Don’t know where the time goes, but summer is here and I’m sure glad it is. All the turtles and tortoises are now outside full time, except for the rehabs and my tiny Leopard torts. They come in at night. It’s so nice to see everyone sunning themselves and getting lots of exercise. We’ve had a large Sulcata here for over a month now who will be going to Florida next month, but for now is mowing the entire pen all by herself, and does a great job too. She must weigh over 50 pounds, but I haven’t had anyone lift her to the scale yet. I can’t, way too heavy. She sure does keep me busy. Don’t know how anyone can keep a tort of this size in their home. The poop I clean out of her tort house daily as well as her river of pee is enough to turn anyone off to the concept that these torts can be housed inside. Outside is work enough. I also have two 6 y/o Sulcata that are so small I had to really look at them several times to be sure they are actually Sulcata. Usually they come in huge at that age. These two are only about 6″ if that. They were kept in a 20 gallon tank and actually had room to move around, that gives you an idea of their size. Another female Sulcata I have here now is the most rambunctious trouble maker. There always has to be one, and she’s it. Can’t house her with any other torts because she starts trouble. Now another 50 pounder is due to come in, so this should be interesting.
Box turtles, box turtles, and more box turtles keep coming in. I cannot express enough that if a box turtle is found and is not injured, put it into the woods as close to where you found it as you can and DO NOT take it out of the wild. I know there is loss of habitat and people are afraid they will get hit by cars, but trust me, a life in the wild taking risks is so much better than the life of a turtle in captivity. It’s not fair to the animal to take it from it’s home thinking you are ‘rescuing’ or ‘adopting’ it. Leave them there. If the turtle is injured by all means get it, take it to a rehabber or vet, but write down exactly where it was found so it can be released when it’s healed up. NYS law makes it so difficult to home these turtles because you must have a License to Posess one here, so please leave them where they should be. We just released five back to the wild because we knew where they came from, but still have five more that cannot be released because they were kept too long, or we don’t know where they came from, or people saved them from the wild and then couldn’t care for them any longer. Sad for the turtles that they can no longer live freely.
The Diamondback terrapin that had the surgery for the three legs that were chewed off did not make it. The front leg opened up again and the infection spread fast. It was probably for the best as her life would have been so different than it was prior.
Red ear sliders, as always have been coming in like crazy. The only home I had to send them to was a home in Florida with a huge pond. Since the new regulation for Florida takes place as of July 1st, 2007, preventing any new RES from being taken as pets in the state we will no longer be able to take them in. I hate to turn away any turtle at all, but we just don’t have anyplace to put them. I’ve contacted DEC asking what they suggest but they have no answer. I fear that between this and the Senators of Louisiana pushing for a ban on the 4″ law we are going to see all of our native turtles destined for the protection lists in each and every state because people will end up releasing them as they do now, but to a larger extent and our native turtles are going to suffer because of it. Wish I had a solution, but I don’t.
I have a Painted turtle that came in hit by a car. The front corner of her carapace was completely sheared and barely attached. I have wired her up and put her on antibiotics and hoping for the best. She began eating really well so I think she’s going to make it. You can see her here:
http://www.turtlerescues.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=3589 Once she’s healed up she will be able to go back to the wild if all is well with her. Her front legs seem very weak, but that may improve over time.
There are also photos there of an Eastern box turtle that came in with an abcess and a Red ear slider that someone scooped out of the Atlantic Ocean on Fire Island. That was actually a first for me. I’ve gotten them from some weird place before, but never out of the ocean.
As a reminder, we have the TRLI BBQ coming up. July 14th at 3p.m. at my home. For anyone that wants to come, send me a private message at maguire1@optonline.net to let me know you’re coming and for directions. It should be a lot of fun. We have about 30 people coming, some travelling quite far to get here, so it better be good. 🙂