Saved two turtles this week

hoosieroriginal · ‎03-04-2012

It's almost summer and all of the toads, turtles and bugs are showing their faces. Story and I saved two this week on our walks out in the middle of the roads. Two little box/picture turtles - I made sure I put them in the direction they were headed (heard you are supposed to do that - don't turn them around and send them back from where they were coming from). I have bug bites all over my ankles from working outdoors (need to start pulling my socks up over my pant legs, plus a tick crawled all the way up my pant leg and big me on the inside of my thigh - dang it hurt - pulled that sucker off and flushed him down the toilet - I have a huge raised whelt where he bit me - itches like crazy - keeping an eye on it - put antibiotics on the bite after dousing it with rubbing alcohol.

Kachina624 · ‎03-10-2010

@hoosieroriginal Sounds like you live in a wildlife refuge. That tick bite will itch for weeks, that's what happened when I got one years ago.

When I lived in West Texas those box turtles were all over the place, often in the middle of roads. Almost everyone had one the kept in their yard as a pet. I had one that would come running (?) when I went into the yard to feed it. They like canned dog or cat food in addition to fruits and vegetables.

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment

Sweetbay magnolia · ‎04-14-2013

Good for you! I am very interested in keeping habitat for turtles, and that includes benign human activity that helps them find their way.

The ticks where I am were awful until a week or so ago. Gross. I had a sucker on my hip implant incision scar. Gross.

I do not know why, but in recent days neither me, nor the dog, are getting hitched. We are outside lots. My backyard is a native woodland and we take walks down a country road all the time. Too much rain for the ticks, or too many mice or deer getting the brunt of it? Who knows! Hopefully the overabundance of feral cats will be affected and they will go away. (Sorry, cat lovers. They are a nuisance where I am.)

Cogito ergo sum

birkin baby · ‎01-20-2011

I am also a " turtle saver"! I keep a big and a small cardboard box in the back of my Subaru. I also have blankets and towels and thick gloves in rhe boxes. I took a class on animal rehab and learned so much. Even if their shells are cracked they can be rehabilitated. I have helped so many turtles from teeny to so huge I could barely lift it.Two weeks,ago I pulled over and tried to help on but a car clearly deliberately ran right over it and gave me middle finger salute. I cried. Anyway, I also save chickens and turkeys that fall off those awful death trucks. Here in Charlotte and surrounding areas, Carolina Waterfowl is amazing with rehabbing birds, chickens,turtles, and other hurt animals.

hoosieroriginal · ‎03-04-2012

@Kachina624 wrote:
@hoosieroriginal Sounds like you live in a wildlife refuge. That tick bite will itch for weeks, that's what happened when I got one years ago.

When I lived in West Texas those box turtles were all over the place, often in the middle of roads. Almost everyone had one the kept in their yard as a pet. I had one that would come running (?) when I went into the yard to feed it. They like canned dog or cat food in addition to fruits and vegetables.

@Kachina624 - I just love it here - used to live in So. California - moved here 14 years ago and it was the best decision I ever made - often have deer in my front yard - Story and I see deer, fox, coyotes, bunnies galore on our walks together. We live in a very wooded area. In Calif. wildlife was a skunk or maybe a possum!

StylishLady · ‎03-11-2010

Good for you all. A couple years ago a female turtle was in our yard burying eggs. Very odd as we are quite a ways away from any lake or pond. Anyways, DH helped me and we took her and what eggs we could salvage and planted them down the road by the creek that is closest to us. Don't know if any eggs hatched or whatever, but it was something we had to do. Somehow living with nature must be preserved when it can.

CareBears · ‎08-30-2015

I am a turtle saver too, we used to live in an area that had a walking path around a nature reserve (right in the heart of the city), we saw all kind of wildlife and more than a few wayward turtles, we were always picking them up and helping them along.

Once I saved a baby bird learning to fly, she/he had ended up on our street in the middle of the road, and try as she/he might it just could not get the height it needed to move away from the middle. I have read numerous articles that you should never touch a baby bird, so I stopped traffic until the baby was able to take flight to a safe part of our yard, I thought the cars would be angry with me, but several of the people got out of their cars and watched along with me, and we all cheered when the baby took off !

I have also saved a few caterpillars that found themselves in the middle of the road.

meallen616 · ‎01-10-2013

You and Story,

2blonde · ‎03-10-2010

@birkin baby Bless you. You're story almost made me cry too. Hopefully the world will continue to have enough kind people like you to balance out the sick and boorish ones like the one you encountered that day.

Laura loves cats!

Perkup · ‎03-09-2010

Laugh if you wish. Years ago I had a very realistic dream in which someone - I thought some heavenly messenger - told me that I should begin to save turtles. We live in an area surrounded by a river, numerous lakes and a golf course filled with ponds. Turtles are everywhere. I chose to listen to the dream and equipped my car with a cane (stick) a large box with lid, and other "accessories". Since then I've saved a number of turtles. I park my car sort of sideways in the road where no one can pass, and help the healthier turtles move along on their way somewhere. If they are injured I lift them carefully on a flat surface into the box and take them to a wildlife rehab area. I've been blessed with a few choice obscenities from folks who had to wait a couple of minutes - obviously I failed to realize their importance - but I don't care.

Four years ago we had a box turtle who moved into our back yard. Since then she has laid eggs in the yard several times. We've put the eggs into areas where the jays and other birds leave them alone and watched them hatch out. They always do. Now we have lots of turtles.

My son, who is in his 50's has a box turtle he found as a tiny one on his front porch many years ago.. He built it a very fancy cage, and it has lived with him as a pet for over 25 years. It is allowed to roam the house often, and rarely causes a problem. It follows him around the house like a puppy. If he sits on the floor with the turtle it will crawl up his leg, his chest and up to his chin, where it gives him a kiss on (or near) the lips. Yes, it's a bit unsavoryk but he's done it for years. He has several "traps" set up to catch bugs for it's feeding, as well as a commercial turtle food.

One more turtle story - how often do you get a chance to tell them? Just before I retired from real estate, a turtle appeared at the front door of the office, standing on it's hind legs and trying to get in. Brought it inside and gave it water. We were in the middle of a large concrete commercial area and we have no idea how it got there. There were painted letters on it's back, so we tried everything to find out who owned it, but never did. I finally released it into a nice wooded spot near my home, by a river bank. I've seen it once while walking through, so suppose it still lives nearby. Obviously it was looking for a new home, thus he came to a Realtor's office. Smart turtle.