It's turtle time again!

[Blackfeet]

Every year as the ground warms a little bit these wee ones come out and head for the water from the sand pit at the edge of my employers parking lot. I have raised a couple from last year but this one got a ride to a quiet pond after he posed for me.

[Blackfeet]

The nearest water is 1/3 mile from the nesting site

[crazell]

Blackfeet it's a little thing. 1/3 mile is a long way, good thing you gave it ride.. What type is it?

[Blackfeet]

Eastern painted turtle. We usually have  6 - 10 of them each year that we find. You are allowed to keep up to five of them but folks have got to understand that this is a long term commitment as they commonly live over twenty years and will not survive if domesticated and then returned to natural environment, least that is what I have read.

Correction: The state law has changed. You can now only keep two Painted Turtles

[Blackfeet]

It was a banner day yesterday, we found seven of the little ones, two even smaller than this one.

[Bulldog lady]

Showing my antiquity now , are these the same little ones you used to by in the 5 and dime for a few pennies, take home , feed raw hamburger to, till their pen got to stinking , they died or you got bored with them?   think they also carried diseases or maybe that was something else.  been a day or so since even thought about them

[Blackfeet]

Funny that you mention that because A couple of us (elders) were commenting on that this morning. I am not sure if this is the same breed of turtle but the idea and results are still the same. We have a bunch of folks that want to take these home cause they are so cute but there are disease concerns with handling them, primarily Salmonella.

You are correct in that most of them would go home and the keeper would either flush them or release them the first time they see how dirty the tank can become if you feed them the wrong things. The other aspect is that if properly cared for, these turtles will live for decades, long after they are 'cute'.
In a nice tank setup they are a joy to keep

[windwalker_au]

Funny that you mention that because A couple of us (elders) were commenting on that this morning. I am not sure if this is the same breed of turtle but the idea and results are still the same. We have a bunch of folks that want to take these home cause they are so cute but there are disease concerns with handling them, primarily Salmonella.

You are correct in that most of them would go home and the keeper would either flush them or release them the first time they see how dirty the tank can become if you feed them the wrong things. The other aspect is that if properly cared for, these turtles will live for decades, long after they are 'cute'.
In a nice tank setup they are a joy to keep

Blackfeet are they the same as terrapin turtles?
Bernie

[Blackfeet]

I am not sure but I think that the terrapins are a land turtle, these guys are aquatic. By the way, these guys grow pretty quickly over the first year. I have two from last year that are about 3 " in diameter already, but this slows down over a short time.

[crazell]

Blackfeet, how big are they now?? Do you see them around anymore?

[Blackfeet]

I have a couple from last year that are about 4" . I went to the sandpit where the females lay their eggs and found piled of what looked like broken white balloons with little dug holes nearby. I had been seeing a lot of adult turtles the week before. Apparently raccoons or maybe skunks had a great meal of some of the eggs that were laid. The young hatch in the fall and bury themselves for the winter and come out in the spring to head for the water.