Ideas for tag and release project

[Gennifer11]

So I work on an installation where there are many wetland areas, most are fresh water but we are right next to the bay also. A coworker of mine found a turtle in a parking lot near my work and brought it to me. I looked it up to find it was a Northern Diamondback terrapin.

I informed my boss and she appointment me the job to survey our wetlands. For anyone not familiar with NDTs, they are currently being reviewed to be put on the endangered species list and they are the only brackish water turtle in the world.
So back to the survey...
I obviously have little money for this project, aside from applying for a grant with my state. Most companies and organizations use gps trackers or special stickers to mark the turtles before releasing them. I don't have that luxury.

I would love some ideas to capture, tag, and release these turtles over a period of a few weeks to a month. The tagging does not need to be permanent. The purpose of this project is to assess how many NDTs we have and what types of steps we need to take to conserve them.

One idea was non toxic hardy paint or nail polish, then adding a number with the paint.

 

[dmmj]

What type of budget do you have? That will determine what type of tracking

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

I think the paint and number idea is cheap, safe and workable.
Can't think of a better one on a tiny budget.