Box Turtles....

[Bonnie]

Only have saw one so far this year and it was ran over on the road, dead. :'(

Sure have noticed a decline in the population in the past several years.


Do you see them often?

[Ky Kim]

I hardly ever see any.  Everything is so built up anymore, no were for them to go.

The only one I saw last year was the one DH brought home that had been hit by a car.  I cleaned his wound up, taped the crack in the shell and we took him to our vet for rehab the next day.  Then if all went well, he's in a turtle sanctuary were he would spend the rest of his life, and not have to worry about crossing another busy road.

Kim

[Sandye]

I hardly ever see them anymore...maybe one a year.  I had one a few years ago that I used to leave the lowest tomatoes on the vine for.  (Nothing like ending a sentence with a preposition, huh?  )  Then I had one that I had to rescue from my pond, because the rock overhangs the pond and he couldn't get out.  But, yes, they are terribly scarce.   :'(

I'm glad you were able to save one, Kim.  Most of the turtles that get hit by cars are goners. 

[perplexed ponder]

don't know if it was a box turtle (how do you tell)
but my FIL found a big turtle crossing a busy road and stopped to rescue it. He brought it to us and we drove it up to the family cottage where there is a beautiful lake. He/she is probably happier there. Although he probably didn't enjoy the ride up in the cooler!

[Celia]

I noticed the same thing here in Missouri.  We live out in the country area so usually in the spring we do have lots of turtles crossing the roads.  This year, I have seen only 1 turtle crossing.  My thought was that the weather with the late frost this year stunting everything else may have had something to do with it, don't know what, but maybe messed up their schedule???

However, with the price of gas these days, I don't get out driving around shopping and gadding about to see much of anything. LOL

[Double S]

So far this spring, I've only seen maybe 6 boxies.  We used to see them just about every day.

[Julles]

Well, I've seen lots of box turtles (and other types, too) - but that's because I OWN lots of them.       I have kept turtles all my life, and now have a special section in my yard devoted to them.  I have land and water turtles, two designated ponds (fenced and safe from the koi ponds!), and lots of hidey-holes for them.  So far this year, I have dug up and reburied in a safe place, three clutches of eggs, totaling 24 eggs... to keep the raccoons from digging and eating them. 

I also belong to the Gulf Coast Turtle & Tortoise Society (gctts.org), and am a former president.  We do a lot of educational talks (mainly to kids, and at Earth Days, etc.) and a lot of rehabbing injured/sick turtles, and find homes for unwanted "pets."

Speaking of which, turtles should not be considered "pets."  They are wild animals that, even if you keep them domestically, don't take to being petted or handled.  They should be kept in as natural a setting as possible (OUTdoors, NOT in airconditioned environments), as close as possible to their native habitat (don't take a desert tortoise and try to get it to live in humid Florida). 

Anyhew, the water turtles are generally bigger and flatter, and have webbed feet.  The one Perplexed Ponder found was most likely a water turtle, and it sounds like now it has a comfy, safe home.  Our group advocates NOT removing turtles from their natural habitat.  If they are on the road, it's OK to move them to the side of the road to which they were walking (if you put them on their original side, they will simply try to cross the road as soon as you leave).  But leave them in their same general area.  That is the area they are acclimated to living in, and it prevents the spread of diseases that one group of turtles may not be immune to.

What's so sad, besides the decline in habitat / population, there are actually people who will go out of their way to intentionally run over turtles they see crossing the road.   

[Loritx]

There was a turtle crossing the road the other day and I just missed him.  Was a very busy road with a Golfcourse on both sides of the road. Not much other 'wild' areas there but a nice stream that went through the golfcourse. Poor thing.

A few weeks ago we were out fishing at the lake and my mom caught a large red eared slider and my dad caught some other snapper a few minutes later.  They were caught with an ordanary fishing pole and tackle.  Kind of a shock for my parents as they have never caught anything but fish, till they moved here to TX!!

Can you imagine how many hooks these Lake Turtles have in them!!  There is no way to get the hook out, all you can do is cut the line as close to them as possible.  I just feel sorry for the ones that people catch and abuse or kill. But there is no way to keep them from taking your fishook!  We just move to a different place to fish if the turtles start to bite the hook.

here are picks of the ones they caught: 


This one looks like it was hit by one too many boats!  But the cracks were solid and seemed to be healed.

[marla]

We don't have many box turtles here, gets kind of cold in the winter for them.  We had two as pets, a male and female but different types.  We'd get eggs but nothing ever happened cause they don't stay very warm under the couch (they were free roaming except in the winter)  The female use to get out the screen door after it would rain and we'd find her on the deck in the puddles.  One day we didn't find her :'(  my son never lived it down that his pet ran away.  The male was rehomed a few years ago to my great nephew, it is now a school pet and doing well.

[LeeAnne151]

No box turtles here. They aren't native here. I've seen one in the wild in my life in the desert side of Colorado.

I cringe every time I go in a pet store and see all the reptiles and amphibians. I know they are not easy to keep as pets and thousands die each year. People get sick of them and turn them loose too, where they aren't native.

Some people have the knack and are dedicated but far too many loose interest and their pets often die.

 

[stacig]

i just found one in the yard a few days ago.he was pretty big in size,