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Yesterday evening around 6:30 we were driving to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. This one is in a part of town that's very old and mostly industrial. On the way we passed through an area that used to be completely residential, is now mostly commercial but some people still live in the area. The homes were built in the 1930s so it's all very old.
So were driving along this mostly commercial street when I saw a turtle walking down the sidewalk with determination.

Double-take then PULL OVER!
She's not a wild turtle, she's small, not a baby but smaller than even Chip so 5-7 years old? So many people keep groups of box turtles in their backyards for years on end, I think she was probably born in someone's backyard then got out under the fence.
My first clue that she's not wild is she didn't urinate when I picked her up, she didn't try to hide from me, she held her head & legs out & stared at me.
Oh geeze, it's a very busy main street we were on, one step off that sidewalk & she'd join that flattened squirrel we'd just passed. I put her in the back of the truck & we went to eat dinner.
Got home set her down, no fear of me at all. I handed her food, she took it from me & ate it. So.. now what? Looks like she's going to stay. :-x
We were on Wall Street, if she was a boy her name could be Wally.

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PHRatz

Good for you, she has a pretty face.She has no idea she just moved into a great new home,and with someone that will watch over her.

>>Good for you, she has a pretty face.She has no idea she just moved into a great new home,and with someone that will watch over her.

Thank you, I think she has a pretty face too.
So far so good, she eats like a pig, I don't think she's had a meal lately until I gave her one.
I got some new pics after it rained yesterday, I'll have to post them soon.
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PHRatz

I've caught a few wild ones that don't seem all that scared of me.

Earlier to day I was going into town and spotting one running across the road - yes, running. He was really moving. lol

We stopped to take a look at him, smaller male but was mature, bright red eyes, yellowish head, and some reddish tinting on the sides of the shell and carapace (never have the camera at hand when I need it). He didn't pee or act too frightened, legs and head where out, but he did hiss.

The two I usually find in the yard each summer could care less, they just want to go on their way.

Usually when I find a wild male he's aggressive and behaves the way a fear biter dog behaves...I'm not going to show you my fear, I'll threaten to bite you but my body language says I am afraid of you.
I'm not seeing wild behavior with this girl. Wild ones I've encountered male or female are willing to be fed but you have to throw food at them then run away or they won't take it.
Wild ones always hiss at me, this girl doesn't hiss. She'll take food from my hand, I've never had a wild one take food from my hand like this.
I live on the outskirts of town, I do see wild ones now & then. This girl was in such an old established area near downtown she just doesn't behave the way these wild ones around here do.

I wish I could better explain what it's like living here with all the backyard turtle collectors. There are too many, we run into them in feed stores, pet stores, vet hospitals, human hospitals, restaurants, schools... anywhere.
Generally the conversation with them goes like this:
"We have (fill in the number of turtles) in our backyard, we just love them. We pick them up off the roads (or people bring turtle to them because the neighbors know they keep them in the backyard). They love to eat cat food and lettuce. We find babies every year, they're so cute!"
I'll ask what kind of turtles? "Oh just regular turtles, you know."
Or they call them snapping turtles because :::rolling eyes::: who would've guessed? They have a mouth so they do bite!
To these people they are trinkets and toys for the kids so if one gets out of the fenced backyard, they don't care.
They don't care to find out what species they are, they don't care to find out what they're supposed to eat.. they're just so cute and they'll take cat food, that's what matters to these people.

Yesterday afternoon a man called my DH to say his kids found a silver dollar sized regular turtle. He wanted to know what they eat, I spouted off a list of live foods. The man said "Really? They eat all those bugs? I thought they ate cat food & lettuce."
bah!
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PHRatz

Well don't you have S-U-C-K-E-R written all over you! Just kidding! Good save... it does make you wonder where the 'urban' turtles come from, and how they manage to survive.

She's a beauty!

>>Well don't you have S-U-C-K-E-R written all over you! Just kidding! Good save... it does make you wonder where the 'urban' turtles come from, and how they manage to survive.
>>
>>She's a beauty!

It's kind of like sucker lol but actually it's because Big Daddy got me that P-E-N built last year & I have ALL KINDS of room for more hee hee.

I'll tell ya what was in my mind when I picked her up. I knew she was going to end up roadkill if I left her there on that busy street. I couldn't leave her there.
I thought what if I let her go in the country? Weeeelllll I could but there's that study we've talked about on this board before swimming in the back of my mind. What IF she can't survive on her own in strange surroundings? She doesn't know where the food & water is in the middle of nowhere.
Then she took food directly from my hand & that was it. I came in the house & told DH "it's just as I suspected, she's either been tossed out by someone on purpose or escaped from a backyard."
She stays!
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PHRatz