Spring Health Checks

[HermanniChris]

Every spring I like to pull all the turtles from their ponds and inspect them to make sure they've made it through hibernation and that there are no apparent health issues. I put them in tubs according to their species, look them over and release them back into their enclosures. I couldn't find every single one in time for this but I took some photos anyway.

European Pond Turtles:

Spotted Turtles:

Blanding's Turtles:

North American Wood Turtles:

Eastern Box Turtles:

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Here is a Yellow Skinned North American Wood Turtle, in comparison to the orange skinned one in the photo above.

 

[pugsandkids]

Wow, those Eastern Box Turtles are amazing! I showed my 8 year old and he says "We HAVE to have one of those!" (he and I are home today, he's got strep )

We have a pond under construction right now...great now I've got to do research in the turtle posts

 

[Scooter]

Beautiful turtles. Does each species have a separate pond? I would love to see setups of your enclosures, we have a yellow belly slider and a Mississippi map that we will be building outdoor enclosures for in a year or two but I am starting the planning now.

 

[Tom]

Beautiful pics. Great colors. Thanks for posting.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Absolutely beautiful. I know I have wanted a spotted turtle for a while but then I see the Blandings and the wish hits me that I want one of those! But the most beautiful I have to say is the box turtle. My Eastern is no way that colorful, so I am thinking that's the difference between male and female and mostly house kept VS kept outside 24/7...It's so nice to see a collection of the not so ordinary...

 

[Neal]

Wow, love those boxies! Would you be able to take a closeup of the 2nd from the left on the bottom row? He seems to have a lot of bright red, never seen that color on an eastern before!

 

[HermanniChris]

Thank you everyone. I have 2 large ponds the rest of the yard is tortoise pens maily for my T. hermanni hermanni, some of the species live together, others do not, although they are all pretty much compatible. The spotteds can get weird when they are around larger turtles, but given enough places to hide they seem to fair well. I had an amazing year last year with my wood turtles, out of 113 eggs I produced 97 hatchlings. We'll see what happens this year. The Blanding's are wonderful turtles but they eat an unbelievable amount between April and July. As for the box turtles, I have 2 stunning males and 1 average, but all my females are just gorgeous. Both sexes can be equally as stunning. Here are some photos:

Some of my female box turtles:

An example of the babies they produce:

 

[Rhyno47]

Wow they are colorful boxies. Mine was dark all over after she hatched. She has some color coming in now though.

 

[Isa]

Wow, you have sooo many turtles. Your pond is beautiful!