Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hopefully I'll have their full story typed and sent to me to post soon.

The basics... my folks found a large (for a male in their area) old eastern painted male on the road in northeastern pennsylvania. His shell had an old injury where a section of it was only attached to soft tissue, making it very vulnerable. It looked like it had been hit by a lawnmower, according to my dad. It was also missing it's rear left leg (old injury).

I gave my dad some basic instructions and he repaired the shell with some epoxy so the section would be as sturdy (actually sturdier) than the rest, and protect him from predators better.

The turtle did great and got released on my parents' property (100 acres with an acre pond, bogs, swamp, streams, and no hunting in the middle of nowhere northeastern pennsylvania).

The hope to see it again some day on the property and he will be easy to recognize now.

if you save one life you save the world entire...

it's also gratifying that we have now achieved a feedback loop with turtle interest in our family.

My dad was the one who stopped the car and ran to pick up a box turtle which he put in my lap when I was six years old. I was hooked ever since. Now that I've spent well over two decades with turtles I get my parents interested in it. They are 600 miles away and taking care of turtles when they see them and always asking for advice or help id-ing a species.