3CATSAILOR
Well-Known Member
Although I have seen turtles everywhere, they seem to be daredevils. Some make it. Some don't At the So far, I rescued 8 Boxers of various sizes in the Southern part of SMC. The most recent was today. He was in the center of Route 235. How he didn't get hit, who knows. I turned around and brought him to a new home with plenty of wild blackberries water and other food. Unfortunately, he will probably become a fat turtle. The others I deposited in similar areas with plenty of food/water sources. What is interesting is that I learned that boxers and other species can travel pretty long distances for a turtle. I was telling a neighbor about the turtles. He has one that hangs around because he feeds it. It never used to be that way. This Boxer turtle is affectionately called "Flat Top" because a lawn mower shaved off the very tip of his shell. Probably should have called him "Lucky" instead. Anyhow, this turtle traveled every day a quarter of a mile back and forth, " several times" The neighbor was tracking him before he decided to stay at their home. For turtle, this may be quite a distance.
But, lets try it if you have "webbed feet". At the beginning of St. Jerome's Neck Road, I picked up a good sized Terrapin. He had just started to finish crossing the lawn on to a person's front yard. I bet if she was home, she would have had the surprise of her life. Terrapin's are pretty easy to spot. The shape of the head, under belly, and of course the shell structure. But the dead give away that it was away from home is the webbed feet. I had to do some heavy detective work to come to a hypothesis how it got to where it did the fact a sea turtle was still alive.
A aerial view of the area made it much easier to understand. 1) There was a branch of St. Jerome's Creek that came up quite a distance north, most of the way up along side St. Jerome's Neck Road. We have had a lot of flooding tides lately. And a lot of heavy rain. All ingredients to make it much easier for a sea turtle. Plus, he may have found a nearby pond walking distance away from where I found him. I was not surprised that he was quite healthy. The pond probably had some food sources for him.
He was quite heavy. But, I was able to load him in to the back of my P/U and back to his natural habitat. He seemed glad to get home. If a turtle could run, I would say he did.
But, lets try it if you have "webbed feet". At the beginning of St. Jerome's Neck Road, I picked up a good sized Terrapin. He had just started to finish crossing the lawn on to a person's front yard. I bet if she was home, she would have had the surprise of her life. Terrapin's are pretty easy to spot. The shape of the head, under belly, and of course the shell structure. But the dead give away that it was away from home is the webbed feet. I had to do some heavy detective work to come to a hypothesis how it got to where it did the fact a sea turtle was still alive.
A aerial view of the area made it much easier to understand. 1) There was a branch of St. Jerome's Creek that came up quite a distance north, most of the way up along side St. Jerome's Neck Road. We have had a lot of flooding tides lately. And a lot of heavy rain. All ingredients to make it much easier for a sea turtle. Plus, he may have found a nearby pond walking distance away from where I found him. I was not surprised that he was quite healthy. The pond probably had some food sources for him.
He was quite heavy. But, I was able to load him in to the back of my P/U and back to his natural habitat. He seemed glad to get home. If a turtle could run, I would say he did.
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That's on my bucket list, Demon Casting.
and sent him on his way.
Even to the point of running into traffic