Its identity and honest story
Open with what the turtle is: a red-eared slider or whichever slider species you keep, its shell length, its sex if you know it, and roughly its age. Say how long it has been with you and where it came from before that, if you know. Then be straightforward about why it is going to rescue — outgrown its tank, a change in your circumstances, a cost you can no longer carry. Rescues hear these reasons constantly and judge nobody for them; what they need is the truth, because a slider surrendered for aggression toward a tankmate and one surrendered for a house move need different placements.
The daily routine it is used to
Describe the life the rescue is taking over. What does it eat — which pellets form the staple, what leafy greens and occasional protein it gets, how much and how often, and whether it feeds in the water or in a separate container. Detail the setup it knows: tank size, water depth and temperature, basking spot temperature, and what lighting it has had, since a slider raised without proper UV often carries the effects in its shell. Note its habits: when it basks, how it reacts to hands in the tank, whether it begs, hides, or basks boldly. Familiar routines, repeated in the rescue's quarantine tank, lower the stress of the move considerably.
Health history, complete and unvarnished
Write down everything you know about its health: the current state of its shell — firm, soft in places, scarred, shedding scutes oddly — any past problems such as respiratory trouble, eye infections, or injuries, and every vet visit you can remember with what was done. Flag anything ongoing, even if it seems minor, and list any treatment it is in the middle of. Resist tidying this section up to make the surrender look better; a rescue plans its vet budget and quarantine around what you tell them, and a hidden problem usually surfaces anyway, at the turtle's expense.
What travels with it
Finish by listing the physical handover: which of its equipment goes too — tank, filter, heater, basking dock, lights — since a rescue can always use serviceable kit, and familiar equipment eases the transition. Include any paperwork you hold, such as purchase or previous rehoming notes, and a clear photograph of the shell from above so the rescue can match the animal to its file at a glance. Leave your contact details with an open invitation to ask questions in the first weeks.
Add the small preferences that make this turtle itself: the corner it sleeps in, the greens it eats first and the ones it leaves, whether it has lived alone or with tankmates, and how it takes food — from tongs, from the surface, or off the bottom. Rescue staff read hundreds of surrender forms; the ones that describe a personality, not just a species, are the ones that shape a faster, kinder settling-in plan.
Passing the slider on through KinsLe's Transferrable Profiles sends that whole written history — identity, routine, health, and paperwork — to the rescue with the turtle, so nothing about its past care is lost.