Saved a little wayward box turtle today

[Jellybeans]

I was driving making my doordash deliveries today and this little turtle was running, as much as a turtle can run, straight towards the street full of traffic.
So I brought it home going to keep it for a few days and then release it to a safe place where it will not have access to roads.
If it is a female which I'm pretty sure it is ..
I might hang on to her for a while to make sure she's not gravid and give her babies a chance to hatch before I turn the family back in the wild. Springtime is reptile reproduction time...

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[FollowTheSun]

Awww you did good! And that's a perfect hide for a box turtle!

[Bogertophis]

Awww, thank you for helping her/him. So many turtles get killed on roads in my state- -they like to travel around so much & are oblivious to traffic.

[Jellybeans]

I have saved several Turtles throughout the years during this season mainly red-eared sliders.
There were a couple that I was able to repair their cracked shells but there were a couple that I had to take to the vet and have euthanized just to put them out of their pain. There's a wonderful Nature Park very close to my neighborhood that has a huge Pond full of red eared sliders . I have relocated there and I've also relocated a couple of baby snakes there. Also one of them that I relocated there was a three-legged turtle.

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[AnnieHeart]

How cute!!

[Crowfingers]

^{_{PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put her back within 100 yards of where you found Her!}} Like on the other side of the road - the one it was crossing towards. They have VERY specific territories and moving her will likely cause her to die - either through starvation or not finding a proper shelter come winter. Moving her also risks taking any disease or parasites from her population into a new one.

IF she is gravid she will hold onto the eggs and has a high chance at egg binding - in my experience they often need to be chemically induced to lay their eggs when in captivity. Also, the babies will imprint on were they hatch and stay within a few acres of that site for their entire lives...just release her

I know it's hard to think about them crossing roads, but it is her home and he knows where all the food, shelters, mates, etc are. I've worked with turtle conservation and relocation in school and in wildlife rehab - relocation protocol takes years, and even then many don't survive - and that is with help from scientists and conservationists. Just tossing her in a new location is comparable to dumping a dog out into the wilderness, except the dog has the chance of someone finding and rescuing it.

Just google turtle relocation and read some of the articles - that and taking them for pets are causing the populations to drop off rapidly. If you want to help just escort her back to where you found her ASAP and put her on the side of the road she was trying to get to.

[Bogertophis]

Crowfingers, thank you SO much for enlightening us. There are many wandering turtles in my area too & I've never heard that they have a specific territory.
I am in a small town with some pretty big roads (lots of traffic) and some still find their way into my back yard. Not knowing this, I moved them out of town.

Another thing causing their decline is that some are "harvesting" them to sell as food overseas, or even for consumption here. When you factor in the natural
predators, diseases, climate issues and loss of habitat, we truly must do all that we can to see that they survive.

[Craiga 01453]

^{_{PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put her back within 100 yards of where you found Her!}} Like on the other side of the road - the one it was crossing towards. They have VERY specific territories and moving her will likely cause her to die - either through starvation or not finding a proper shelter come winter. Moving her also risks taking any disease or parasites from her population into a new one.

IF she is gravid she will hold onto the eggs and has a high chance at egg binding - in my experience they often need to be chemically induced to lay their eggs when in captivity. Also, the babies will imprint on were they hatch and stay within a few acres of that site for their entire lives...just release her

I know it's hard to think about them crossing roads, but it is her home and he knows where all the food, shelters, mates, etc are. I've worked with turtle conservation and relocation in school and in wildlife rehab - relocation protocol takes years, and even then many don't survive - and that is with help from scientists and conservationists. Just tossing her in a new location is comparable to dumping a dog out into the wilderness, except the dog has the chance of someone finding and rescuing it.

Just google turtle relocation and read some of the articles - that and taking them for pets are causing the populations to drop off rapidly. If you want to help just escort her back to where you found her ASAP and put her on the side of the road she was trying to get to.

Very good points. Thanks for the reply and the education.

[Toad37]

^{_{PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put her back within 100 yards of where you found Her!}} Like on the other side of the road - the one it was crossing towards. They have VERY specific territories and moving her will likely cause her to die - either through starvation or not finding a proper shelter come winter. Moving her also risks taking any disease or parasites from her population into a new one.

IF she is gravid she will hold onto the eggs and has a high chance at egg binding - in my experience they often need to be chemically induced to lay their eggs when in captivity. Also, the babies will imprint on were they hatch and stay within a few acres of that site for their entire lives...just release her

I know it's hard to think about them crossing roads, but it is her home and he knows where all the food, shelters, mates, etc are. I've worked with turtle conservation and relocation in school and in wildlife rehab - relocation protocol takes years, and even then many don't survive - and that is with help from scientists and conservationists. Just tossing her in a new location is comparable to dumping a dog out into the wilderness, except the dog has the chance of someone finding and rescuing it.

Just google turtle relocation and read some of the articles - that and taking them for pets are causing the populations to drop off rapidly. If you want to help just escort her back to where you found her ASAP and put her on the side of the road she was trying to get to.

I wanted to say this but didn't know how to word it without sounding like an a**. You did a good job at explaining it thank you very much.

[Crowfingers]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm not trying to come off as a jerk, but I love these creatures and want them to be around for the future
I know people want to do the right thing, I also kept them as pets for a few weeks and released them wherever when I was younger and before I knew better. Just want to get the word out too