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I haven't meant to stay away from the board but I just haven't had time to get back on here. Anyway.......reading all the posts about re-locating a boxie to a different area from where it was found I conclude that it shouldn't have been taken out of my daughter's backyard and away from the dog which was playing with it. (no, I'm just kidding and don't mean it to be sick!)

Anyway......since there have been no flyers about a lost turtle that my daughter has seen, we don't know where to put the turtle out of harms way. You see, I don't know if you didn't understand the post I did about this turtle or not, but.....there is no area around my daughter that would be safe to put the turtle presently! The whole area is in a building frenzy right now. There are houses everywhere. The area is alive with construction as well as a freeway loop that is nearing completion. Basically.....the whole area is literally busy roadways. And I do mean busy!

I thought maybe putting it out in the desert where I have seen some cattle (because I have read that boxies eat dung beetles) that perhaps it would be ok. Now I don't know! Presently he is in my backyard, but not with my other turtles. He is definitely not the turtle that belonged to my group. He appears to be much more mature than they are plus all of my turtles look alike.

So........what to do???? I guess I could just continue to keep him in the yard, though I really don't need another turtle. Perhaps I will hear of someone who would like to have a turtle in their enclosed backyard.

I'm still open to suggestions! Take care! .....9boxies

>>I haven't meant to stay away from the board but I just haven't had time to get back on here. Anyway.......reading all the posts about re-locating a boxie to a different area from where it was found I conclude that it shouldn't have been taken out of my daughter's backyard and away from the dog which was playing with it. (no, I'm just kidding and don't mean it to be sick!)

LOL
That's how I felt about Hobo, our wild male. Our property has been a part of his territory for years, he's come here for years so that we would feed him. I had no intentions of keeping him, year after year I've fed him, given him water then sent him on his way..or let him be on his way when he wanted to go.
Then at the end of May last year I had gotten to know the next door neighbors better than I did when my girl was lost. They really are good people, they were just sick about it when they found out that the turtle they'd put in my yard was mine & I was frantic over her.
It was those people who took Hobo out of a dog's mouth & kept him until I got home. They were hoping this was the missing one but it was Hobo & when I found out he'd come so close to being killed... as I looked around seeing so many new houses being built all around us, I thought that's it. If I don't take him, I'll never see him alive again.
I looked at my DH, he knew what what I thought & nodded in agreement so Hobo is here. He does not seem to be at all unhappy either.
With this one from your daughter's yard, with no place for him to go in her neighborhood, I vote that you keep him for now. Keep him yourself forever or find a good home for him but if he can't be let go where he came from, he's better off with you.
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PHRatz

I felt guilty about taking Hobo but I would've felt worse if I had allowed him to go free once again & then he was killed by dogs. It was just 5 months later when I took in Chip who has such devastating injuries caused by dogs. When I think that this nearly happened to Hobo too, I just can't stand the thought of that.

Hobo is awake but he's not out every single day just yet. Since he's come out of hibernation I sometimes won't see him for 2-3 days at a time.
One day this week after I hadn't seen him in 2-3 days I spotted him walking away from the front door, I opened it & said Hobo? He stopped walking, he turned his head and looked at me.
Then I said Hobo are you hungry? I went to get food for him & when I came back he was walking toward the door. I thought geeze I can't get over how intelligent they are!!!
I'm sure he'd like to be roaming around all his old haunts but I don't think we've made him miserable by cutting down his regular territory to a smaller section.
After he ate he turned around & went back to going whereever it was he was headed for in the first place.
Awesome creatures!
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PHRatz

It is heart wrenching to see how some areas that were once prime box turtle habitat become so built up that it is impossible for turtles to live there without being killed by cars, lawn mowers or dogs. When I lived in Katy, TX that is just what happened. Within a few years, where once both the Three Toed and Ornate lived, there are houses, roads, even an eight lane highway! Unlike the naturalists we see on TV who must allow the baby sea turtles to wander the wrong way and head for the city lights, we do not have to do that! Keep the turtle, or find him a new home. I am no believer in sending any animal to a sure death- and urban sprawl is death to a box turtle. Maybe not to frogs and anoles (which Katy, TX still has plenty of) but to the wandering box turtles it is.
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Tess
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