turtles

I love turtles and I am fortunate to live with lots of them. I take photos of the ones I meet if I have my camera or cell phone with me. I try not to disturb them but sometimes I pick them up to see if they are male or female, or how old they are or to get a better shot of their markings. I always let the turtle know I am a friend and admirer and ask if I can interrupt them and take their picture. the purpose of taking their picture is to see how many individual turtles and species I'm sharing their land with. 

good video about box turtles here.

below are pics of some of the box turtles I have met while wandering about my land.

this box turtle was crossing the road near my house. I had never seen marks like this one before. I stayed with it until it was out of the road. it was alive, just hiding in its shell.

another beautifully marked box turtle. I found this beauty on my land.

I found this turtle in my driveway. this girl is a survivor. she had a serious crack to her shell and it healed and she seems fine. it appears as if her shell was cracked in a few places. this crack was the worst of the lot.

there appears to be more damage to her back end as well. the scutes, or scales, are somewhat disfigured.

she was in a hurry to get back to it. 

 juvenile box turtle on my land.

 underside or plastron of juvenile box turtle.

 side view of the cutie.

 I think this is a female. I believe I meet her again in a few weeks.

 I found this young turtle while I was using my tractor. it was upside down and I checked it out carefully to make sure it was ok. I noticed a small crack in its shell behind the front leg. I must have injured it while using the tractor. I put it in a box to observe it. I noticed it wasn't able to pull one of its front legs into its shell.

I was worried it might have a broken leg so I collected some comfrey and plantain and chopped it up. I put the plant material under the shell behind and in front of the leg and used surgical tape to hold it in place. I left in on overnight and the next day I released the turtle back where I found it. it walked away fine and used its front leg without any problems.

never try to treat an injured wild animal. I usually take them to a wild life rehabilitator.

another young box turtle. this one was hanging out underneath a shingle I had laying near my hoop house. it stayed there for a couple of weeks. then one day it was gone.