I know nothing about turtles/tortoises but have one who has decided to live under my carport.
It is a delightful creature we have named Charlie and I want to make sure we feed him correctly.
I will post a few pics and would greatly appreciate know what it is and how to take care of it.
Thank you,
Connie
This is his rear end,,,cute little pink spot.
Here is the side shot.
And Charlie's head
oops, my baby fell off the carport so here is his underside
he sure is pretty!!! don't know what kind he is, but it probably wouldn't hurt to feed him veggies......be careful though because some turtles will bite.
kinda looks like the snapping turtle my son brought home when he was little.
This message was edited Nov 15, 2007 1:55 PM
bhaugh,
Thanks! Will keep fingers a safe distance and give him some veggies right now.
He seems to like to lay in water too??? So he has a very small, shallow pool he is
in right now.
when my son brought one home, we put him in a wading pool. put rocks in and a little water. we fed him veggies and believe it or not bologne! he seemed to like it. unfortunately, he climbed out of the pool and probably back to the woods. some turtles do like water as long as they can get out of it to lay in the sun. is your yard fenced? maybe you could find a way to build a small habitat for him. hopefully, someone with more knowledge than me, (i can only go by what i have done in the past), comes along with more advise.
Okay...That sounds good, I will work on it this weekend. So far he is happy in his little water thing.
good for you! keep sending pics....i love turtles. always wanted one of those little ones that are kept in fish tanks, but around here they will only sell them to the schools.
Here is a blurry pic of Charlie having a drink.
It is getting cooler outside so he is behind a chair up against
the wall....would not use his box-house we made, thank you very much!
Please do not put Charlie in water, other than to drink. He is a land tortoise. Feeding him veggies is what he likes in the wild.
Pet stores would have books on them to tell you more about him.
He looks like a beautiful, healthy little guy.
thankyou kenanne, i didn't know what all to tell her. just what we have done in the past.
kenanne,
Okie Dokie! The only reason I got a bigger pan for water was he was trying to
lay in the smaller one....keeps getting in the water dish. I won't put him in it!
any particular types of veggies? My mother (86) has taken him under her
wing and wants to feed him exactly what he wants.
They are a great pair!
Thanks
I think he is probably a Box Turtle....they eat almost everything! Don't give him Lettuce though..Romaine is okay, but not Iceberg...it has very little other than water..
Thanks Melvatoo....I guarentee my mother will make sure he doesn't go hungry or thirsty.
Box Turtle like most vegetables..ours especially liked tomatoes and squash....they like to sit in water when it is warm, they are able to absorb the water via their clocea...strange, but true. The box turtle we had, liked hamburger too (we got ground sirloin for him) he may like strawberries too..his favorite thing was canteloupe...
Thanks!
Ours is free to leave at anytime...he just appeared and decided to stay awhile. Was your fenced in or just stayed because he liked it there?
We had an enclosure made for him...
Charlie appears to be a male box turtle (Terrapine carolina bauri, I doubt that the spelling is correct). He is closely related to our Eastern Boxes and requires similar situations. I couldn't see if he has red or orange eyes (indication of males), but he seems to have the keeled shell and concave underbelly of males. They love to have hiding places like big pots on their sides and over turned boxes with an entrance side. He should not be placed in water, but if you provide him with a shallow dish like a plant saucer that he can drink from and climb into for an occasional soaking, he'll appreciate it. You can keep him contained to the area with a low lightweight fence, but this will also prevent him from breeding with local females. They love fruits and veggies like strawberries and mellon, leaf lettuce, shredded carrots and such. The also eat bugs and worms when they come across them.( My Easterns loved the occasional bite of raw fish)
I am courious about the pink spot on his back, it looks like the result of a healing injury, but also resembles the bondo like stuff I have used to repair shells of injured turtles. Is this a natural part of his shell? It could also be a little fungal infection which sometimes causes changes in the shell, but I don't see any other symptoms in the photos.
I'll bet he sits on the concrete in the sun to bask when he's cool and lays on the cool spots in the shade of the car port when it's hot. Weather you leave him to roam free or contain him with a fence, you'll definately find him a great companion. We had an Eastern that, when in the house for the winter, would scoot to the front door whenever anyone came. We caled her our watch turtle.
We also had a make that liked to have sex with rocks, but that's annother story....
I wondered about that pink spot too..on Animal Planet they had a vet who repaired turtle shells with the car repair stuff, bondo?
Hmmm...seems Charlie might have an interesting history! I will check him out more after work tomorrow. He seems quite happy where he is and did not like the turned over flower pot or the box we provided. Has his own special place to sleep the last few nights.
I looked at the photo again, it looks like the shell is intact and the texture of the pink spot is pretty much the same. I could never get a repair that smooth. Could it be paint? Maybe someone marked him for identification. I'm anxious to find out what it is.
That pink spot, does look like paint....
It's very nice that you found this guy and he loves hanging out at your home but please don't put him in an enclosure or fence or close him in. He came to be by you of his own free will, please let it stay that way.
