Tag Archives: The Amazing turtles of Virginia

How To Be Your Box Turtles Advocate

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Let’s face it. Turtles Need Advocates.

Turtles need people who love them to speak up for them, and to advocate for protection of their wild habitat.

Turtles around the globe are struggling with habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and altercations with man made machinery, and they all face an uncertain future. Sadly, our native box turtles seem to have been totally forgotten about.

Up and down the east coast, the Interstate 95 corridor, from the first colonist to the present day neighborhoods, we have been destroying woodland habitat. All of our native creatures have been affected by this loss of shelter and food, some have adapted better then others, even learning to exploit our carelessness, others, succumb to the heavy equipment that removes the trees, plowing the earth in its wake.

The defenses that have evolved in our Eastern Box Turtles, have served them well for millions of years. These Turtles evolved with a hinge, putting them in a very unique and special group of Chelonians, and when danger approaches, they have the ability to close themselves up into their bone hard shell, making themselves impenetrable to all but the largest predators. Their colorful unique markings on their shell help them blend into the filtered light and colorful leaves of their forest floor home and avoid detection.

There was a time when the forests our box turtles called home spread all along the east coast, now these forests are divided by highways, cities, housing developments and industrial sites, So it is not hard, for many of us, when we come upon such a unique and amazing creature, to want to help it continue to survive. Sometimes moving them across the road, as we are all told to do, may not be the best option. A destroyed habitat often spreads and surviving turtles are indeed lost. Sometimes an “across the road” is a new apartment complex. This “problem” is very complicated, as turtles are hard to relocate due to their attachment to their native home where they learn the topography, the food, water sources and best hides. Moving box turtles to a new location leaves them searching for familiar landmarks and they often will traverse miles, crossing unfamiliar territory looking for home. Moving turtles can also expose populations to pathogens that can be devastating to existing populations.

This is Oscar. Oscar was found at the bottom of a trash can, at a gas station of off Interstate 95, in the City of Richmond VA. Because Oscar has three legs, it is assumed that he was tossed by the poachers that were transporting him.

Furthermore, in an attempt to curb illegal poaching, laws in many states have made it illegal to own our native Eastern box turtles with out a permit, nor can they be adopted out. Some States requiring Euthanasia for unwanted pets and turtles that have lost their habitat due to human encroachment.

The Glass Box

So here we are. What now? So you took that turtle home 15 years ago. You kept a wild creature in a glass box. An animal that would normally travel through a territory possibly many miles every year. You kept him by a window, least he forget what the sun looked like and you fed him things that you thought he should eat. No slugs, very few worms, no beetles, carrion or wild berries. And now keeping this turtle is inconvenient and you realize that you have not done him any favors. The color of his shell is brown. There are no colorful markings. His nose is short and his beak is overgrown, giving him an overbite. His tail is nonexistent, as it basically disappeared from years of living on that dry bark mulch they sold you at the pet store, and his nails are growing in circles from lack of a natural movement. If he is lucky, he is not suffering from Metabolic Bone Disease. A devastating result caused from the inability to process nutrients, due to improper diet, housing and lighting

So you begin to search for a solution for your ill begotten pet, a new home, a chance for your turtle to live his best turtle life, and this is what you learn:

Finding someone that both is legally allowed to house box turtles through their states wildlife department and, has the room to take your turtle, is difficult at best.

If your turtle is a male, it could take years of carefully orchestrated behavior modification to get him to the point that he can be housed with other turtles. I can barely imagine how it would feel to be snatched away from the world I know and be put into a glass box with a small dish of water, and some unfamiliar food. How long would it take for me to quite trying to climb out of the corner, and eventually just hide in my shell, Day in, Day out. I am quite positive I would be pretty confused, angry and defensive after 15 years of solitary confinement. Building adequate outdoor housing for each of these turtles is unrealistic even for the best of sanctuaries. Females recover from incarceration a little better, and seldom exhibit the aggressive fighting behavior that males in captivity do.

Once taken home and kept as a pet, YOU are responsible for that pet. period. Dog, Cat, Gerbil, Snake, Horse, Turtle.. what ever the pet is. It is a life that now depends on you to do the right thing and provide for it in the best possible humane way. That also means that you are responsible for veterinary care, and yes there are exotic vets that can help you keep your turtle healthy and happy. Turtles are connected and are part of the earth that they evolved with. If you cannot keep them outside in a natural habitat, then you will have to have plenty of room indoors to build an adequate habitat that includes a water hole big enough for your turtle to climb in and soak, hides, proper lighting that mimics the sun through out the year and offers them variant temperatures and a wide assortment of native and natural foods that are appropriate for the age of your turtle .

Knowing how few options there are for turtles to find sanctuary, it is VERY difficult for those of us that run sanctuaries to turn away turtles in need. While you think your turtle may need a home, there are as many stories of lost and found turtles that once were wild, and are now homeless, and are facing euthanasia, just because someone bulldozed their habitat.

Unfortunately, turtles that have been in a tank for 15 years usually need a slow reacclimating to outside living, depending on how much damage has been done. Can they close their shell tight? Will they be able to brumate? Can they catch live food? Are they aggressive to others?

