Turtles in My Hood
By May Lattanzio
8 June 2008
Every spring and throughout the summer, turtles can be seen meandering across local roads, and probably on rural roadsides throughout the USA. Here, most of them are Red or Yellow Bellies, occasionally snapping turtles and soft shells, and the seldom seen terrestrials, like the Florida box turtle. Gopher tortoises are becoming increasingly rare, because of habitat destruction. The practice of killing softshells, snapping turtles and gopher tortoises still lingers in the south.
Unfortunately, all of them are prime targets for people who seem to enjoy running them over. It is a hideous, traumatic experience for us turtle rescuers, to see a motorist aim and hit one. The impact is accompanied by what I can only describe as a high powered gunshot. What is left in the road is gruesome and bloody, the result of a violent and cruel act.
It is suggested that if you find a turtle crossing a road, pick it up and move it in the direction it was going. Because our roads are so busy now, I usually remove them to Econfina Creek or Bear Creek. It is a safe haven for them. If it is a box turtle, it is taken into the woods. There are so few gopher tortoises left, I haven't seen one in years, though one did live on the circle for a while. I have removed one or two to the grassland habitat they need but that was years ago. There is almost no grassland left.
I live one narrow street and one lot away from the water. A few days of every week throughout the warm spring and summer, I see female turtles (yellow and red bellies) come up in the morning to scout out nest sites in the sand. The neighborhood dogs (and mine, too) always let me know they are about. They dig holes well above the flood line, up near the road, lay their eggs, bury them and return to the creek. A few weeks later, holes appear, strewn with dried egg shells.
Until two weeks ago, the process of egg laying was a mystery to me. Then a female came up and dug a hole in front of my mailbox to lay her eggs, fortunately just out of the way of the mail lady's wheels. The images of Mother and her labors are what makes the story. I caught her in the act of egg laying.
It had rained and the sand was moist. The eggs are soft and pliable. An egg is laid; the back feet scoop dirt and tamp sand over them. Another egg is laid and again the process is repeated, but she tests the placement of each egg with a hind foot and moves them around if necessary. When she is finished, she scoops more sand from the mound she's made behind her, and shovels it in with her feet. Then she uses her back feet and bent knees to cover and tamp the sand down firmly. It looks like a little dance. When it feels right, she trudges away.
I was a rescuer of desert tortoises in California. You file an application with Fish and Wildlife, and if you are approved, they send you small, numbered "license plates" made of number mylar stickers. They are placed under the flare of the carapace over the back right leg, the number and description of the tortoise sent back to the state. Here in Florida, no such service is offered for any turtle or tortoise. Florida is a state of unrestricted building and habitat loss is common.
Here I have shown you the story of Mother Yellowbelly and her (hopefully) future offspring. A clutch of six to ten eggs is normal, and they hatch in two to three months. If they are laid late in the fall, they will overwinter in the nest until warm weather. I'll be watching for the quarter size hatchlings who will definitely need help crossing the road to get to the water. By the way, I gave Mother a "lift" literally, back to the canal. She was happy to get home. Laying eggs is an exhausting experience.
I have also added a view of a different mother's back foot. They are perfectly constructed for doing what they must – swimming, digging and scooping sand.
When you find a turtle on the road, please help it across in the direction it has chosen, and put it as far away from the road as you can.
And for your information, the top shell is called a carapace; the bottom, the plastron. Males have a convex plastron so they can mount the female, who has a flat plastron.
In gopher tortoises, you can estimate the age by the "rings" in each segment or scute, much like a tree.
Turtles and tortoises have amazing recuperative powers.
I once rescued what I thought was a bloody, fatally injured mass of box turtle, still alive, resulting from a vehicular impact. I could see its organs hanging from the spine. I thought surely it would be euthanized immediately. I couldn't do it. A year later, in my vet's office, I was directed to the aviary where my box turtle was living. This one simply was allowed to regrow its shell. Shells can also be reconstructed.
Recently I took a turtle from the road who looked very familiar to me. It had scars of injuries on its carapace that were vaguely recognizable. Had I seen it before?
I have begun a digital image file on the ones I rescue for comparison. I believe the markings on the plastrons are unique, like fingerprints. Scars from old injuries will be helpful as well.
Allen Salzberg is a turtle expert and has an excellent list to which you may subscribe, on the net. Google him up or use this link.
