Need help identifying a turtle

debs....yep, it looks like nail polish. Charlie even had guests this afternoon...a few friends came by to meet him (human friends). He is getting quite popluar.

I tried to check his eyes but I didn't see any yellow/orange but it was almost dark.

Useless is still hiding somewhere.
I swear Charlie knows me (voice. smell??) and always comes to me as if to say, mom, put me to bed. I am tired.

jylgaskin,
Why did you keep yours in the house for the winter?

Its freezing in MI in winter...(burr). I'd rather be inside myself, lol.
Seriously though, I rather keep wildlife in the wild.
debnes

They hibernate. He/she'll be fine. Some people even put their pet turtles outside to hibernate. I never did but then again, I could never be separated from my Brogsy for that long!

I miss him a lot. He passed away this year. He was just a baby.

The cold is exactly why they were in the house for the winter. One of mine got out of it's enclosure and into the larger fenced in yard and I could not find her. I finially found her hibernating under some moving blankets in the garage months later. I left her there till spring and then returned her to her mate.

debnes, I did not remove these turtles from the wild and would never do so. I purchased them from a pet store where they were under miserable conditions. I have rescued many turtles and returned them to the wild from the pet trade when I could return them to proper habitat. My boxes were eventually released into wonderful wild habitat when we finialy settled down. Even when they were wintering indoors, they had large habitats with many natural features. I promise that they were much better off than they would have been if they were not with us.

Excellent jylglaskin!
My comment was not a all meant derogatorily towards you or the great way you have handled the turtles.
I was only stating what I would do here in Texas, and how I would feel as a turtle in MI.. :-)

debnes

It's highly illegal to remove turtles from the wild here in Michigan anyway, but that dosen't stop people.

By the way turtles do learn to recognise voices and will often come to the same place they get food on a regular basis. As their numbers decrease, it's good that there are people willing to keep an eye out for them and move them to safety if they are in a dangerous place like streets, or property under developement.

I agree wholeheartedly jyl! We see the same turtles out in the Texas Thicket (Piney Woods), and I tell the boys.. "No! You can't take it home!" lol

debnes

My brother was quite a bit older than I was and we spent a lot of time out in the woods with my father. I was probably about 5 or 6 and we found a beautiful wood turtle, I wanted to bring it home with me, but my father explained that it probably had a mother and a father and a family that would miss it very much and it would never be happy all alone with me, no mater how much I loved it. I accepted that and went on filling my pockets with rocks and such that my mother was always cleaning out of the washing machine. It was on the ride home that we discovered just how much older my brother was. He asked if Dad thought the turtle was a male or female and Dad explained about the diffrences in the shell and eyes and claws that identify the sex of a turtle. Yes, he said, the turtle was probably a male. My brother shuddered and Dad asked what was wrong. "Well", he said, "I know that turtles don't stay with their families and wouldn't miss anybody, but I just thought about how close he came to never haveing SEX again!"

Ya got to love 15 year old boys.

Rofl!!
Relating here,
I have 15 and 9 year old boys, &17 year old lil lady, & an older daughter 25 grown and out on her own. All nature lovers.. and bright like your brother. lol.

debnes

I am glad your brother was concerned about the most important things! Have a grown son myself.

I don't know if anyone is paying attention to this thread anymore, but I just read it and noticed this is indeed a box turtle, but I do not think is an American species... it looks like a Chinese Box Turlte (Cuora sp.) and if it is, this one is NOT a good hibernator (do NOT hibernate this animal or it might die). Not sure where it came from but it is a commonly sold species at pet stores... pretty hardy, mostly carnivorous aquatic species (yes, this is one that can actually swim). Anyway, it needs to be cleaned up a bit, but look at its elongated shell (American box turtles have a pretty evenly dome shell) and the marked ridges on the back. May have a stripe on its face but I can't tell from the photos.

Hey!
I am still watching because Charley is still here. He has found his favorite side of the yard and is just doing his thing. He is there everyday and still loves bread and turkey.

We are not doing anything to or with Charley except provide food and water if he wants it.
He definitley knows my voice and comes toward me when I go out and talk to him.
He still enjoys tormenting the fenced in dogs!
edited for typos

This message was edited Dec 29, 2007 7:21 PM

Hi weeds,

I love the story of 'your' wild turtle. Sounds like a perfect pairing for all involved. I am totally not a turtle expert, not even close, but I do have several Eastern Box turtles in my yard. I just wanted to mention that mine seem particularly fond of melons, particularly cantaloupe and watermelon.