Box Turtles can live well over 100 years. When you do find a sanctuary that is willing to take your 15 yr pet and possibly provide for it for the next 50? 75? 100 years, what is this worth to you?

250 million years, Turtles have been on this planet. As a species, Humans certainly could learn a lot about our earth from these small dinosaurs of our woodlands. How to adapt, How to get along, how to heal, share and survive. Box turtles are quite amazing. They are personable and unique. Their super powers far outnumber ours and if they can survive this human invasion, they will have survived it all.

Please help keep turtles in the wild. Protect wild spaces! Plant native and beneficial Plants, make your yard turtle and wildlife friendly, and most important SPEAK UP. LEAN IN.. Spread the word and advocate, to your local and state representatives, your neighbors, friends, anyone that will listen.

It is time!

It is never too late to Do the Right Thing

10 Ways YOU can Help Turtles in YOUR Neighborhood

Box Turtle Myths No One Talks About

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Real or Mythical

Myths have followed turtles since the beginning of time. It is really no wonder as they have been living on our planet before the continental shift, and their fossils appear on every major land mass. Turtles also appear to have super powers, and have survived mass extinctions that wiped out most of the life on Earth.  Real or mythical, Turtles are amazing survivors, but without our help in protecting their habitat, it is unlikely they will survive this time of  “Man”.  So lets get a couple things straight.

 

Myth #1: Turtles seek out roadways to absorb heat

Although asphalt does retain heat from the sun, there is no scientific evidence that turtles will seek out roadways for the ambient heat.

Unfortunately, many of our roads overlap with turtle habitat.

Turtles cross roads for many reasons. It is more likely, However, that the roadways cross the turtles habitat, and the turtles are doing nothing more than trying to survive. This is what I have found in my observations of Eastern Box Turtles, when they approach new territory and surfaces.

1) Turtles are observant. When faced with a “new” clearing, opening, meadow or roadway, a Box Turtle will almost always stop not far from where they entered and they will take it all in.

2) Turtles are not in a hurry. They have no idea that a roadway, farmed  field or  mowed yard is a dangerous place to be, and remember, he carries his defense on his back.

3) Box Turtles live in territories that are developed as they age and explore.  They can locate where their favorite blueberry bush is, the water hole, or their favorite place to dig in. Similar to how birds fly south, Turtles are equipped with the ability to navigate, perhaps reading the location of the sun, or using the earths magnetic fields. Choosing to sit in a roadway for heat would be a learned behavior, that would most certainly not end well for the turtle.

4) For millions of years, Turtles and their cycle of life has evolved around the sun. As cold blooded reptiles, their functionality is controlled by the length of the day and the power of the sun. Where as Snakes may absorb heat from hard surfaces like rocks and roadways, A turtles shell provides shelter and camouflage and absorbs heat from the suns rays and the ambient temperature around him.

I probably have close to a hundred videos of Box Turtles doing nothing. They sit and observe. If they are not hungry or looking for other turtles they seem to enjoy just soaking up the sun.

Myth #2: Turtles shed their shells to grow larger.

Once damaged, Keratin will not grow back, but the bone will compensate and become denser on the top.

Never.  Turtles are Reptiles not crustaceans. A turtles shell is part of its body. His Back bone and his ribs  fused millions of years ago to create the shell that has allowed him to become the amazing  and unique animal that he is today. Some Scientist believe the shell was formed as the animals took refuge in the earth, where the shell allowed an anti-crush tool against the pressure of the dirt. Others believe the shell formed as a shield against predators. However this shell was formed, it is indeed an incredible adaptation that has allowed turtles a “super power” against extinction.

The top layer of a turtle shell is made from Keratin. This is the same stuff your hair and fingernails are made of. Some water turtles, like Paints and sliders, shed this top layer of keratin yearly as they grow. Under the shed scute is a new layer of keratin. Our Eastern Box Turtles never shed their keratin. On the occasion that they are chewed on by dogs, the keratin is destroyed first and is the only protection for the bone of the shell.

Myth #3: Turtles make good pets.

When my family was young, my son had a friend whose family had taken two baby eastern painted turtles from the wild. Among the family of three young boys, the turtles were handled a lot, and participated in a number of “races”.  They lived in a 10 gallon tank with less then six inches of water to prevent the inevitable escapee. The tank was rarely  cleaned, light and warmth came from the aquarium light designed for fish, and there was a sole corner “perch” for them to dry out on. As the boys grew, they tired of the turtles. A family excursion, and my offer to care for the turtles while they were away, finally allowed these two little eastern painted turtles an opportunity to be turtles. They are now 25 years old, and in the Summer, they become part of my education program, and are currently, happily,  facing another Virginia winter in their fenced pond, being turtles.

Easily purchased as hatchlings, warm weather African Sulcatas quickly outgrow most indoor accommodations.

For us to attempt to duplicate the habitat of any turtle is quite a feat. Turtles live in micro-habitats.  They are attached to the cycles of the earth. Brumation (hibernation for reptiles) is a physical change caused by the seasons, the sun, the length of the days.  We can indeed take the turtle out of its environment and keep it in an artificial one, Sometimes we have to do this for the turtles own health. But should we do this to make them pets?

