Reptile & Amphibian Forums

THis is way to early but today we saw a dirt ball slowwwlllyy walking to the pond. It was 56 out with the low of 29 the night before. Whistle pig came from CORHS and now in the southeast she is up a month to early. Last year it was early April. Now inside until weather get better. Thoughts on reasons she would get up. Her eyes are clear and no nasal discharge.

I see this on occation with my Box turtles as well. Especially if we have a few warm days during late winter. Usually what I do is simply pick them up and manually put them backin there hole and cover them up. I also had a few of my boxies out today however I am in Dallas and the temps were into the 70 today with lows at night into the hi 40s aand low 50s

Allen

"a dirtball walking slowly", lol, it does look like a ball of dirt with a head.
My guess is she was thirsty and probably would have burrowed back down after drinking? maybe? Have you have had rain lately, maybe its kinda dry?
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Jeff Benfer
1.0 cinnamon pastel Python regius
1.1 pastel Python regius
1.1 mojave Python regius
0.3 normal Python regius
1.3 Terrapene carolina thriunguis
2.3 Terrapene carolina carolina
4.1 Kinosternon baurii
1.1 Malaclemys terrapin terrapin
2.2 double het albino and anerythristicThamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.0 anerythristic Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
2.3 Iowa snow Thamnophis radix
0.2 het Christmas albino Thamnophis radix
1.1 double het cherry erythristic, albino Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.1 melanistic Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
2.0 66% het snow Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.2 flame Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.1 triple heterozygous for amelanistic,carmel, and stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 anerythristic motley Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 butter p.h. stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 carmel stripe p.h. amel Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 amelanistic p.h. carmel,stripe Pantherophis guttatus

Peepers, I always see some early activity in the Carolinas at this time of the year. It's pretty normal, especially with a turtle that isn't from the area. They are usually good at digging back in to avoid frost, but there's no real harm in bringing the animal indoors until it gets milder.

Thank you for the reply's, I left her out for a while and she just roamed around until dark never getting near her den. With 6000 sq ft to roam I brought her in thinking she may not get back. She is up and seems ready to stay up and with temps in the 70's for the next couple of days she will stay in until normal temps arrive next month for good.
With two more from CHORS out there I am on watch to see if anyone else comes up to play.

A strange side note is she is 38grams heavier than in the fall a week before she went under. Healthy water weight I guess.

Thanks Peeps

What is CHORS?

I have been keeping detailed records for several years and they typically do gain weight and shell length over the winter during their growing years, which was a bit of a surprise initially for me too, but then not so much when the are full grown, then they have been within a couple percentage plus or minus, which is probably more just more a measure of hydration at the time of weigh in because both weights are empty gut.
Intuitively you would think that sense their metabolism is nearly at a standstill, so would growth, but it's not.
Initially one of my theories was that they must be "snacking" on bugs and worms underground at the front end and back end of brumation when temps were moderating, because for the last several years I brumated in soil from outdoor pens, but then I realized that before I had burmated in peat (bug and worm free) and the growth data was the same.
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Jeff Benfer
1.0 cinnamon pastel Python regius
1.1 pastel Python regius
1.1 mojave Python regius
0.3 normal Python regius
1.3 Terrapene carolina thriunguis
2.3 Terrapene carolina carolina
4.1 Kinosternon baurii
1.1 Malaclemys terrapin terrapin
2.2 double het albino and anerythristicThamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.0 anerythristic Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
2.3 Iowa snow Thamnophis radix
0.2 het Christmas albino Thamnophis radix
1.1 double het cherry erythristic, albino Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.1 melanistic Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
2.0 66% het snow Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.2 flame Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis
1.1 triple heterozygous for amelanistic,carmel, and stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 anerythristic motley Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 butter p.h. stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 carmel stripe p.h. amel Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 amelanistic p.h. carmel,stripe Pantherophis guttatus

We just found the second one up Sarah and she also came from corhs. May after living in Colorado for years they wake after temps get up to lower temps in the southeast.

It was 77 today so I got curious if we would see any one.

You can Goolge corhs and get the colorado reptile rescue.
They adopt out reptiles people bring to them. We had a extra pen so I made it for westerns and they love it. It is 2200 square feet so they have plenty of room to roam.

>>THis is way to early but today we saw a dirt ball slowwwlllyy walking to the pond. It was 56 out with the low of 29 the night before. Whistle pig came from CORHS and now in the southeast she is up a month to early. Last year it was early April. Now inside until weather get better. Thoughts on reasons she would get up. Her eyes are clear and no nasal discharge.
>>

Must have needed a drink or a bath You are wise to bring him in for a time. Turtle do get confused and sometime are too slow to get back to their burrows before the cold set in again and then they are stuck above ground and can freeze. They may not die from it, but I have heard of them going blind as their eyes freeze.
Tess