Happy Saturday! We hope you are able to sleep in this weekend, like Plum here. Plum is an adult female Blanding's turtle in care. She is staying with us over the winter due to the severity of her injuries and not being ready before our release cut off for the year (Sept 1st). But she is healing well, eats a ton, and will be ready as ever to return home in Spring.
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The featured turtle is Orchid, a spotted turtle we released back to her home wetlands this season. Orchid was admitted after being hit by a car on the way to lay her eggs. She had 4 little eggs inside her, and was the smallest spotted turtle we’ve ever admitted who was gravid (with eggs)! We’re so grateful she healed up well, laid her eggs and was ready to return home in August!
Spotted turtles utilize a variety of wetlands and therefore need large, connected wetland complexes to thrive. Thankfully Orchid is from an area with a thriving spotted turtle population and with conserved land! The jackpot! Though as with many places throughout New Hampshire, a road bisects the wetlands on either side, leading to road mortalities. Spotted turtles are a “listed” species by NH Fish and Game in the S2 imperiled category, and need all the help they can get.
NH Fish and Game recently completed a guidance document on safe wetland road crossings for Blanding’s turtles, which also provides safe passage to spotted turtles and many of other wildlife species: https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt746/files/inline-documents/sonh/10nov2023-guidance-for-wetland-road-crossings-for-blandings-turtles.pdf. Turtles are a fantastic “umbrella species” since protecting their habitat and allowing for safe passage for turtles will protect all types of wildlife. Turtles don’t have the luxury of moving habitats quickly and adapting when development threatens them, the way some mammals and birds can, so they are a great advocate for all wildlife. If development is proposed in your town in a critical wetlands habitat, you can recommend this guidance document be used to build a culvert that wildlife can actually use, protecting all sorts of wildlife. 💚🐢
The babies have started hatching from the incubator! 💚 These babies are from Sherlina, one of the female painted turtles who was admitted during the nesting season this year, who we shared a recent video of her release.
The majority of rehab cases we deal with are female turtles getting hit by cars on their way to lay their eggs during nesting season (May-July). Every female has to have radiographs during their rehab journey to determine the amount of eggs (if any) she has, so we can make sure she lays each of them. Egg retention is fatal, and with trauma there’s always the potential for obstructions or injuries that could prohibit her from laying, so it is really important they lay all their eggs before release.
Consequently, we will incubate any eggs they lay during their time here. In addition, sometimes we even ask for deceased turtles to be transported as well, because if the turtle was gravid, there’s a window of time in which we can at least extract the eggs and make a small silver lining out of a terrible situation - if you remember Macchiato from last season, she was one hatchling that we incubated successfully where that was the situation. We are so thankful every time one of these little hatchlings pips from their shell, and we always return them back home to a safe area in the wetland complex where mom came from.
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Good afternoon, Turtle Lovers! 🐢
Today, Lobelia had the pleasure of returning to his home after a relatively short stay at the rehab. He experienced some scraping on his plastron and carapace along with a break to his bridge due to a car strike, but mended fairly quickly and was eager to get back home.
Dallas and Raina brought him to a beautiful spot near where he was found on SELT - Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire property. We are thankful to have SELT properties in New Hampshire to keep our state wild for the species we love and protect.
Thanks for viewing, and have a great weekend! 💚🐢
Good evening, Turtle Lovers 🐢
I’m coming to you with a late night #tbt (but it’s never too late for good turtle content).
Gardenia, a Wood Turtle, came to us after being hit by a car, which resulted in a fracture to her bridge and plastron.
In early July, Raina and Dallas brought Gardenia home. What the video doesn’t show is the hilarious bushwhacking it took to get her to paradise.
Gardenia, though slow to emerge from her shell, swam around and looked with what can only be described as curiosity and amazement at being free again.
I hope you enjoy these videos of her release as much as we do!