Building an artificial habitat  for turtles is a costly  process to do correctly and requires as much space as possible. Proper lighting must duplicate the sun, humidity and temperature needs to simulate the native environment,  a variety of food and clean water is a constant.

Turtles are a long term, often difficult pet that can live upward of 50 years.  Many of our native varieties are now protected and state laws make it illegal to remove them from the wild. Some states require permits and proof of custody for native species.

It is more than important that we instill an interest in these amazing reptiles in our youth, and turtles are indeed amazing, fascinating and fun creatures to  visit and interact with. When kept in captivity, they should be given every opportunity to live in an outside native habitat and as close to what mother nature intended. If a pet turtle is in your future, Please Adopt. There are turtle rescues across the country for both native and exotic species. Make sure you do your homework first and learn about what the needs are for your potential new pet.

Myth #4: Eating Turtles can cure what ails you.

Illegal poaching of turtle colonies world wide is decimating populations.

For  generations, the Chinese culture has exploited turtles and their parts as a cure for many maladies, from acne and use  as an aphrodisiac, to treating  night sweats and irritability .  Turtles are sold as charms and used in elixirs, potions, and collected as pets. There is no evidence to support turtles medicinal qualities and no scientific data has been collected to support any claims. Interestingly  enough, according to a new preliminary study, eating sea turtle eggs increases the health risk of heavy metal exposure in local communities in Panama. Although Studies have not been preformed on the health benefits of eating wild caught turtles, many colonies of turtles are struggling with toxic chemicals found in their own habitat and water, causing them health issues of their own.

According to Paul Gibbons, chief operating officer of the Behler Chelonian Center, a turtle conservancy in California, “The Chinese have already driven their own species to near extinction, and now they are raiding ours” With the supply of Chinese turtles diminishing, American varieties have become a hot commodity with  the box turtle, mud turtles and painted turtles becoming among the most valued abroad.

All  turtles and tortoises are threatened,  and  it is estimated that 40 percent of them in the United States are in danger of extinction,   Although loss of habitat and road fatalities have greatly contributed to this number, “collection for the pet trade is a major threat to tortoises and freshwater turtles worldwide” According to the Turtle Conservation Coalition,

 

How can you Help save Turtles?

Making a new friend!

  • Spread the word. Advocate. Tell your friends and family. Turtles will only survive if we make the effort to educate those who have been unfortunate not to have experienced the joy in finding a wild turtle in their back yard.
  • Make your space turtle friendly. If you have a yard, plant native beneficial plants. Ones that provide life, in the way of food and shelter for wildlife. Leave your leaves! If you must rake them, leave them in a corner or under bushes. Leaves are the food for the earth and  provide shelter and food for many small animals and beneficial insects. If you have a pond or water feature, make sure it is turtle friendly with easy ins and outs.
  • Don’t have a yard? Volunteer at, and support your local nature center or wildlife sanctuary. There is always work to be done and you can learn tons of cool stuff, get exercise and help wildlife!
  • Keep your dogs from roaming in turtle habitat. Domestic dogs are the second most common cause of injury to turtles (Can you guess who #1 is?)
  • Help turtles cross the road. When you see a turtle crossing or about to cross the road, timing is crucial, but your safety and the safety of others cannot be understated. When safe, always move a turtle in the direction it is going.
  • Get Involved. The Box Turtle Sanctuary is looking for People like YOU. Do you want to help but don’t know how.. help is needed with fundraisers, computer entry, facility upgrades and fence building. Do you have a special skill you can share? bookkeeping? website maintenance? blogging?  YOU CAN Make a Difference! Please reach out!

Solutions start at home, in our communities and neighborhoods. Do you or your family have an Idea on how to make your community turtle friendly?  Do you need help getting started? Let me know.. I am here to help!

 

Shelley

“And the turtles, of course…all the turtles are free, as turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.” Dr. Suess

 

 

                                                                  

 

Blueberry Newsletter

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Inviting turtles to Lunch
Blueberries: Plant an Extra Bush!

As Omnivores, Box Turtles need more than just some worms and slugs, and have
survived for millions of years eating whatever they came across. As
climates settled and became consistent, plants evolved in different
habitats creating reliable food sources which helped our Eastern Box
turtle become the recognizable turtle that we know today.
One plant that evolved with our Eastern Box Turtles in the wooded
under-story, and was once as wild and native as the turtles themselves
is the Blueberry.

There are a few native varieties of Blueberries that can still be found in
scattered patches of old growth woods, around central Virginia, but the
good news is that all varieties of cultivated Blueberries have been
created from these wild bushes and do well in our slightly acidic soil.
Blueberries are considered to be a super food. They provide Fiber, and
are a good source of vitamin K1, vitamin C and manganese, along with
vitamins E, B6 and copper. Blueberries are rich in antioxidants and
may help lower blood pressure , and delay age related brain decline.
Blueberries also may lower blood sugar and improve insulin sensitivity,
and, adverse effects or allergies are very rare.

