Today (May 23) is World Turtle Day!!! World Turtle Day is sponsored by American Tortoise Rescue. The day was created as a yearly observance to help people celebrate and protect turtles and tortoises and their disappearing habitats around the world. I don't often see turtles, but when I do--traffic permitting--I'll pull over and carry them to the side of the road...ALWAYS IN THE DIRECTION THEY WERE TRAVELING! I have seen a couple of really huge ones here, moving from one farm pond to another. Those I leave be. Me, too, buddy.
40 some odd years ago we moved into this house I would see box turtles at least once a year. Haven't seen any in many years. Got to like any amphibian that can outrun a hare.
Well, can outrun an arrogant hare...but how many of those do you see? I've seen lots of critters here in the country that I stopped seeing up north when the DC area got so over-developed, but I've not seen a lot of turtles. In fact, I don't think I've seen any on my place. I saw a few turtles on one property I was looking at, but there were a few small ponds on the property. Like you, it seems that I saw a lot more when I was a kid.
Are there turtles in the pond, where you hear the bullfrogs? We have two kinds in the pond here. Common snappers and Red eared sliders. The pond is loaded with them. Turtle laying eggs near the goat barn a few years ago I've seen a lot of shells of box turtles. Not many live ones. This was Sam eating a tomato in the barn.
Those ponds are on a property I was looking at when I purchased my current place. I DO hear tons of bullfrogs along my right-of-way at certain times of the year, but they are in swampy areas, not ponds. I've seen a few turtles in the county moving between runoff ponds on local farms. I was just reading an article where the state of Virginia (actually, the Game Department) is gonna make it illegal to have pet box turtles. Keeping other turtle species is currently banned, even though they are not threatened or endangered. They are gonna add box turtles to the list.
Nancy, I didn't know Box Turtles would eat tomatoes. I didn't have box turtles as pets, I did have the eared slider, painted, and musk turtles. I made a set up for them out of a children's play pool, because they are all water turtles. Interesting photos..
I was told that too many tomatoes are not good for them. He also liked dry cat food. Sam would show up in the barn every day about the same time for 2 or 3 years, during warm seasons. My mother fed him whatever she thought he might like.
I see turtles on my land up north often. A brook borders a part of the property, plus the beaver dam adds a great deal of water, and we have a couple of seasonal streams that run year-round on some years, so it's a good habitat for turtles, I guess. I never saw much point in a turtle as a pet, though.
We once went into a restaurant in Mexico that had been an old convent. We were seated in the courtyard, which had lots of greenery around. Just as we were served, turtles started coming out of the greenery. Big ones, small ones, lots of 'em. They were all around the table, about three feet away, completely surrounding us. It was creepy, like a horror movie....."Day of the Teenage Ninja Killer Turtle Nuns" or something. The waiter laughed and said, "Just throw them some lettuce or tomatoes and they'll eat and go away." We did and they did. Within a few minutes, they had all gone back into the shrubbery. Makes me wonder what would have happened if we hadn't given them something to eat...... We might have gone home with only 8 or 9 toes? I'm off on a trip Thursday to go babysit a dog and a 57-year-old turtle who likes to read the Sunday New York Times. Honestly.....they tape a page to the side of his aquarium and he stares at it for hours. I'm told he seems to prefer the theater reviews but has been known to be fascinated with the sports page during the World Series and the occasional fashion article but only if they're talking about natural fabrics. There's no use putting up any restaurant reviews because he once read about a restaurant featuring....well, you know.....turtle soup....and he'll just turn his back.
Mary, Turtles are smarter than most people realize. The ones I had would let me hand feed them and while they were eating I could pet there heads or hold them without incident. A lot of action also give them a worm and watch as they had a tug of war.
My dad managed G.C. Murphy stores his entire career. It was a lot of fun being in there before and after hours. Back then, all those stores had pet departments: parakeets, dyed chicks & ducklings at Easter, chameleons, fish, hamsters, and of course--turtles. I remember the cheap little tanks with the plastic island and the all-green palm tree stuck in the middle of it. I also vaguely recall someone in the household having a turtle as a pet.
That describes the 96 acre property I looked at. It had a pond on it and acres of deep, wide swamps created by beavers. I stopped the car and moved several turtles off of the roadway when looking at that place.