Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted the other day that I found "Lemonhead" a pretty yellowy box turtle , well today as I was walking along, (near the same vacinity) I found yet ANOTHER box turtle just sitting there along the curbing in some weeds.

I thought maybe someone was going to pop out and tell me I was on Candid Camera, and they were putting more turtles out everytime they saw me, LMAO I'm afraid to go out tomorrow, hahahahhahaa.

Anyway this is MANGO, just awesome, he has an orange head and face.

Mango , eastern box turtle

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PHEve / Eve

Lemonhead seems to be saying "Hey Ya in there" Mango is shy and won't come out of his shell,

Lemonhead and Mango , new turtle pals

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PHEve / Eve

Where do you live? Do you live where the range of the eastern box turtle occur. I wouldn't keep them if I were you. Box turtles population have dropped dramatically throughout their range due to the pet trade. IT is one of the most exploded animals in the pet trade. Only buy captive box turtles and don't support the people who sells wild collected animals.

Hi, yes I live along the eastern coast and I have read all the data about the eastern boxes. It's sad! Here they get squished by cars, smashed by large riding lawn mowers all the time. I was not aware of the Pet industry selling them until recently when I was reading up.

I will see that no harm comes to them, as one has a bloody back foot and kind of dented in place on her face from where ever she was. And I will NOT SELL THEM. ALSO I have just recently added some info on my site on their page of the problems they are hving because of MAN, as we just talked about
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PHEve / Eve

There is SOME data that suggests that Eastern Box turtles cannot survive if relocated. That would mean that if their habitats are destroyed, they can't be captured and moved to another. Their only chance, if this is proven to be the case, is captivity. Just to be fair, there are also those who argue that this theory is not true or proven.

Eve isn't going out to the woods collecting these turtles in large numbers. She found both in or near the road, right? If they are the least bit injured or in harms way, then she is right to take them in, IMO.

Okay I must speak as Eve the member, and not as moderator here, lol.

I am so fed up, and disappointed with animal control/ wildlife/ OUR COUNTRY, with being told things are on the endangered list OR THREATENED list, and being told NOT to keep or help animals if you find them, that have been mentioned on those lists. THEY are the ones who have mostly DETROYED their habitats because of money/ GREED , building , and building, things we don't need, and taking the land they live on , FORCING these animals to be hit by cars and killed each day, ( I see them here squished in the highways, birds, squirrels, ground hogs, skunks, bunnies .. on and on rotting in the darn street, with large turkey vultures picking at them. They have no where to go anymore. They are SMASHED by large construction equipment, POISONED by chemicals they put on EVERYTHING, and thats just a few things. Then they have the gall to tell people who really care, that DO have compassion for these beasts, don't keep them they are threated.....

I'm NOT THREATNING THEM, THEY ARE ! Just like whats happening with people and their money, we are paying to bail out MILLIONARES for their LACK of responsiblity and greed and they are still livign high of the hog, while the good people are losing their homes. How does this compare to threatened animals,,, well TOTAL LACK OF RESONSIBILITY AND COMPASSION for creatures that have been put in our care to have stewartship over. But tearing everything/ their habitats down to make money was more important. Now they have the nerve to say don't keep the animal/ Turtle, .. I say those turtles have more of a chance in my back yard in a big pool of nice peat/sphagnum moss, with clean fresh water for soaking each day, fresh food , plants and sun all day , and carried in to an indoor area at bedtime than they have in our great outdoors these days.

One more example of these stupid and sometimes heartless laws, after a storm many years ago I found an infant squirrel, eyes not even open yet, laying cold , wet, and starvign to death. I brought him in, warmed him, fed him all through the day with formula in a bottle and loved him. He only knew me as a mom and got very attached. When I consulted with wildlife and/laws they told me the baby I had had raised for months who was now as tame as a bunny, must be put to death. To tame for outdoors and not allowed to keep them. KILL HIM,,,,, well isn't that nice.

Hey theres alot of people who do wonderful things for animals and thank GOD we have grest organizations, we contribute to a large one each year to save endangered species,,,, But if I can do my part in life and help a creature that is misplaced/hurt and give them a home, (only if I can give them what they need) I most certainly WILL ... everytime, I do not feel this is wrong.. I do however find the some of the higher ups doing the preaching... WRONG... that are destroying habitats for Greedy purposes.

Paradon, I agree with you as far as your caring, and Donna you also know where I'm coming from on this
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Eve
Suncharmers

I applaud you Eve for all that you have done for the critters that you take care of, whether purchased or rescued. I also agree that the Wildlife departments would rather chose to destroy those animals that we find rather than rehabbing and possibly releasing. We are supposedly the most intelligent yet we are the single most destructive and irresponsible force on the planet. So for all of us that help out the little critters in our neighbourhoods give yourself a pat on the back for all the help we are giving to those that can't defend themselves from the rampant greed and ignorance that plagues Western Soceity.

You said it so elequently my friend When the animals are gone, so will we be gone SAD !
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PHEve / Eve

I completely agree with your assessment and back up everything you say here. You have expressed some very valid points that I have echoed on more then one occasion to our clandestine government agent monkeys over and over again. The first thing that comes into my mind here is the Eastern Indigo snake in Florida and the Gila monster in Arizona. These are both species that I have the privilege of keeping and working with. In Florida the urban sprawl and corporations like Walmart get permits after they pay biologists a fee for a fake environmental impact study, to bulldoze over every square inch of undeveloped piece of good habitat left because someone I guess needs a Walmart on every corner. Meanwhile it is illegal to possess an Indigo or remove it from the bulldozed land because that's a felony wildlife violation. Animals can recover from a lot of different factors in there ecosystems but if they have no ecosystem at all to come back to they will disappear forever. They same can be said about protecting Gila monster in Arizona, unless your contracting a new housing development for new tract homes in Tucson ! How would you feel if somebody came into your neighborhood one morning and bulldozed your house away while you were sleeping in it?? It would kind of suck wouldn't it. There are better ways to manage our wildlife but unfortunately the government officials are not really interested in what we have to say because we are just average people not backed by any money or power. Here is an idea....instead of these out of touch Hollywood types celebrities spending all there time and money saving people, plants, trees, and animals everywhere else all over the world why don't they start here in America first. What are we not worth saving? I could go on and on here but back to the original point that Eve was trying to make here is a very valid one that we shouldn't take to lightly. Thanks for your time.

Steve Bozsik
www.hardcoreherps.com

I hear you!!--and couldn't agree with you more. I have a friend who does work for the county in which he lives in Nevada, walking the desert in the intended areas for installation of future power lines and assessing the environmental impact on the indigenous animals. One of these animals is the Desert Tortoise. He was walking the desert and came accross a male tortoise who has been turned over and bitten by a male rival. The animal had become so upset, it wet itself because of its unsuccessful efforts to turn itself over. It was in the full sun and was weak and burning hot. He righted it, gave it some water, and then put it in the shade of a bush. About half a mile down the line, he ran into some Bureau of Land Management guys. He told them about the tortoise, and they gave him a ration of "you know what" for touching it, and threatened to turn him in to the authorities. Can you believe it? With authorities like that, we're all end up jailbirds!! (And proud of it!!!)