With all this going for them it is a wonder that we all don’t have
Blueberries growing in our backyards.Perhaps the long term
relationship with blueberries that our native box turtles have, has helped them develop the long lives and the extreme ability to eat just about anything.

Anyway you look at it, Blueberries are good for us and they are good
for wildlife. Box Turtles are not the only critters that enjoy this sunny
summer fruit. Blueberries are a favorite among song birds, small
rodents, foxes, and deer to name a few.
And Blueberries are easy to grow. Blueberry Growers in the northeast
say “if you can grow pines and cedars, You can grow blueberries”

Evidently, the acidic soil that is enjoyed by these native trees is also
enjoyed by blueberries.Coffee grounds can be occasionally placed
around the base of Blueberry plants and acts as an inexpensive
fertilizer, giving the plants a boost.
If you are into companion planting, Strawberries grow well at the base
of Blueberry bushes, benefiting from the scattered shade of the bush
while protecting its roots and holding in moisture, and, strawberries
are also loved by our native box turtles.
Technically, Blueberry bushes are self pollinating and produce both
male and female flowers, but it is recommended to plant more than
one variety for larger fruit, and don’t forget to add an extra bush or two
for the turtles and the wildlife.
Where can you get Blueberry bushes for your yard and garden?
You can find Blueberry bushes at most plant nurseries, but you can
also come by and visit the Box Turtle Sanctuary at The Ashland
Strawberry Festival on June the 16th on the campus of Randolph
Macon College in Ashland VA.We are looking forward to having an
educational booth with turtles, art and Blueberries! Please come by
and Visit and get a Blueberry bush or two for your wildlife!

 

 

Come visit the Box Turtle Sanctuary at theThe Ashland Strawberry Faire
on June 16, 2018.
We will have an educational display with live turtles, with a special guest..!
Look for us at RMC Welcome Center
We will also have eARTh Art activities for children of all ages,
and don’t forget to stop by to pick up some blueberry bushes

 

Help Support The Box Turtle Sanctuary every time you shop at Kroger!

Did you know you can support The Box Turtle Sanctuary just by shopping at Kroger?

It’s easy when you enroll in Kroger Community Rewards®! Just sign up with your Plus Card,

and select the Box Turtle Sanctuary of Virginia. Once you’re enrolled, you’ll earn rewards every time you shop

and use your Plus Card, and earn fuel points for yourself.
Enroll now for the Kroger Community Rewards Program. And remember…

all participants must re-enroll each year to continue earning rewards for their chosen organization.

kindergartners learn about the Eastern Box Turtle

Educational Programs  are still available for 2018 –

Book Yours Today!
Turtle Parties are great Educational Ohh and Ahhh Moment for Kids of All Ages!
As an Advocate for Turtles, Educational programs are created around their schedule..

Programs are limited!Book Yours Today!

NEW for 2018

Turtles from around the World!
Learn about turtles and their Habitats!

How their shell can help you tell where they live and what they eat!

All Boxed In
Explore a year in the life of An Eastern Box Turtle.
Discover how they survived the days of the dinosaurs and became one of Virginia oldest residents.

Learn how you can help box turtles in your own back yard, or neighborhood, and keep them coming back.

 

 

We are growing and need your help!

With the recent help from University of Richmond  School of Law,

We are ready to expand our board and are looking for community involvement.

If you or someone you know has a love for turtles, our natural world and sharing this knowledge and are interested in making a difference in your
neighborhood, We would love to talk!
Please drop me an e-mail at art4turtles@gmail.com

 

Box Turtle Sanctuary of Central Virginia
PO Box 1292
Ashland, VA 23005
art4turtles@gmail.com
804-347-0870
https://boxturtlesanctuaryofcentralva.com

Newsletter; late winter 2018

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Why Box Turtles are good for your Garden, and How you can get them to be a regular visitor: 

February Preparations


Many Years ago, before the advent of common pesticides, Box Turtles were kept in gardens as a form of pest control. Our native Eastern Box Turtles are omnivorous and have evolved eating organic matter that many other animals could never eat. The Eastern Box Turtle is sometimes even considered the only poisonous turtle in the world due to its ability to eat and process toxic mushrooms that are lethal to most. So if your garden has a good supply of decomposing plants that feed bugs, insects and slugs, you have a turtle buffet!

Blackberryface

 
How to Create a Turtle Hide-a-way with your yard Debris

Mother Winter often leaves our yards littered with offerings from the trees. So far this winter at the sanctuary, we have lost a few small trees and shrubs due to Ice and snow damage, and although it is messy and time consuming to clean up and replant, winter damage is a natural and beneficial process for both the plants and the critters that use them for shelter and food. Cold Weather damage to plants have two basic causes:

  • native plants have gotten weak from insects, disease or to much fast growth.
  • non-native plants are not prepared for our winter.

Although February weather is not conducive to replacing damaged winter plants, it is a good time to clean up the debris, and begin planning native alternatives for wildlife in your yard.

