yellow bellied turtles

Question
i have 2 yellow bellied turtles that we have had for about 5 or six years now.they are on their  4th tank for they keep growing. the tanks are getting harder and harder to keep clean..now my girl wants to get rid of them..  the turtles are in a twenty gallon water tank..they have a heat lamp that was bought at the pet store.uvb lighting flood/spot lamp(50 watt basking spot lamp).we feed them pellets, shrimp and feeder fish..we just started feeding the turtles lettuce..the turtles came from a tourist shop in Daytona..it has been a month since a turtle has shed...one turtle has a shell aprx.3.5 in.s long and the other turtles shell is Apr. 7 inch long...my question is::the turtles are getting to hard to take care of...do we just let them loose by a pond or is their a rescue for turtles in the new symrna beach area of fl?..they are great turtles but they are very dirty

Answer
Well, I have to say this is one of my pet peeves and why I don't believe in reptiles as pets for children. AT ALL. Get tired of them, get rid of them?

Where's the commitment and responsibility? Did it run out when they ceased to be so small and cute anymore? Where's the parental guidance on teaching ones children to endure the commitment they made?

These animals are not you're refuse to just cast out on rescuers when ever you feel like it, just because you have to keep a tank clean. They also can't be just set free. That's careless, not to mention the fact that it's illegal to dump former pets into the wild. That's one of the reasons why FL has Iguanas and Pythons running around in the wild. It also can spread captive acquired diseases to wild populations. If they were ever to be in the wild, they would have to be evaluated and rehabbed by a wildlife rehabilitator, but most are not going to do this for pet turtles, and FL probably prohibits even rehabbers from doing it.  

Apparently you don't have a UVB lamp, because I have never seen a mere 50watt spot/flood that produced UVB other than a zoologist model available to professionals, which I am sure you don't have.

Also, for having these turtles 5 or 6 years, and to have one that is only 3.5 in. long tells me it's growth has been stunted. It should be much larger than that.  

You are on your 4th tank and you are just now at a 20 gallon?! For two turtles, one of which is 7 in. long?! That's shameful.

You're dirty water situation could be fixed with an aquarium filter, but I'm guessing you didn't do very much research on your pets, or you are not willing to spend money, so giving them up is really the best thing for them. See the following links, and I recommend you not buy anymore exotic pets.

http://www.forgottenfriend.org/rescuelinks.php
http://www.turtlerescueusa.com/wordpress/?page_id=4
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Florida-Exotic-Pet-Rescue-Inc/146677012035863
http://www.reptilerescueleague.org/index.php?p=d
http://www.anapsid.org/societies/florida.html