Thanks for viewing 🐢💚
(Second video in comments)
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Hey turtle friends! We would like to introduce you to Lucky, a young female Blanding’s turtle who was admitted early this season. She is a pro at finding comfy zones to rest, so we thought we’d share some of her recent sleepy moments. 💚
Lucky was found upside down one of the those super hot summer days we had this season, after being hit by a car. We’re so thankful her wonderful finder noticed her and found help - she also gave her the name Lucky! Due to the severity of her wounds, Lucky has a long recovery ahead and likely will overwinter with us. We feel hopeful with all her progress - her mobility improves by the day. ❤️🩹
Blanding’s turtles are critically endangered in the state of New Hampshire, and IUCN endangered. Blanding’s turtles use different areas within their wetland complex during different times of year, and extensively use upland environments to travel between different wetland areas such as vernal pools and marshes.
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Today was the big release day for a young female wood turtle named Trillium! Trillium was found on June 15th after her finder found her injured on the road, and she healed up fabulously. Trillium was a fabulous eater, she never passed up a meal, as shown in this video. She also wasted no time and booked it as soon as she was put down! 😆💚
Wood turtles are “listed” by NH Fish and Game as a species of special concern. Having once been the most common species in New Hampshire, wood turtle populations are NOT AT ALL once they once were. Wood turtles are habitat specialists, requiring slow moving stream and river habitats - they are a great indicator of water health in an area. It is so important we protect these habitats, many of which are under constant threat of development.
To help wood turtles and other turtles, please never disclose the location of any you find in the wild. This is especially important for wood turtles, as they are the highest risk of poaching for multiple reasons. ONLY NH Fish and Game should ever receive location information, and they will never ask via social media, as it is critical this information not be spread online. You can report locations via the RAARP program: https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/wildlife-and-habitat/nongame-and-endangered-species/reporting-nh-reptile-and-amphibian-sightings Thank you! And thank you to NHFG biologists for helping us select her release spot!
Today was the big release day for a young female wood turtle named Trillium! Trillium was found on June 15th after her finder found her injured on the road, and she healed up fabulously. Trillium was a fabulous eater, she never passed up a meal. She also wasted no time and booked it as soon as she was put down! 😆💚
Wood turtles are “listed” by NH Fish and Game as a species of special concern. Having once been the most common species in New Hampshire, wood turtle populations are NOT AT ALL once they once were. Wood turtles are habitat specialists, requiring slow moving stream and river habitats - they are a great indicator of water health in an area. It is so important we protect these habitats, many of which are under constant threat of development.
To help wood turtles and other turtles, please never disclose the location of any you find in the wild. This is especially important for wood turtles, as they are the highest risk of poaching for multiple reasons. ONLY NH Fish and Game should ever receive location information, and they will never ask via social media, as it is critical this information not be spread online. You can report locations via the RAARP program: https://www.wildlife.nh.gov/wildlife-and-habitat/nongame-and-endangered-species/reporting-nh-reptile-and-amphibian-sightings Thank you! And thank you to NHFG biologists for helping us select her release spot!
Sherlina is a female eastern painted turtle who got to return home this past week! Sherlina was hit by a car on her way to lay her eggs, but her fractures have since healed and she laid all her eggs, so she was ready to return home!
A big thank you to Maeve who released Sherlina back into her home wetlands! Maeve is passionate about conserving our endangered species in New Hampshire, and is actively working on her masters at UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture studying Blanding’s turtle home ranges and landscape use! 🙌👏🐢
Today we have a story about a truly spectacular little painted turtle named Ursinia. Ursinia came to us in August 2023 with extremely severe wounds, and just recently got to go back home, marking our 80th release of the season!! 🥳
Ursinia had carapace (top shell) fractures and on the left side there was a huge chunk of her carapace and bridge missing, and her organs were exposed and would spill out if she wasn’t tilted the other way. She had a long recovery but she is a fighter and healed up amazingly well! If you swipe right, there is a video showing her healing process, but it is VERY graphic so we are only posting on the Instagram post (if you swipe right). While it’s extremely sad to look at the video, she’s a really good case to show that we should always check turtles on the road, even if you think they’ve passed away. We’ve had many cases where a turtle had severe injuries and people report that they thought the turtle was dead for hours before checking and realizing they were still alive, and those moments can be the make or break on if that turtle sees another day. We’re so thankful for Ursinia’s finders seeing her and looking for help that day, and in constant awe of Ursinia’s resilience 💚🐢 We expected she may need to stay another year but the shell has hardened so much she got an early release 🙌
In the comments we’ll share “after” photos and check Instagram if you’d like to see her before and during the healing process.
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