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I took Shell E outside yesterday at around 5:30 PM & watched her because Hobo the male was out & about.
I wanted to see if he would harass her so I sat on the porch watching. Shell E was chasing him away, SHE was harassing HIM LOL so I wasn't going to be too worried about him wanting to mate with her when all of a sudden I saw a roadrunner zero in on them & start running.
I said something loudly so the roadrunner would hear me & be afraid but it wasn't!! That bird did not care at all about a human being close to it.
The dog saw the bird & chased it away but that meant poor Shell E had to go inside again.
I've never seen a roadrunner go after an adult turtle before & that really surprised me. I don't think a roadrunner could hurt a normal adult box turtle but because Shell E can't close up all the way & can't protect herself from a predator, she had to come inside. I had things to do & could't sit there for an hour watching her.
I know the roadrunners, just because the dog chased it off doesn't mean it won't be back in 20 minutes.
The whole episode was so weird though because my voice, me being there did not scare off the predator & that's a first for me.
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PHRatz

Wow...
I didn't know Roadrunners would go after an adult boxie either! Guess you learn something new everyday! We don't have 'runners' here in 'Bama, but we do have hawks which unfortunatly are fond of turtles. Believe it or not, my neighbor has 'free range' chickens that use to come into my yard and harass my turtles. I had to 'upgrade' my enclosures and make them chicken proof... unbelievable! My large snappers managed to snag a few of the chickens that were too nosey for their own good, however I believe that the neighbors kids might have had a hand in 'helping' the birds into the snappers home.

I've never seen a roadrunner in person...sure would like to, but as long as it stays away from my turtles! ~Christy~

Well since the dog chased the roadrunner away I didn't get the chance to find out if the roadrunner would have gone on it's way once it got up close & found out that the turtles were turtles.

The roadrunners do hunt all around us but they tend to attack & eat more sparrows & dove than any other animals we see. The dove sleep on the ground during the day, they're easy pickings for the roadrunners.
Chickens! I hadn't thought about chickens attacking turtles, we don't have any chickens nearby.
Ya know.. kids like to see the turtles eat so I don't doubt that they helped some of the chickens into the snapper enclosure. lol

As for hawks we see nighthawks at dusk but they're pretty small & fly around catching bugs in the air. We also see sharpshinned hawks hunt around us but they usually show up in winter when there aren't any reptiles out so I don't worry about them.
The roadrunners are the ones to watch out for but they are neat to look at. One of these days I'll get a good photo of one, I've tried for years but so far no luck. I need a better zoom lol. Until we moved here I had NO idea that they prey on smaller birds but they do. They're used to finding food in my yard so I have no idea if that one really would have attacked one of the turtles.
I didn't want to take any chances though...
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PHRatz

Do you a smal fenced in area for her, so she can be left outsise unattended?

>>Do you a smal fenced in area for her, so she can be left outsise unattended?

That's my problem I used to but I don't now. I will have a pen for her but it's still only in the planning stages.
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PHRatz