My Experience With Returning to the Wild

[Yvonne G]

. . . Well, maybe not the 'real' wild.

My turtle and tortoise rescue has been in business for over 25 years. During that time the most frequently rescued animals are, first - male desert tortoises, next - male sulcatas and then - three toe box turtles.

The yard where the box turtles live is quite large, and very much like they've been released back into the wild (well, maybe not that big, but you get the picture). After a short quarantine period, rescued box turtles go into their respective species' yard.

It has been my experience that box turtles that have been in captivity, especially in small aquariums, etc., have a very hard time fending for themselves in that large yard. At first, many years ago, I lost quite a few of them (to death, not to escape). It took me a while to figure out they just didn't know how to forage and find food.

So, now when I take in a box turtle that has not been kept outside, I have to set it up in a smaller outdoor pen. A pen where I can easily find it and place it in front of the food. I have to actually teach it how to find food, by hiding bits here and there, and nudging the turtle towards the hiding place. I've even lightly buried worms and shown them how to dig up the worms. No one does this for a captive turtle that is released back into the wild.

Moral to the story. Even if you live in the turtle's home range, don't release it back into the wild if it has been a pet or in captivity for any length of time. There's a good chance it will starve to death.

It should be noted here that most states have laws against releasing turtles and tortoises back into the wild.

 

[Alaskamike]

That's interesting. Similar for many wild animals once living in captive environments. Once an animal has been hand feed , provided food without having to work for it they seem to not easily pick those skills up.

 

[mark1]

I've seen studies where there are population of turtles with entire year classes missing , zero hatchling survival rate for entire seasons ...... I've also seen studies where released captive raised box turtles were tracked , some for over a decade , there movements appeared to me to be distinguishable from the native turtles , they wander more , further and with greater frequency , they appeared to me to be less likely to return to their original location , even if they spent an entire year or two near there originally ....... it appears to me turtles are very much creatures of instinct and habit . they all have the instincts , the habits appear to me to be from experiences , they do something that works and repeat it , the more they repeat it the more embedded the habit becomes .... the experiences begin as soon as the emerge from the nest , hatchlings that make bad choices die , those decisions don't become habits ....... my guess is that's why captive raised adult turtles don't do well when released , their survival rate is probably no worse than that of a hatchling , one bad decision and they're dead , good decisions that don't kill them become habits ....

 

[MyersTortoise]

Thank you Yvonne! This is good info! Did you find that they ever learned from each other? When you had them in groups, did not the "less wild" ones watch and learn behaviors from the "more wild" ones?

 

[Yvonne G]

I guess I never gave them the chance. After I found newer arrivals dead, I stopped putting new arrivals in the bigger yard with the group.

 

[drumsfield]

Very good information.

 

[wellington]

If you ever see the people rehabbing for release to the particular animals native lands, there is not a lot of human contact and no feeding by placing in a dish of plate. Always hiding it for the animal to learn to hunt for it is it was a young animal and the same is done for adults, so they don't become human friendly. Gloves are even worn so there's no human smells.
It makes sense that turtles being captive would have a hard time being released.