The down side of being a Turtle/Tortoise lover :(

[TheTortoiseWhisperer]

I happen to be blessed with AWESOME friends and of course they all know that
I absolutely adore my torts and turtles in general sooo today one of those awesome friends of mine had me close my eyes to surprise me with a beautiful turtle she found while she was on vacation in Texas walking her dog.....as soon as I opened my eyes my heart felt heavy because I knew he shouldn't have been taken out of his habitat but now he's here and from what I can gather I can't just put him back at just any random place so I need suggestions please. I'll take care of him forever if that's his best option but I don't even know what kind of turtle he is or what I need to feed him. PLEASEEEEEE HELP ME HELP THIS LITTLE GUY WITH AS MUCH INFORMATION YOU CAN GIVE ME. :0(



PS: by the way, I did tell her thank you but not to ever, ever, ever again take another one out of his "home" for me or anyone else

 

[shellysmom]

It's a box turtle, so if your friend got it from Texas, and you are in Louisiana, it would probably be okay to release in your area. Perhaps you could call your nearest wildlife rehabilitator and explain what happened. They could make sure it's healthy and then find a good spot to release it. If it's healthy and releasable, please don't keep it in captivity.

Since box turtles have a strong homing urge, it would actually be best if your friend could fix this situation by taking this turtle back to Texas and putting it back exactly where she found it. I know that might be asking a lot, but I seriously hate when people pluck animals out of their natural environment without thinking what that means to the individual animal or overall population of that species. I'm glad you educated her on the subject.

 

[AustinASU]

That a three toe and as long as you live within the green area on the map attatched to link below you can release him in the wild and he will be fine.... http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/midorcas/research/Contribute/box turtle/easternrange.gif

 

[TheTortoiseWhisperer]

Thank you both got the input now I'm even sadder because I made up a story and told her that I was heading out to Texas this weekend and that I'd really like to put the little guy back where she got him, well not only does she not recall the exact location but the general area is like 12 hours away, so right now it's impossible for me to take him for several reasons the other bad news is that if he's a 3 three toe I don't live in the green area on the map....I am feeling so guilty about this, from now on I will let as many people as I can know NOT TO TAKE THEM AWAY FROM THEIR HABITAT FOR ME
OR ANYONE ELSE. UUUGGGHHH POOR LITTLE GUY.

 

[shellysmom]

I still think you should call a WL rehabber. They may have an idea to help. They may even have volunteers that live in the green part of the map and could transport it there.

 

[Yvonne G]

I think its probably an eastern box turtle - Terrapene carolina carolina. You SHOULD NOT release it anyplace!!!!! It is against the law to release turtles and tortoises...especially since this one came from out of state.

It looks like the turtle has been dog-chewed. The best thing for him now is to be set up in a safe outdoor habitat. Because he is a full grown turtle and has been taken from the wild, he won't acclimate to being an indoor turtle very easily.

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He also looks like his eyes might be starting to swell. Be sure to give him a nice warm soak, and add some bird vitamins to the water.

 

[shellysmom]

Crap. Yvonne has a good point about it being from out of state. If it's harboring any type of disease that your local, wild chelonians are not immune to, it could cause problems. I hate these types of situations where a person screws something up and neither solution to the problem is ideal. I guess s/he's all yours. Even though s/he's small, it will be happy to have as much room as you can give it. After all, it's used to having no boundaries whatsoever. Good luck. And, you should change your name to TheTortoiseMagnet.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Hard decisions...turn it into the State and it'll possibly be euthanized (as previously noted, if it's harboring any type of disease that your local, wild chelonians are not immune to, it could cause MAJOR problems) or keep it/rehome it.

Me, I'd fix it up a nice outdoors environment and give it a name, bringing it in during the cold period, and putting it back outside come spring.

 

[drgnfly2265]

I was about to type to not release it back into the wild, and then I seen Yvonne's post, lol.

 

[CourtneyAndCarl]

When I decided to release a wild painted turtle back, about an hour from where it was taken, I first called a wildlife rehab to see where I good spot would be. They told me that they were going to pretend that they didn't know I was doing it, because it's actually illegal to release a turtle or tortoise further than 60 yards away from where you found it. So taking it to a wildlife rehab wouldn't be beneficial either, they would also have to just keep it in captivity