Dancing Turtle Rescue and Education Program, Inc.

Dancing Turtle Rescue and Education Program, Inc. Let's save turtles! Wild turtle rehabilitation, turtle education programs, and conservation-focused outreach in northeastern New York.

Support our work: https://dancingturtlerescue.org/donate At Dancing Turtle Rescue, we rescue, rehabilitate, and release turtles injured by cars, fishing gear, or dogs in Essex, Warren, and Saratoga counties. We are New York State Department of Environmental Conservation licensed wildlife rehabilitators. We specialize in native freshwater turtles, such as painted and snapping turtles, nonvenomous

snakes, frogs, and salamanders. If we have space and resources available, we also take in orphaned baby squirrels and opossums. If you find another species, please see the resources below to locate a rehabber. We love turtles and share that love through public education programs. Our ambassador turtles join us to introduce children, teens, and adults to the wonder of turtles and their wetland habitats. We bring our programs to schools, nature centers, scout meetings, senior centers, and many public events. Please contact us if you would like to learn more about our programs. Dancing Turtle occassionally rescues non-native turtles. These turtles are either former pets who were released into the wild and end up sick or injured, or pets that have been abandoned or neglected. Some of our rescues are available for adoption. If you are interested in adopting a turtle, please visit our website at www.dancingturtlerescue.org for more information. To find a wildlife rehabilitator near you:
Animal Help Now nationwide listings (recommended): ahnow.org or download the app

North Country Wild Care (northeastern NY): 518-964-6740

NYS DEC wildlife rehabilitator listings: https://www.dec.ny.gov/cfmx/extapps/sls_searches/index.cfm?p=live_rehab

All 13 tiny Northern Map turtles hatched in Jen’s incubator this week. It’s our first time hatching map turtles and they...
08/21/2025

All 13 tiny Northern Map turtles hatched in Jen’s incubator this week. It’s our first time hatching map turtles and they are cute as can be! You may remember a previous post about their beautiful mama, who had a fractured pelvis. Although she didn’t make it, her eggs were saved thanks to the amazing staff at Janet L. Swanson Wildlife Hospital @ Cornell. They will stay over the winter and be released in mama’s home lake once they are bigger next summer 🩶

Did any of our Schroon Lake followers get pictures of us at the Schroon Lake Farmer's Market this morning? We had a grea...
08/16/2025

Did any of our Schroon Lake followers get pictures of us at the Schroon Lake Farmer's Market this morning? We had a great time talking to everyone but we didn't have time to take any pictures of our turtles. Please share if you did.

We are looking forward to hanging out at the Schroon Lake Farmer's Market tomorrow. Who's coming? Maple the map turtle, ...
08/15/2025

We are looking forward to hanging out at the Schroon Lake Farmer's Market tomorrow. Who's coming? Maple the map turtle, Hector the box turtle, Dolly the musk turtle, and maybe Gordon if we can get our teenaged snapping turtle out of bed that early.

08/15/2025

🦉 SAVE THE DATE! 🦊
We’re thrilled to announce the NYSWRC Annual Conference is happening November 13–16, 2025 in beautiful Corning, NY! 🍁

Join us for four exciting days packed with:
🦅 Lecture sessions
🦔 Hands-on labs & workshops
🦇 Networking opportunities
🦢 Professional development
🦝 Support for compassion fatigue

Whether you're looking to expand your wildlife rehabilitation toolkit, connect with fellow rehabilitators, or recharge your passion for the work you do—this is the event you won’t want to miss!

📍 Mark your calendars and stay tuned—registration details coming soon!

We are proud to be members of North Country Wild Care.
07/24/2025

We are proud to be members of North Country Wild Care.

Thank you so much, Jerilee, for the awesome donations from our Amazon wishlist. We appreciate your generous support. Tha...
07/18/2025

Thank you so much, Jerilee, for the awesome donations from our Amazon wishlist. We appreciate your generous support. That little tank filter will come in handy once all the eggs in our incubators start hatching. We didn't have enough for sure. It may have seemed odd that we asked for puppy pads, but we use them under turtles when we are cleaning wounds and needed to restock. Gordon was checking out the bathtub mat, but we told him other turtles needed it and he hadn't finished shredding his old one, anyway. You are amazing, Jerilee!

The other day we got a big box from Chewy full of reptile dishes, aquarium plants, vet wrap, and juvenile turtle food. C...
07/18/2025

The other day we got a big box from Chewy full of reptile dishes, aquarium plants, vet wrap, and juvenile turtle food. Chewy doesn't tell us who the generous donors are but, if you see this, know that your donation was very much appreciated! We are especially grateful for the quantities. You sent as many as we were asking for! Many of those reptile dishes went right into use, which means we can have our food prep dishes back. The turtles appreciate the water dishes but also that we can prep more food, which means more fish for them.

We always check for eggs when a female turtle comes in. If they don't need an x-ray then we feel around. Sometimes, thou...
07/17/2025

We always check for eggs when a female turtle comes in. If they don't need an x-ray then we feel around. Sometimes, though, our patients surprise us. That's what happened with Willow, the northern map turtle who was found stuck upside down in the rocks! During her evening patient checks, Debbie discovered an egg in Willow's tub. Yesterday, she was induced to lay and gave us a few more. The average clutch size for a northern map turtle is 10 to 12 eggs, and they can lay up to 17, so we suspected Willow might continue laying after she went back in her tub last evening. Sure enough, there was another egg this morning. She is being monitored so we can grab more eggs as they appear and get them into the incubator with the others. Neither Debbie or Jen has incubated map turtles before, but this year they are both looking forward to hatchlings. Send lots of good vibes to the tiny turtles growing in their eggs!

Did we miss World Snake Day yesterday? Yup, we did. 🤦We guess we can make up for neglecting our noodle friends by introd...
07/17/2025

Did we miss World Snake Day yesterday? Yup, we did. 🤦

We guess we can make up for neglecting our noodle friends by introducing the as yet unnamed garter snake we have had in care for over a month. An unknown predator chewed on their face and they are down to one eye. So far everything seems to be healing well but more time is needed before we know if this snake will be able to sufficiently recover to return to the wild.

We also have two American toads and, as of yesterday, a wood frog with us. Although we focus on turtles, all the native reptiles and amphibians can receive care here.

07/14/2025

She went home! May, one of our 2024 patients, missed our September cutoff for releases and spent the winter with us. When the weather finally cooperated, we got May outside to reacclimate. Yesterday, Debbie brought her to the edge of her lake and she wasted no time heading for home. Goodbye, May! Have a long and happy life in the wild and watch out for cars!

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On The Hill
Schroon Lake, NY

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