Giving endangered turtles a head start

The issue

The northern red-bellied cooter, an endangered species of turtle native to Plymouth County, is only the size of a quarter after hatching. It is often a meal for predators before it can reach maturity. In addition to its small size, the turtle is also hindered by a shrinking habitat, which has relegated it to a few small ponds. Nearly a quarter century ago, the species' population had dwindled to 300.

The solution

MassWildlife stepped in with a program called "headstarting" that removes the turtles from the wild for a year and raises them in the safety of aquariums at schools, animal sanctuaries and wildlife centers around the state. At the end of that period, caretakers bring the turtles to MassWidlife's Westborough headquarters to be weighed and measured to make sure they've grown enough to survive in the wild. The animals are then released back into their ponds.

What's next

This year's crop of turtles is a little smaller than last year, said Tom French, assistant director of MassWildlife's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program. But the 149 program graduates of 2009 should be fine, he said, adding "they have a good probability of growing up to be adults." Given the success of the program - French said he's seen turtles from the program's beginnings grow to be 16 to 19 years old - the system won't change much in the future. "Consistency is a positive thing," French said.

Janine's Blog ≫ Sea turtle nesting

Last night we went to the beach in hopes of witnessing a sea turtle nesting. We have been a couple of times in the past few weeks, with no success. Last night we got lucky and sat for a couple of hours watching an enormous female Loggerhead turtle excavate her nest, lay eggs, and return to the sea. It was an amazing experience!

We were walking along the beach when we spotted the tell-tale tracks leading from the water up the beach. The tracks of a sea turtle resemble that of a bulldozer- like a huge tread mark. We carefully made our way up toward the dune and spotted the turtle digging her nest. We sat very still and kept a respectable distance away. Rich's video camera has a large zoom lens and IR so we were able to see her clearly although we were 15' to 20' feet away. I have posted a few video clips and stills below.

Excavating the nest





She continued digging for about twenty minutes and then began to lay eggs.







Eggs being deposited into the nest.



After she had finished laying eggs, she began to fill in the nest chamber and cover the eggs with sand.



Finally, satisfied that the eggs were well covered, she heads back to the sea.







She quickly disappeared below the waves.

It was such a privilege to watch her nest. We are thrilled with the experience and glad that I can share the video clips with you.

Hibernating Your Pet Tortoise

Tortoises are one of the most popular kinds of reptiles kept as pets. Although tortoises are portrayed as being easy to keep, many suffer from ill health and ultimately die because their owners are ignorant of the correct husbandry requirements of tortoises.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks is winter hibernation. Some (not all) species of tortoise hibernate for several months during the year. Pet owners that incorrectly prepare their tortoises for hibernation risk their tortoises dying during, or just after hibernation.

Which species of pet tortoises need to hibernate?

Not all species of tortoises hibernate. Tortoises from temperate climates will hibernate for several months out of the year (3 months on average), whereas tropical tortoises do not need to hibernate. The following species of tortoises commonly kept as pets should be hibernated:

• Spur-thighed or Greek Tortoise (Testudo graeca)
• Hermann’s Tortoise (Testudo hermanni)
• Marginated Tortoise (Testudo marginata)
• Horsfield’s or Russian Tortoise (Testudo horsfieldi)
• North American Box Turtles: Carolina or Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina), Three-toed box turtle (T. c. triunguis), Ornate box turtle (T. ornata), and the Florida box turtle (T. c. bauri).
• Hinge-back Tortoises: Bell’s hinged tortoise (Kinixys belliana), Eroded hinged tortoise (K. erosa), Natal hinged tortoise (K. natalensis), Home’s hinged tortoise (K. homeana).
• Padlopers: Greater padloper (Homopus femoralis), Parrot-beaked tortoise (H. aureolatus), Karoo tortoise (H. boulengeri), Speckled padloper (H. signatus), Nama or Berger’s tortoise (H. bergeri).

Which species of pet tortoises should not be hibernated?

Never hibernate a tortoise if you suspect it may be a tropical variety. If you are unsure about the species you own, consult a veterinarian or tortoise specialist. The following tropical tortoises SHOULD NOT be hibernated:

• African spurred tortoise (Geochelone sulcata)
• African leopard tortoise (G. pardalis)
• Red Footed Tortoise (G. carbonaria)
• Yellow Foot Tortoise (G. denticulata)
• Burmese Brown Tortoise (Manouria emys)

How do I decide whether my tortoise is fit to hibernate?

Even if your tortoise belongs to a species that commonly hibernates, if it is sick or underweight you should NEVER attempt to hibernate it. Forcing an ill tortoise to hibernate can be a death sentence. Thus, you should decide at least 2 months before the onset of winter (not the week before!) whether your tortoise is healthy enough for hibernation.

Tortoises need adequate reserves of body fat to live off of through winter – if these reserves run out too early, the tortoise’s body will start using up the fat in muscles and internal organs, and eventually die. If your tortoise does not have adequate fat reserves at least a couple of months before hibernation, it will not have them by the time of hibernation.

