Turtle Rescue and Rehoming

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Turtle Rescue and Rehoming

Rescue, rehabilitation, adoptions, advice on turtle care. ChCh, New Zealand. Donate or volunteer Rescue, re-homing and advice on caring for turtles.

Based in Christchurch, New Zealand.If you need help and advice with a sick turtle, let us know! Many turtles are available for adoption. Donations ( with tax receipt) to Nature by Design Ltd * Ref TurtleRescue* 02-0828-0091088-083. You need to email Donna with your name and address so you can receive a receipt. OR ANZ "Turtle Rescue" 010798 0096119 00 if you don't need tax receipt. All donations gratefully received. Volunteers needed to help with tank maintenance etc. 021 2020 185

26/03/2025

It's been another really busy WE at Turtle Rescue. I spent Saturday with the lovely staff and customers at Animates Papanui, and Sunday I was at Petstock Northwood. It was nice to catch up with Kitty Kingdom who were also there for the Pet adoption day. It's important to me to have turtles as stress free as possible when they go on educational outings, so I choose turtles that I know can manage the situation. Obviously Turbo was not bothered at all....she cruised up and down the aisles at Petstock, with both staff and customers calling out once in awhile where she was at! At one point she popped herself up on a shelf and had a rest for about a half hour, just greeting the people who were intrigued by her size and calm nature. There's still plenty of turtles here waiting to be adopted. Please get in touch if you can help :)

15/03/2025

Reminder that if you're over Papanui way, come visit the turtles at Papanui Animates today, 11am till 2pm :)
And Petstock Northwood tomorrow 10 till 2pm :)
Turtle Rescue was busy chatting to people at Tower Junction Animates today. Met some fabulous and very generous people who enjoyed stroking turtles, and learning about adoption and turtle care :) Next Saturday we're at Papanui Animates and on Sunday, at Pet Stock Northwood. Phew, Exhausting but fun! :)

13/03/2025

ANIMATES TOWER JUNCTION Adoption day. Asha, Mozzie and a few other turtles will be at Animates between 10am and 2pm this Saturday, 15th March. Come and visit and say hi. :) It's a lot of work organising to take turtles out to meet their adoring fans. But its a great way to educate the public on the reality of owning a shell-baby, who needs very specific care and can live as long as your Grandma!

10/03/2025

Pippy, Poppy, Parky, Dusty and little Asha (a stray from Ashburton) enjoying an evening of sunshine in their pond. It's always interesting gazing out my laundry window and spying on the turtles I can see in the various ponds. It's a great place to watch the small females in their pond as they're pretty shy and quickly disappear underwater when I'm outside. Happy girls!

05/03/2025

Update: for those asking, this is an enclosed courtyard. The 3rd turtle had already been there a few years and pond is maintained by a professional pond company******Check out this Turtle Paradise! 3 turtles from Turtle Rescue and Rehoming have been adopted by a Christchurch Rest home. The turtles have a natural diet of pond life...insects, snails, plants and small fish, to supplement the commercial pellets. The residents are loving the opportunity to spot a basking turtle, or a turtles head popping up through the mass of water lily leaves. There's a particular spot under the waterfall that's a favourite for the turtles. Who wouldn't love living in that amazing pond! :) Here's the manager releasing 2 of the girls into their new forever home :) There's plenty of turtles waiting for a new pond. If you can help out, let us know!

04/03/2025

Ernie is a very lucky boy! He's been adopted and is off to live a long and happy life in a wonderful pond area. He's a little smaller than the average adult male Red eared slider, but that hasn't stopped him being a fabulous little guy, with a relaxed personality. I'm delighted he's found a wonderful family living on a lifestyle block to provide him a loving, forever home. :)
There's currently around 40 female sliders here waiting for their forever home in a suitable, well fenced pond area. If you can help, please contact for information. :)

08/02/2025

These girls appear to be having a school lesson LOL! Looks like one girl wanted to go for a swim instead of taking in the lesson from the 'teacher' :) :) I wonder what they were chatting about? :)

14/12/2024

URGENT: Can you help with this wee fella? Currently based in Nelson and needing a new home with experienced keeper. More details to come, please contact if you can help

08/11/2024

All animal rescues rely on volunteers, and Turtle Rescue couldn't function without them! :)
Lisa is a regular volunteer who helps out with general tank maintenance fortnightly, on a Sunday afternoon. Dan had just started to do the same.
The post winter pond and filter cleaning is an essential task and takes several weeks to juggle all that needs to happen. Here's a few snippets of the past couple of weeks.
I'd known Joseph about 10 years ago and he'd helped out Turtle Rescue back then. Recently I sold a fish tank, which he bought, and then he offered to sort out the permanent fence I needed around the new Reeves pond. Legend!
Madi had seen some of the neighbourhood Facebook posts and made contact to spend a few hours helping out.
Isabelle is a microbiologist at ESR. Staff are given a paid day a year to do voluntary work and she chose Turtle Rescue! Amazing help! Karl and family owned 2 female turtles which we had swapped for a male to live in their large tank. The females will be adopted from here to live in a pond. They adopted Whero, a wee stray found in the Red zone. Whero had been back here for a week while they were on holiday. Karl had offered a days voluntary work as payment....incredibly helpful!
Aubrey and Adele help out as they can, and Katie and Dana (under 16 yrs old), help out at Animates and other displays.
If you can offer a one-off, or regular voluntary hours, there's a wide variety of tasks needing to be done. Come and visit and have a chat about volunteering :) Check out the pics....not in order of tasks being completed. Donna: 021 2020 185 if you can help. (Based in Christchurch).

