Comments on: Box Turtle #1 http://badattitudefarmandforge.com/2009/08/02/box-turtle-1/ We farm. You eat. Where does your food come from? Sat, 03 Jul 2010 07:34:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Patricia Johnson http://badattitudefarmandforge.com/2009/08/02/box-turtle-1/comment-page-1/#comment-28 Patricia Johnson Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:55:35 +0000 http://badattitudefarmandforge.com/?p=65#comment-28 Turtles have vary greatly in their behaviors in the wild. It is not uncommon for a wild turtle to be friendly, passive and even curious. This is not how you determine if a turtle was once someone's pet. An exerienced Herpetologist would be able to tell you if this animal has been in captivity. If there are no indications in his shell and development, you may want to consider returning him to where you found him. Turtles have vary greatly in their behaviors in the wild. It is not uncommon for a wild turtle to be friendly, passive and even curious. This is not how you determine if a turtle was once someone’s pet. An exerienced Herpetologist would be able to tell you if this animal has been in captivity. If there are no indications in his shell and development, you may want to consider returning him to where you found him.

]]> By: mark http://badattitudefarmandforge.com/2009/08/02/box-turtle-1/comment-page-1/#comment-27 mark Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:42:54 +0000 http://badattitudefarmandforge.com/?p=65#comment-27 Many good and important points in this post. Box turtles can swim, but they are primarily terrestrial and prefer wooded habitats, where it's easier to hide. They're endangered in Massachusetts and probably should be in other states due to habitat destruction, cars, lawn mowers, and human poaching. Turtles live a very long time but produce few offspring that survive to adulthood, so removing one from a population can have a devastating impact and not only on the individual turtle. Box turtles are territorial, and transplanting them from their home ranges is complicated and not often successful because they're very likely to wander. This is true even when the introduction is done gradually. When dealing with injured turtles, the best thing to do after they've recovered is to re-release them near where they were found but safely away from the road. Where habitat has truly been destroyed it gets a bit more complicated. I encourage you to get guidance from herpetologists with expertise, if you can locate any in your area. Here's a link to an article that discusses many of the issues. This organization may be able to put you in touch with someone who can help. http://www.mckeever.org/turtle.html Many good and important points in this post. Box turtles can swim, but they are primarily terrestrial and prefer wooded habitats, where it’s easier to hide. They’re endangered in Massachusetts and probably should be in other states due to habitat destruction, cars, lawn mowers, and human poaching. Turtles live a very long time but produce few offspring that survive to adulthood, so removing one from a population can have a devastating impact and not only on the individual turtle.

Box turtles are territorial, and transplanting them from their home ranges is complicated and not often successful because they’re very likely to wander. This is true even when the introduction is done gradually.

When dealing with injured turtles, the best thing to do after they’ve recovered is to re-release them near where they were found but safely away from the road. Where habitat has truly been destroyed it gets a bit more complicated. I encourage you to get guidance from herpetologists with expertise, if you can locate any in your area.

Here’s a link to an article that discusses many of the issues. This organization may be able to put you in touch with someone who can help.

http://www.mckeever.org/turtle.html

]]>