Here’s What you can do Now

 

  • Locate an area along the border, in the tree line, or in a corner of your yard where you can build and leave a pile of your yard debris.
  • Create a pile of sticks and branches and intersperse with leaves, soil, and compost,
  • DO NOT USE soil with additives like fertilizers and weed controllers, and do not place any non-native invasive plants that may root or seed into your pile.

 

Here’s What you can expect
  • Moisture in the leaves will attract insects which will begin decomposition, creating warmth.
  • Sticks and branches will begin to rot as they are consumed by moisture and insects, your pile will begin to shrink.
  • Insect eating birds, reptiles and amphibians will begin to visit your pile, eating insects, and further encouraging decomposition..
  • The shelter and protection from predators and the elements that is created by your pile of debris will keep your new wildlife visitors returning, and create a new hot-spot of wildlife diversity for you to enjoy.

Educational Opportunities for 2018

As an Advocate for Turtles, Educational programs are created around their schedule..

Programs are limited!   Book Yours Today!


Turtle Parties are a
Great Educational
Ohh and Ahhh Moment for Kids of All Ages!Turtleteach c
 
*NEW for 2018
Turtles from around the World!
Meet Sully!
Learn about turtles and their Habitats!
How their shell can help you tell where they live and what they eat!
 

Meet Sully

All Boxed In
Explore a year in the life of An Eastern Box Turtle. Discover how they survived the days of the dinosaurs and became one of Virginia oldest residents. And Learn how you can encourage these ancient reptiles to visit your yard and keep them coming back.

Hibernation or Brumation?
What’s the Difference?

Although many people, including turtle keepers, refer to the winter dormancy period of all animals as hibernation, the truth is they are two quite different metabolic processes

Hibernation is a state of winter dormancy in which animals (usually mammals) do not eat or drink and are able to lower their metabolism to expend a minimal amount of energy.

Brumation is a term that refers to cool-blooded or ectothermic reptiles, and is physiologically different in that when the external temperatures drop, so does the turtles body temperature. This drop in body temperature limits the turtles functionality and causes him to seek shelter until warmed by the sun.

University of Richmond School of Law

Thanks to our Student Attorney from the

University of Richmond School of Law Intellectual Property & Transactional Law Clinic,
We now have official volunteer and release forms and are busy scheduling our first Volunteer day

for Saturday May 26, 2018!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW! AND WATCH FOR MORE INFORMATION!

 

Do you have Questions, suggestions or comments? Do you know someone that loves turtles? Are you interested in learning how you can help? Please share or drop me an e-mail!

 

All Boxed In: RichmondMag.com

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Boxed In

The besieged Eastern box turtle finds a passionate defender in Shelley Whittington

Turtle 6n2a0031 copyturtle200dpi

 

by 
richmondmag.com
 

It happened for the hundredth time on Farrington Road.

Shelley Whittington saw a box turtle doggedly trudging across the asphalt, and she pulled over to help it. As a red Mustang sped toward her, she waved her arms. The car slowed — after smashing the little creature to pieces.

“The turtle!” she cried.

The Mustang driver looked at her. “What turtle?” he said.

Whittington wept all the way home.

That’s the tragedy, she says. We don’t see what we destroy.

Whittington has watched Hanover County grow and grow over the last 35 years: roads widened, trees felled, houses rising. And she has watched the turtles vanish.

“It pains me. When I see trees being destroyed, I feel the pain — it’s the most bizarre thing, but I feel it,” she says. When land is cleared, people don’t think about what happens to the humble animals on the forest floor: “The deer hop away, the bunnies hop away, and the turtles [say] ‘I’m gonna wait!’ ”

The Eastern box turtle, an ancient terrestrial species, has a near-unbreakable connection to its home range, even after a subdivision swallows the woods. Once removed, a turtle may spend the rest of its life searching for that place again — but if left there, it may starve in the sterile environment of fenced lawns, or be unable to find a mate.

One Thanksgiving weekend several years ago, Whittington found a turtle at the entrance of a newly built neighborhood in Hanover. It should have been hibernating, but was underweight and ailing. She brought it home to her farm, where it still lives today.

That was the beginning of her mission. She decided she would become a voice, and eventually a sanctuary, for the turtles of Central Virginia.

With live turtles, puppets, shells, bones and sometimes paint, she began teaching schoolchildren and adults. She tells them how box turtles can live up to a century. How their shells grow smoother and brighter over time, as years of burrowing polish the ridged scutes (bony plates). How the shell is a living and permanent part of a turtle’s body — not something cast aside like a hermit crab’s shell, as one misguided forester once told her.

Education is crucial, she says, because “the only stronghold turtles have is private property.” If people understand turtles’ needs, and the urgency of protecting them, they can create habitats in wooded back yards and farms.

“If you look at a map, from Richmond on up to D.C., there are no preserved areas,” Whittington says. Counties like Henrico and Hanover must act to preserve large tracts of woodland, she says, before growth makes it impossible.

box-turtle_courtesy-shelley-whittington.JPG

An Eastern box turtle (Photo courtesy Shelley Whittington)

Laws protecting turtles in the wild are scant. It’s illegal to sell any native turtle species in Virginia, but they may be given away and kept as pets (up to five per species), or hunted. A team of researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University reported recently that the state’s snapping turtles are being overharvested, as males are butchered for meat and females shipped to breeding operations in China.