28/10/2024

URGENT help needed. Can you rehome an adult female RES, found as a stray in Hamilton. She had stopped the traffic on the main road from Hamilton to Raglan. Please contact me and I'll give you the cell phone number of the finder.
NB/ the finder doesn't use any social media.
Turtle is currently in the owners bath waiting for someone with a well fenced pond. :)
Pic for attention, not the actual turtle....I'm still waiting on a photo of her.
Ta, Donna, Turtle rescue, 021 2020 185

17/09/2024

I was so excited to get my power bill today! It's only $772.21! 😁
The last 3 have been over $930.... 🙄I'll be pleased when I can turn off the heaters in the turtle tanks and move at least 27 turtles outside into ponds again 🙂

14/09/2024

The Eastern Long Necks are known as the clowns of the turtle breed. They certainly love to be in the limelight lol :)

10/08/2024

We had a great time at Animates Tower Junction today! Thanks heaps to those of you that had seen the earlier post and came down to visit the turtles and learn about their care and needs. Also had a lovely bunch of staff who were taking in as much information as they could, so they can be better informed when talking with customers about turtles. The 7 turtles were happy to return home to their tanks/ponds for a swim after their busy day entertaining the crowds. NB/permission was given for pictures of children in this post :)

09/08/2024

Animates, Tower Junction. Katie and I will be at Animates tomorrow (Saturday) from 10am until 2pm. Come and say Hi to us and the turtles :)

25/07/2024

Wasn't it nice to see some sunshine today! I popped home from work in my lunchbreak and the turtles were certainly making the most of the warm weather. I snapped a few pics of some happy turtles basking. It was the first time I'd seen all 4 Reeves turtles together since they went into brumation in their new pond, so it's great to know they have all survived winter so far. Some turtles are in brumation for winter, but were awake today in the sun. Others are in heated and covered ponds, so they're not exposed to the cold air and so they are fully awake, eating etc over winter, and others are in tanks in the garage. Apparently there'll be a polar blast next week....so it's great they can make the most of these warm days at the moment :)

26/06/2024

UPDATE: It appears that we've found the owners! The fantastic thing is that she's been missing for 6 years! Also the pics the previous owners had are from 10 years ago....and there's been a change in size and subtle changes with her shell shape and skin pattern....but it's 99.9% sure that it's Martha! :) :) :) She'll remain here until a purpose built turtle pond is created for her in summer :) I wonder how many native flora and fauna she's consumed in 6 years..... they're very resourceful!
Stray female RES turtle found near the Pegasus Golf course. The brown colouring is generally caused from tannins in the water she's been living in. It won't harm her. Often stray turtles are coloured like this. If you think she might be yours, please contact me ASAP. Currently under SPCA hold for 8 days.
She's currently named 'Jeff' :)

31/05/2024

Running an animal Rescue of any kind is hard work, mixed with both positive and tragic stories. Here's a few snippets about some of the turtles that have arrived here over the past 4 to 6 weeks. WARNING there are some sad pics amongst the happy ones.
If you want to contribute towards the $182 vet bill for Danni, please pay to ANZ, Turtle Rescue 010798 0096119 00 Ref: Danni.
It's often difficult to keep doing all this, mostly on my own, so I appreciate any help in any way :)
Also, I need a fence built around a new turtle pond. If you can help, sing out! :) :)
It's now 3.30 am! Time I finished this post and grab some sleep before another busy day at Turtle Rescue :)

24/05/2024

Turtles can be at risk of serious injury or drowning. Sadly too many turtles are injured or killed by getting a limb or their head caught in the intake pipe of a canister filter. Turtles are inquisitive and can easily knock the strainer off the intake pipe of a canister filter. The suction may not feel very strong to us, but a small head can quickly get sucked up....the type of injuries leading to death are too graphic to explain here. :( Even a fully grown turtle can get a part of its foot caught, preventing the turtle from being able to swim to the surface to breathe air, causing it to drown.
I place a prefilter sponge over the intake strainer of all my turtle tanks to prevent turtles being able to dislodge the strainer. This is incredibly effective.
It also stops heaps of muck getting into the filter itself! I remove the sponge every week or so and rinse it well in buckets of water. It's incredible how much stuff comes out of them!
Please be aware of this potential risk for your turtle and ensure they are not able to dislodge the strainer on the filter pipe. :)
I get my pre filter sponges from Redwood Aquatics here in CHCH :) They also do shipping! :)

Address

Somerfield
Christchurch
8024

Telephone

+64212020185

Website

http://www.turtlerescue.co.nz/important-links-/

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Rescue, re-homing and advice on caring for turtles. Based in Christchurch, New Zealand. If you need help and advice with a sick turtle, let us know! Many turtles available for adoption. Donations ( with tax receipt) to Nature by Design Ltd * Ref TurtleRescue* 02-0828-0091088-083. You need to email Donna ( [email protected] ) with your name and address so you can receive a receipt. OR ANZ "Turtle Rescue" 010798 0096119 00 if you don't need tax receipt. OR via www.totallytanked.co.nz/turtle-rescue for pay pal account. All donations gratefully received. Volunteers needed to help with tank maintenance etc. 021 2020 185