request a donation with surrender of at least $30 per turtle. If your turtle is sick or injured, we will ask you to make a reasonable additional donation towards veterinary care.

If we do not have space, your turtle will be put on our waiting list and can be added to our website for potential direct adoption.

Please plan on also donating your equipment, including the tank, filter, and lighting, with your turtle. This reduces transition stress for the turtle and the financial burden for potential adopters. If the tank and equipment is not needed by the adopter or is insufficient for the turtle’s size, it will be used for other rescues or rehabilitating wild turtles and lowers our future equipment costs.

Submitting the surrender request verifies that you agree to transfer the described animal to Dancing Turtle Rescue. You understand and agree that the animal will become our property and you relinquish all rights to the animal permanently and without further recourse. You release Dancing Turtle from any claims, present or future, related to the disposition of the animal.