How wonderful that Charlie knows your voice and comes to you!

That's great scutler!
They sure are fun to have around. My mother lives with me and she goes out everyday to watch him and talk to him. I will tell her about the melons.
We have tried other things but he is a picky little eater.
He stays on the side of the yard by my bedroom so I can see him most of the time from my windows.
We have another one around somewhere that I think is hibernating. Don't see her much and she lives on the other side of the yard.

Here is a pic of Charlie this morning getting his turkey and
bread from my mother. She also gave him a dish of water.

This is him eating his turkey...ate that first and then the bread.
We will get melons for him too.

He ate every bite of food she gave him.

Glad to see Charlie is still around and doing so well. He is obviously one happy camper! Don't worry if you don't see much of the other turtle, in the wild they only come together whe they want to mate. The rest of the time they are pretty solitary unless there is a good pile of food they want.

OK, that settles it. I will begin preparing for
baby turtles when they decide to meet.
Is there a mating season or do they just
mate whenever they have the motive and
opportunity?

Do you mean are they like people or something else?

yeah, or like dogs

feed him some dog food... a meat and bread diet is very imbalanced in terms of lack of vitamins and particularly calcium.. whole fish, whole rodents or dog food would be better.

ok palmbob...will give him dogfood. he has the run of the yard with lots of worms etc to eat.

worms are excellent!

I know, don't worry about Charlie........he has everything he needs.

Hello all,

Once again I'm replying to another thread that I didn't read much of. :(

Charlie is a MALE box turtle. I'm not going to throw out a guess on exactly which box turtle, but unless he was relocated I would probably say Eastern (if I were to guess :).

He would really appreciate almost any bugs you could scrounge up for him. If you get May Beetles "June Bugs" in Spring he will love them.

I would not bet that the paint on him isn't from a paintball. :(

Let us know. :)

I think it is fingernail polish or just paint. Put there as an identifying mark. He seems quite content and likes us as he follows us around. He will be ok.

just make sure if it gets super cold he has some protection as this species can't handle a real freeze like the american species can.

It is amazing how many turtles and tortoise get lost each year, we have a lot of people bring them in, finding them in their driveways or yards. it is important to offer them the right foods as their shells will suffer as well as their own systems. Most will eat a lot of fruit and veggies, and some go into hybernation. You could check with someone locally to identify the little guy. good luck :)

no freezr here yet.....maybe next weekend.....charlie is good at hiding under the leaves.......he knows what to do

most need to be indoors or sheltered from the cold

well, I hate to disappoint but Charlie loves meat. But, we offer everything to him.

cold here is 30 degrees for about 3 hours. he will be fine.

It's amazing that turtles have survived for millions of years without our interfearance. Charlie knows what to eat and what to do.

Mine seemed to mate in the late winter or early spring when they were in the house. By late april, my male was trying to do rocks. In The deep south they do not hibernate so it may be a bit diffrent on the timing.

I am letting nature take it's course. Charlie is our friend and we will do what is necessary to keep him safe and warm and fed. It appears he has made it thus far on his own.

What a cute little guy you have there! Charlie is so sweet and your mom sure has a new friend to take care about! I have a friend who has a turtle in her yard and he loves meat too and everything else she offers him, but he hybernates during winter . He has a hole in the ground where he retires when winter comes. Also, he loves water and my friend has a small pool for him.
I wonder what Betsy and Jack think about him?
Adina

Hey Adina!
That is so interesting that your friend has one her yard too.
Charlie will probably dig a hole soon if we ever have winter here.
Betsy and Jack just ignore him now unless he goes to the fence and gets nose to nose with them. Then they bark at him and I swear he just laughs at them.

Miss Virginia really likes Charlie and will sit out there and talk to him every day. I think he is a therapy turtle.

That is so sweet !

Charlie is BACK!! He showed up on the carport yesterday and we have had a ball with him. He comes to us wehn we talk to him and follows us around just like before. He must have been very thirsty as I put a dish of water down and he stuck his head in up to his eyes and stayed like that for at least 15 minutes. We could see him swallow every once in awhile. Then put out a shallow pan and got in and took a swim...actually just stood it in for awhile and decided to get out and eat some more. We came in and I think he wants to come in also!

Way to go, Weeds! Give him a grape.