There's plenty of pet turtles and tortoises that need homes if you really want one as a pet. They make very good pets but the wild ones should stay wild please. If you even want a box turtle, I'm sure that you can find one from a rescue that was previously kept as a pet or is damaged from an injury and needs a supervised "wilderness" that you can provide in your yard.
And ground meat is too way too fatty for him. Most people feed their turtles and tortoises insects and the aquatic ones fish also.
I'm really not trying to be a downer so please don't take this the wrong way.
Capt,
I don't think I mentioned anywhere that I was going to fence Charlie in.
A blanket statement, 'most people' I have never known anyone who limited their turtles meat intake, to insects....when I had my box turtle and fed him ground sirloin, I mentioned this, to my Vet, and to others who had turtles, and was never told it was too fatty for him. Besides, ground sirloin, does not contain a lot of fat...he didn't get the meat real often....most of the time he got slugs and worms on his own....he was in an enclosure because we live in town and we feared for his safety if he got out of the yard. The area where we found him has been developed and is neighborhoods now, so we didn't feel it was safe, to take him back there..we did that once, and he came back...
Here are few new photos of Charlie.
He has decided to move to the front flower bed for the last two days.
We have given him some veggies but all he will eat so far is bread and he loves it.
Since he has the run of the yard I am sure he is finding food for himself too.
Another....
Last one is a close up of his identifying pink mark.
Not sure...but I don't think bread, is a good thing to feed him, even though he loves it. Turtles and Tortoises, too, will get fixated on one thing, and as long as they get it, they won't try other things...our Tortoise, Graham....was like that with carrots for a time...we quit giving them to him, and now he gets and eats a variety of things.
Oh, ok...that is interesting! We will keep giving him a variety of fruits and veggies. He is a stubborn thing and I see first hand the meaning of slow as a turtle!
I love Graham's house...more colorful than Charlies.
"Capt,
I don't think I mentioned anywhere that I was going to fence Charlie in."
Oh. Sorry, I must have read it wrong. Really wrong.
Well Melvatoo, our info conflicts. I'm simply stating what I was taught by my vet, the nature center where I worked, the nature rehabilitation center, a turtle rescue and turtletimes.com ( where the topic of what kind of protein to provide has been brought up frequently).
I am just saying, that of the people I mentioned his diet to, no one ever said anything negative about it...we had Prince for 20 years and he seemed fine until he was stolen from us, who knows what he is being fed now.
Well, uh oh....we now have another one living in the front flower bed......do they gather in flocks or something?
Stealing a turtle.... People are nuts... I don't even get surprised anymore.
OOOOOH, TWO TURTLES! I'll bet I can guess what's going to happen now. You are so lucky. Check and see if this one has diffrent colored eyes. If one has light and the other orange or red, it's a pretty good bet that they are male and female. By next summer, you could have babies all over the yard. Boxes are alsolutely adorable when they are babies.
Don't worry about the bread, as long as he isn't getting a steady diet of it, he'll be fine. Just give him a few bits here and there, he'll find other stuff.
Looking at the new photos, It looks like the pink spot is nail polish. He's been marked. Paint on one scute, won't hurt him a bit and sure makes him easy to spot. I rehabbed one once that someone had super glued reinstones all over his shell, other than the acute embarrasment (it was a male) he did fine when they wore off. (made him a bit visable to preditors though so I had to keep a close eye on him) Turtle shell is just like our finger nails. It's living tissue that not only breathes, but also can absorb toxins, so one has to be careful what gets on it. I was working on a sutdy of turtles down south, where we marked the shells with small dabs of acrilic paint and numbers glued to the shell. Every time we ran across the same turtles we documented when and where. When they want to, they can really travel, other times they didn't move more than a few feet. Now they probably do the same thing with tracking systems and don't have to put up with the mosquitos and poison ivy.
Thanks for the good info jylgaskin! Both of them were
there early this morning but Useless was gone this afternoon. Charlie is holding his ground and patiently waiting. Miss Virginia put a shallow dish of water in Charlie's home territory and she said he gulped it down!
What fun they have become and we are enjoying having them around to watch. I will check the eye area color this weekend as I get home when it is almost dark.
Thanks for all the info. Just think, we may have some Charlie Jrs! No I won't name any of the Bubba or Chip.
Update:
Useless is still wandering somewhere and we have not seen Charlie for days but about mid-morning my little rat terrier was in the back yard barking. My other dog was not so I thought Jack had gotten out of the fenced yard and couldn't get back in.
Much to my surprise he was barking at Charlie! Charlie was on the outside of the gate he cannot in and Jack on the inside, they were almost nose to nose.
So we brought Charlie back to his favorite spot in the front and gave him food and water. He was a thisty little thing and then I gave him leafy green lettuce, carrots and turkey.
Guess what his favorite was? Turkey!...he ate a lot. That just proves I have a genius! He knows it Thanksgiving.
Very cute weeds!!
When I first saw the paint..I thought it looked like frosted pink nail polish.
It would certainly be cool to get some of those adorable baby boxes!!
debnes
