Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was walking around a swamp place in new hampshire today and saw 3 turtles sitting at the bottom. i flipped one over with a stick and bubbles came out but it did not respond or swim away. is it still hibernating? the belly or area around the belly seemed to have some red on it. painted? spotted maybe?

thanks

I'm more concerned with the state of these turtles than what type they are. It doesn't sound like they're in good shape. Fortunately, I've seen turtles emerging from hibernation who have appeared dead, especially the cold tolerant species that live in NH. I found a large communal hibernaculum of Wood turtles in PA sometime around Mother's Day about 5 years ago. The turtles were so cold they could hardly move, but they were all sunning on the riverbank...trying to warm up. The aquatic turtles that you have in NH include Snapping, Painted, Wood, Blandings, Spotted, Spiny softshell, and Musk turtles. For pictures, go to Yahoo or Google search, click on images or pictures, and type in ______ turtle. I've seen Painted, Wood, and Spotted turtles with red looking plastrons. Also, some bog water can make yellow or cream look reddish. Your major ID is going to depend on the carapace, or top shell. Let us know what you think. Since you found three, I'm assuming that they are native and not introduced.

i know what all the species around here look like, but i never actually got them outa the water. it look like rocks that were the shape of turtles just laying on the bottom. but there it was murky sorta and the shells had silt or whatever over the shells so i couldnt see the shell color. one was on top of another one sitting at the bottom of a small channel in about 3 feet of water. i poked it with a stick and i saw it flip over and thats when i saw the red. ill prob go back there tomoro, but should i not disturb them or take them outa the water? wil that mess up their hibernation or whatever? if not then ill probly walk in that damn river and pick them up to see what they are.

It's probably best not to bother them. Having said that, I'd be fibbing if I said that I wouldn't pick them up to check them out. I'd be curious too. If you go back, shoot a few pictures for us to see. I'm guessing that they're Wood turtles...just a guess. In my experience, wherever Wood turtles occur in any abundance, they communally hibernate. The only other Northeast US turtle that I've heard of doing this naturally is the Bog turtle. When they warm up, they mate and go seperate ways. Also, I could swear that the female Wood turtles will sit in shallow water and whistle, attracting the males. Keep in mind, I'm dealing with a ridiculously small sample size of turtles...just a few populations from my favorite trout streams in PA. At least let us know how they look.

so i didnt see any of the turtles from yesterday, but i did catch a monster snapping turtle. i dont know how to upload images, but its on my myspace at this link if any of u have that.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=18427454&imageID=615263775&Mytoken=5DA23C48-114A-1437-301799E323B38AA16891646

Wow, that's a great picture! Please keep me posted about those others if you run into any more. I'm really curious. Thanks.

went back today and found out that they were in fact wood turtles. arnt they rare in new hampshire?

YES!...and protected. Great find. I hope you snapped some pics before letting them go. You may just want to drop a note to your Wildlife Resources Commission or the nearest nature museum. They always like to hear where populations of "rare" turtles are. Then, they can go out and pester them in the name of science