Virginia does have strict rules governing the fate of wild turtles who spend time in captivity. Wildlife rehabilitators must release turtles exactly where they were found, even if their habitat has been destroyed, and they can’t release an animal if it has been kept for more than 30 days. They also aren’t supposed to release wild animals that may not be able to thrive on their own. So if a box turtle has lost a limb, or its shell has been so damaged that it can’t fully close, it may be euthanized.

That’s not right, Whittington says. If humans are responsible for injuring these turtles, she says, we should also ensure they have someplace to live. And turtles have astonishing regenerative abilities — when given time and care, they can heal from amputations or fractured shells and survive.

That’s why Whittington is working to create a sanctuary on her farm to care for turtles that cannot survive in the wild, as well as take in pet turtles and tortoises from abusive or inadequate homes.

On her 20-acre farm, she’s constructing two half-acre pens — one for male box turtles, one for females — that are fenced and secured with metal flashing that’s planted deep in the earth. Before being accredited as a sanctuary, she must complete the fencing, as well as a system to identify and keep records on individual turtles. Every box turtle shell has 13 scutes with unique, contrasting patterns. Whittington hopes to develop a shell-identification app that can track turtles by these patterns, both at the sanctuary and in the wild.

6N2A0138Turtle200dpi.JPG

Whittington with Sully, a sulcata tortoise (Photo by Jay Paul)

Whittington already has a few native turtles she uses for her educational programs, as well as some pets that have come from negligent or inadequate homes. One of these is Sully, an enormous sulcata tortoise with studded front legs and inquisitive black eyes. He had been kept in a dry, bare greenhouse after outgrowing his quarters.

Whittington’s ultimate goal, she says, is to be “the Maymont of turtles”: a place where kids can see turtles in a natural habitat and meet them face to face. It’ll take time and money; right now, the nonprofit is largely funded by the fees Whittington receives for her educational programs. But she’s determined to try.

In 250 million years, she says, “they’ve survived everything. Now, will they survive us? That’s the question.”

Want to help? The Box Turtle Sanctuary of Central Virginia is looking for volunteers to assist with the fencing, as well as donations of flashing and other materials, and the development of the shell identification app. Learn more.

Jack’s Story

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Found a turtle e

 

John and his dog,Venus were hiking through a local farm field when they came upon a damaged turtle. John noticed the turtles damaged shell and realized the turtle was in trouble. He set about trying to find someone who could help get the turtle the care that he needed.

“It was a Sunday” John recalls, “and everyplace I called was closed or did not deal with wildlife. I found the Sanctuary through a search on my phone, and they were happy to help this little guy out, and agreed to meet me nearby. They took what little knowledge I knew about where I found him, and said that if his injuries were not life threatening, they hoped to be able to return him to the wild, once he was healed and they had a chance to check out the habitat where he came from.”
“I am so glad that I decided to take that hike with Venus that day, she is the one that pointed him out to me. I also learned a lot about turtles and their struggle for habitat.”

 

https://boxturtlesanctuaryofcentralva.networkforgood.com/
So This is Jack. Like Many Turtles, One Eye Jack was a victim of a motorized vehicle. Being on soft earth likely saved his life. Jack lost an eye, a leg and was left with a badly broken shell. Unable to move, Jack was fortunate that John and his dog came along and got him the help he needed. Jack has healed now, but is unable to contribute to wild populations, and with only one eye, catching live food is difficult.

Box Turtles are aptly named. In the face of danger, they close up tightly, like a box, to wait out the danger. Unfortunately, when motorized vehicles are involved, turtles don’t have a chance. Jack was a lucky one.

Do we release Jack back into the wild, into a habitat that is already compromised, and with diminished mobility and sight? 

When Box turtles are found injured, and taken to a licensed wildlife veterinarian, and then supported by a rehabber, they are required to be returned  to the exact place where they were found. Normally this is a good practice, as box turtles learn their habitat as they grow and will try to return to it if they are removed from it. Unfortunately often times this habitat is already compromised, which likely contributed to the injury.

Wildlife rehabilitators work with Veterinarians to  provides medical care to injured, sick, or orphaned wildlife. Their goal  is to  treat the animal by providing suitable diet and nutrition, and  safe and sanitary shelter, while it recovers, with the goal to return it to its native habitat:

” The goal is not to make pets out of wildlife, to display them around humans, or to release any wildlife with handicaps in which they may not be able to protect themselves, not healthy enough to thrive unable to fit in with other wildlife, or become vulnerable to predators. 

Being a wildlife rehabber is a full time, unpaid, volunteer position, and most  are not in a situation to be able to keep any of the animals that they tend to. Having to euthanize any animal is difficult, and it is often a thin line that must be drawn.  You will find rehabbers releasing turtles that have handicaps (3 legs) or broken and missing pieces of their shells, making them vulnerable to predators. According to Virginia State Laws the only other option is euthanasia.

