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Post by Lee Martin on May 17, 2009 19:46:22 GMT -5
Went shooting yesterday and found this little guy in the wood line right next to my range:   I moved him until the blasting was done (they have acute hearing). As many of you know, I have a soft spot for turtles. -Lee www.singleactions.com |
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Post by Lee Martin on May 17, 2009 20:19:38 GMT -5
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Cucuy
.30 Stingray
Herpetologist/Bowenian Idler and Piddler
Posts: 316
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Post by Cucuy on May 17, 2009 21:21:05 GMT -5
I forgot about your soft spot...you do love your Terrepene!
Nice looking male!
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Post by Lee Martin on May 17, 2009 21:33:05 GMT -5
Ya, I've always liked box turtles. Mine made it through hibernation just fine this winter (went under in late October and came up in April). They were upset to hear Obama won, but other than that they're glad to be awake. Flash is my girl turtle....here's her house (she was sleeping in the hut when I took the picture):  Lucky is my male turtle (seen here sneaking up on dinner):  -Lee www.singleactions.com |
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Fowler
.401 Bobcat
Posts: 3,664
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Post by Fowler on May 18, 2009 0:25:44 GMT -5
Lee you and my mother would get along great (shes not available), she has 3 rehab turtles in a pin in her front yard. They were all hit by cars and have had their shells repaired with fiberglass resin. She was tickled to see they all made it through the long Colorado winter fine...
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Post by TEXASFIVEGUN on May 18, 2009 7:04:19 GMT -5
Lee my 11 year old son Travis loves turtles. We stop and let him move them out of the road when we come across them. He reads and talks about them. I have not let him keep one for more than a few hours and don't want to put one behind gass. Are they hard to keep or is it hard on them to live in a small flower garden?
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Post by Lee Martin on May 18, 2009 7:55:37 GMT -5
They're not hard to keep. The key is to vary their diet and provide adequate space for exercise (with both shade and direct sunlight). They definitely need to be outdoors for UV light and to feel temp changes (which is critical for hibernation). Keeping them indoors in glass aquariums is the worst thing you can do. They're also a long-term commitment seeing as how many live 80+ years. I'm not a fan of taking them out of the wild unless they've been injured or are at risk. Flash and Lucky came from an area of Northern Virginia that was being bulldozed for development. They've been doing real well with us and seem quite happy. -Lee www.singleactions.com |
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Post by hutchman on May 18, 2009 8:24:12 GMT -5
I remember spending time in the woods with my Grandpa when I was a kid finding those. They seemed to be everywhere then, but I haven't seen many over the last few years and there are none out here in WA.
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Post by Lee Martin on May 18, 2009 8:37:50 GMT -5
Unfortunately, there has been a population decrease over the past few decades (mostly due to habitat destruction). Mine are all Eastern Box turtles which range from the Mid-Atlantic region down to around Georgia/Northern Florida. -Lee www.singleactions.com |
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Post by Charger Fan on May 18, 2009 14:18:38 GMT -5
Turtles are cool.  That's a nice looking little habitat you've made there, too. We had this hingeback turtle for a few years. His residence got uprooted when a new house went in down the street...the kids brought him home. We named him Cecil. It took some trial & error to get him eating regularly. His favorite non-bug was tomatoes. Then one day last spring, he just stopped eating...    |
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Post by Lee Martin on May 18, 2009 14:24:11 GMT -5
Sorry to hear about Cecil. So he just stopped eating all together and passed away? -Lee www.singleactions.com |
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Post by Charger Fan on May 18, 2009 15:10:32 GMT -5
Yep. He was doing fine & then one day he stopped eating. He passed away about 5 days later...I'm not sure why, because he seemed ok up until that point.
I can only assume that he ate something bad, we don't have any poisons around, so I'm not sure what that may have been. Just one of those things, I suppose.
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Post by Lee Martin on May 18, 2009 15:23:12 GMT -5
The tough thing about turtles is it's really hard to tell when they're sick due to their low level of activity. Again, I'm sorry to hear about Cecil. -Lee www.singleactions.com |
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Post by Frank V on May 18, 2009 19:43:57 GMT -5
Sorry about Cecil, I kind of like Turtles too. Frank
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That's a nice looking little habitat you've made there, too.
