I picked this little lady up off the yellow line on a street in Shelby, NC. Why she was in town with nowhere to go I guess I'll never know. I had an hour drive home and it was a hot day so I put her under a tarp in the back of my truck.
I have a two acre property near a stream and find several box turtles each year in my yard. I couldn't think of a better place to relocate my new friend so I kept her overnight in a large tub with some water and a tomato from the garden to let her calm down a bit.
I let her go the next day in the sun and snapped a few pictures as she made her way into the woods. Maybe we'll meet again.
Female Box turtle - around 13 years old
1 comment:
Great save. I would imagine that she was in town having escaped someone who had taken her from the wild. Turtles have site fidelity, and a strong homing instinct. Once they are displaced they will roam, trying to find their home again. For this reason, it's usually a very bad idea to "transplant" a turtle. Your situation is different. Since there was clearly no way to know where her original home was, placing her where there is a known population is one of the better choices. Sometimes introduced turtles will take up a new home. Since you have photos of her, and her markings are like a fingerprint, you should be able to ID her easily, if she returns.
Good luck!
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