As the Box Turtle is not a game species in Virginia,  it is silently disappearing through-out the state.  Small and  insignificant, there are few studies done within the commonwealth. Land held by the state is often used for other purposes, including logging, which leaves only private property as a last retreat for these ancient reptiles.

The Box Turtle Sanctuary is making a difference in the lives of turtles like Jack by providing a safe and natural habitat for Jack to live his life.

Jacks new habitat, will provide generations of children a place to explore the wonders of a turtles world. To see and discover how our native Box turtles live, what they eat, how they evolved, and what we can do to help them survive.

But we need your support. Sign up to learn how you can be an advocate for box turtles, volunteer for fence building day, or Donate. Every little bit that goes toward our Shell ID App or our New Fence, helps us move forward to our ultimate goal to provide a turtle educational center for children of all ages.

  • A place to explore the fascinating world of the Eastern Box Turtle
  • To promote and encourage the protection of native habitat
  • To provide safe sanctuary to misplaced and lost box turtles.

Please sign up for BTS of CVA’s Newsletter, and Don’t forget to share this with your turtle loving friends..!

Shelley

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

 

HELP ! I Found A Baby Turtle!

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Baby Turtles ARE Amazing

a-hatchling-group-of-box-turtles

Baby Box Turtles

Finding such a small creature is indeed a stroke of chance and luck, but is it right to think that it needs help and that you should take it home?

Before you decide that this little dinosaur will be better off with you lets consider some facts and the circumstances.

EVERYTHING and I mean everything a turtle does is due to its connection with the earth and the weather in its habitat. Turtles have been surviving this way for more than 200 million years, yes, since the days of dinosaurs, and have evolved to have some amazing “super powers” to get them through the tough times. All turtles come from eggs, and like the Dinosaurs before them, incubation lasts for at least 60 days. In climates where turtles Brumate(Hibernate), it is not uncommon for hatchlings to stay in their underground nest for their first winter and wait for spring rains to awaken them for their first venture to the surface

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Eastern Box Turtle digging a nest on the side of the road

of the earth.

All mother turtles will  prepare a nest by digging a hole with her back legs as deep as she can. Depending on the weather and food supply, some turtles will lay a clutch of eggs two or even three times a summer, and
although mother turtles abandon their nest after it is completed, each type of turtle will carefully find the best location to dig their nest and, to give their hatchlings the best chance of survival.  Most turtles, including water turtles will seek out land that is above flood level to place their nest, allowing temperatures in the nest to stay stable.

Why did you find a Baby Turtle?

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Baby Water Turtle

Fluctuating temperatures are the most common reason that one finds baby turtles during times of the year when you would not expect to find them. Late warm rains in October, or early warm rains in March sometimes trigger the “its spring” response in nestlings causing them to dig to the surface, only to find an inhospitable climate.

Baby Turtles are also often disturbed with construction. Finding baby turtles in newly dug piles of dirt from previously undisturbed wooded areas is becoming more and more common as we push the limits of preserved land, and encroach upon native habitat.

What Kind of Turtle Did You Find?

To the common eye, baby turtles all look alike, but can be easily differentiated by carefully looking at their feet.

Box turtles are land turtles and have small dinosaur like feet. It is very important to note that Box Turtles are NOT water turtles, and although they can swim, they will also drown if unable to get themselves out of the water.

Baby Water turtles like sliders, paints and cooters, have little webbed feet, and surprisingly the nests are often a good distance to the fresh water where their parents live.

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Baby Snapping Turtle

Baby Snappers are also often found away from water and are distinguishable by their prehistoric
looking shell and extremely long tail.

Ocean turtles have flippers, are found on the beach and should NEVER be taken home. They are endangered and protected and It is nearly impossible to raise them in captivity. If you find one, you can help it get to the ocean, if it is injured, contact the local authorities for more directions.

Here are the things that all baby turtles have in common:

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Baby Turtle With Yolk

  • Baby Turtles rely on their dull coloration for camouflage.
  • Baby Turtles have no protection other than hiding.
  • All predators find baby turtles to be a nice snack. It is believed only one in 1,000 will survive to reproductive age.
  • Baby Turtles are prone to dehydration.
  • Baby Turtles hatch with a “Yolk” and will / can survive 7-10 days once hatched with out food.
  • Studies have shown that baby turtles are not born with the homing instinct that their parents have, but acquire it over time. (exception: ocean turtles)

 

What To Do With Your New Find?

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A heron enjoys a baby turtle snack.

This is where it gets tricky.
Due to habitat loss and destruction, it is not uncommon for mother turtles to locate their nests in places that are less then ideal. One recently more common place is along road ways where the earth is well packed, and with a “stream” (ditch) along side. Not an ideal place for baby turtles of any kind, and with the lack of habitat in areas that are well established by humans, baby turtles show up in the most unlikely places.

Baby Turtles are great to visit with, take some photos and show your kids, but unless we can let these turtles remain in the wild, they will soon be extinct in areas that they called home for millions of years.

That being said, to release a baby turtle in suburbia and expect it to survive to adult hood is far-fetched indeed.

