Turtle Trouble

A knock on the door brought me running down from upstairs to answer the front door. There stood a woman and a turtle. She'd found it on my lawn and didn't have a phone to call the number on the small metal tag attached with a wire to the base of its shell near the tail. I'd call the number, I assured her, and the tag seemed like it had been cataloged into a scientific study.

I called the number but got an answering machine and no clue to whether this was a place where people would welcome a call about a turtle. But as fate would have it I knew a local keeper of turtles who might know something about who would want to hear about the turtle. It was a box turtle actually, a land reptile that also enjoys swimming in ponds and streams. The Eastern Box Turtle to be presise. From my contact I learned the name of a local naturalist who tags turtles and gave him a call. He was interested in the turtle. He had changed his phone number and moved. If I hadn't had a turtle lover connection, he would have missed out on finding this turtle.


Meanwhile the turtle was hanging out on my screened in porch exploring every corner of it on its stubby legs. The next day the turtle expert called and asked it he could come over and pick up the turtle to study and later release in an appropriate spot. I said sure and we talked for a while about the notes he had on this specimen. It seems that number 689 was a female, May and June is when they come out and about to find a place to lay their eggs, and has been picked up 3 other times near my house. The last time was in 2006. She was full grown and probably around 18 years old. I found out that they can live for about 90 years! Later that day he picked up the turtle and I haven't heard back from him about releasing the animal. I probably wasn't home when he decided to release her. I've posted a few pictures of my turtle friend.