When your child is an animal fanatic you could, if you weren't very strict, end up living in a suburban zoo. So we have a reptile/amphibian/insect rule. If you find one, and if you learn about it's habitat and dietary needs, you can keep it to observe for up to 24 hours at which time it needs to be returned to its natural habitat.
One year we rescued a box turtle that had been attacked and gnawed on by a dog, nursed it back to health, let it go, and found it again a year later doing fine....
Finding turtles is always exciting. "J" and her friends found this guy and released him 2 days later.
Heretofore we have only found box turtles. The other day we saw a turtle crossing a busy
road. I had to stop and help it…so I
pulled over and put on my flashers…in retrospect I may not have been the best
idea. Luckily a nice older lady stopped
and directed traffic for me. Of course
she stopped because she thought I was having car trouble…but she was just as willing
to help with turtle rescue.
The odd thing was that this turtle ran away from me. Box turtles tend to just freeze and hide in their
shells when they see you. But this guy ran.
And he ran fast. It took a while to catch him. When we got home my daughter told me that the
turtle was NOT a box turtle…she was adamant…and I have to admit the kid knows
her stuff. It took me a bit of research
to discover that we had rescued a slider turtle.
Slider turtles are the ones you see basking around lakes….and
this fellow was apparently going from one water source to another. We kept him for the day and then let him go
at the creek.
He was feisty! Always hissing and scratching. FUN!
Watch him run....
No comments:
Post a Comment