Baby Turtles need shelter. They need food and water.  If the seasons are appropriate your little turtle should be taken to an area that will supply him with what he needs to survive and grow and be released. If it is late fall through early spring, you should contact a local wildlife rehabber or a wildlife veterinarian that can give you names of qualified people that can help direct you.

Turtles as pets are a Hugh responsibility. Turtles can live 50-100 years and require a habitat that simulates as close as possible  the habitat that they would have in the wild, including natural sunshine, and a varied diet.

The two baby box turtles that were brought to me this winter with severe dehydration, perished shortly after their arrival. Both of them were initially kept by well meaning  people that wanted to share them with their children. I was contacted once the adults realized the turtles were fading.  If these two little ones had been released / relocated when found, it is possible they would be alive today. IMG_1555

The best way to help turtles is to educate!

I offer educational programs for groups of any age and am currently  accepting dates for Summer 2017. My programs include hands on Adult box turtles, along with water turtles and babies.

I am happy to help our shelled friends in any way I can. If  you have questions, Please leave me a message.

Turtles all the way down!

The Trouble with Turtles; Dinosaurs in a Mechanized World

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I just spent a good part of the last two weeks with dinosuars.

old turtle new turtle

260 million yr old “Pre-Turtle” next to a modern day relative.

No I’m not talking about the scary ones with lots of teeth. I’m talking about our little native dinosaurs that live right here in Central Virginia.

I am talking about “The Amazing Turtles of Virginia”

This year, my educational program, that I share with the local county Parks and Rec summer camp program, included a photo of the newly found fossil that helps explain how digging in, helped turned the turtles ribs into his shell.

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Summer Parks and Rec Program “The Amazing Turtles of Virginia”

You see, 260 million years ago, the only animals that could survive were able to get out of the hot sun by digging into the earth, flying away or finding some other place to hide.

Our Turtles of today, well they evolved from those animals that learned to dig in.. and with the amazing super power of being ectothermic, they were forced to wait out the in-hospitable climate for possibly very long periods of time.

Weather was un-predictable. Finding food and mates nearly impossible. Survival depended upon adaptations. Other super powers began to emerged, and the turtles’ shell became more then a shield offering protection during digging, and became a tool to protect turtles from preditors.

Turtles evolved with the planet they live on and brumation, a period of winter dormancy in reptiles that occurs when temperatures fall below a level at which they can sustain normal metabolic

female box turtle

A female Box turtle needs lots of calcium for egg production and shell growth.

function, became a super power of survival. It is amazing to think just how much turtles depend on the climate of their specific geographical area,  facing each day as the weather permits.

Female turtles began storing sperm for future use, and turtles of today can store it for up to 5 years, producing viable eggs years after being with a male, a super power that almost guaranteed survival. By the time 10 million years passed, turtles became the recognizeable scavengers we know today.

Scavengers?

Well, yes. Although some turtles, mostly isolated populations, evolved to eat purely vegetarian diets, most turtles are Omnivors and will consider eating any organic material they happen upon, including dead things.

ghost crab

A ghost crab will eat baby sea turtles as they head to the ocean after leaving their nest.

Our beautiful Eastern Box Turtle, once very common up and down the eastern seaboard, was considered the crab of the woods. No, they don’t walk sideways, but like crabs who scavage on the beach, Box turtles patrol their home territories always on the look out for a slug, mushroom or an easy meal, bones and all.

Box Turtles, like their name implies, are able to close themselves up totally inside their shells. No, they’e not making calls with their shell-phone or taking shell-fies, They close up their shells in the presence of danger. Not many native preditors can get a tightly closed box turtle shell open, and this techinique has served the Box turtle well for millions of years.

 

Things have changed for turtles world wide.

Some cultures have eaten some species to the brink of extinction, others we have wiped out with invasive species. Most turtles however, are suffering from habitat loss due to human encroachment, pollution, and illegal poaching for both the pet trade and human consumption.

And so it seems even with super powers in place,

dead turtles

In November 2014, authorities in Vietnam confiscated 10 tons of dead sea turtles, the single largest seizure of marine turtles ever.

turtles have met their match in the Human race. The Box turtle that closes inside his shell for on-coming traffic, has a slim chance for long term survival.

I Loved my short two week stint sharing  “The AmazingTurtles of Virginia”  with summer camp participants. I love introducing these children to some turtles that they have never seen, answering  questions, telling them about life cycles and super powers, and helping a couple turtles gain better habitats along the way. It gives me hope that turtles have a future living among us

Turtles have inhabitated this space for millions of years. A committment from the human race is needed to preserve habitat, not only for the turtles but for future generations, who may never have the experience of finding a turtle in their own back yard.

Turtles are truly amazing. There is still so much unknown about them and their life and so much more to learn from them.

turtles all the way downTurtles,  are so deeply intune with the ebb and flow of the earth, that they have become one of the first indicators of the health of our planet. As we pollute the oceans and destroy woodland habitats, we kill turtles daily, while tens of thousands are killed on our roadways yearly. It is time to take action for the health of our planet,  our future, and the future of all the earths inhabitants.

Please do your part… after all… it is:

Turtles all the way down.