Pet owners should go through a pre-hibernation health check to ensure that their tortoise is fit for hibernation: examine the eyes for swelling or discharge, the nose for discharge, the cloaca for signs of infection, the legs for any unusual swellings or bumps (e.g. abscesses), the ears for signs of abscesses, and the inside of the mouth for signs of mouth-rot. If you do not feel confident performing this exam yourself, consult a veterinarian with experience dealing with reptiles.

How should I feed my tortoise before it starts hibernating?

As autumn approaches and temperatures decrease, tortoises will gradually reduce their food intake (thus, if they are underweight at the end of summer, they will not gain any more weight before winter). By the time a tortoise enters hibernation, its gastrointestinal tract should be free of any undigested food material.

A tortoise that has been fed in the last month to 6 weeks should not be hibernated, or should have hibernation delayed. It is quite common for owners to kill their tortoises by giving them “one last meal” before they begin hibernation. Note that although tortoises should be denied food, owners should still bathe their tortoises and encourage them to drink.

What kind of quarters does a hibernating tortoise require?

Failure to provide adequate protection during hibernation is one of the biggest killers of captive tortoises. There are a number of methods of hibernating your tortoise – if you have used a particular method successfully, stick with the one you are familiar with. If you have never hibernated a tortoise before, then this procedure is suggested:

1. The following materials are needed: one larger box and one small box made of either wood or heavy-duty cardboard, insulating material such as wood shavings/chips, Styrofoam chips, shredded paper, etc., and a thermometer (maximum-minimum reading thermometers are recommended).

2. The tortoise should be placed in the smaller box with a couple inches of insulating material. This should be a fairly tight fit, allowing little movement.

3. Line the larger box with a thick layer of insulating material and place the smaller box within the large box.

4. Do not puncture the hibernating box with holes. Covering the top with newspaper and a sack should allow enough to air to filter through.

5. Use a thermometer to record the temperature of the hibernating box. Some people will actually tape the end of the thermometer probe to the tortoise’s shell.

6. The ideal temperature for hibernation is 5oC/40o F. However, a range of 0-10oC (32-50oF) is acceptable. Extremely cold temperatures can cause your tortoise to freeze to death, and excessively warm temperatures can cause your tortoise to prematurely exhaust its fat reserves or begin to wake up. If the temperature reaches unsuitable levels, move the hibernation box to a more appropriate location.

7. Tortoises should be regularly checked and weighed to ensure that they are not losing weight too rapidly – handling your tortoise while it is hibernating will not disturb it.

8. If your tortoise awakens during winter, or shows signs of urination, it should be allowed to come out of hibernation.

9. Three months is the average time for hibernation. Hibernation should not be allowed to continue until spring.

10. Box turtles usually require a more humid environment to hibernate in, and the period of hibernation may be shorter.

How do I wake my tortoise from hibernation?

As the ambient temperature increases, your tortoise’s metabolism will begin to speed up. Listen carefully for sounds of movement from the hibernation box – when you hear sounds that indicate your tortoise is emerging from hibernation, place the hibernation box near a heater, allowing it to gradually warm up. After a few hours, remove the tortoise and place it in a warm and bright environment. Examine the tortoise for any health problems (similar to the pre-hibernation check).

It is essential to get the tortoise to drink as soon as possible. This can be accomplished by resting the tortoise in a sink, bathtub, or container filled with an inch of tepid water. If the tortoise does not drink and flush out the accumulated waste material, it will feel disinclined to eat. Post-hibernation anorexia is a common condition of captive tortoises. If your tortoise is not eating within the first week of emerging from hibernation, it should be seen by a veterinarian.

There are a lot of factors involved in safely hibernating a pet tortoise. If you are unsure about your tortoise’s fitness to be hibernated, or the correct way to hibernate your tortoise, always consult a veterinarian.

90 Percent Chance Your Pet Turtle Has Salmonella

We usually focus on food-borne illness here, but when pets poise a serious threat to children due to salmonella we want to help get the word out.

HealthDay Reporter Steven Reinberg today wrote about the Centers for Disease Control finding that 103 children got salmonella poisoning in the last half of 2007 from their pet turtles. No deaths were reported, but dozens of children were treated at hospitals after being infected with salmonella.

The sale of small turtles under 4 inches has been banned in the United States since 1975. Nevertheless, CDC estimates there are two million pet turtles in the country. Reinberg reports that:

According to the report, cases were reported in all but 15 states, with most cases occurring in California, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Two of the infected children included a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl who became stricken after swimming in an unchlorinated in-ground pool owned by the family of the older girl. Two pet turtles, purchased at a South Carolina pet store and owned by the family of the older teen, were allowed to swim in the pool, the CDC reported.

(CDC's Julie) Harris said many people aren't aware of the risk of Salmonella infections from pet turtles. "Only 20 percent of these cases [in the report] said they were aware there was a connection between Salmonella infection and reptile exposure," she said.

Up to 90 percent of turtles carry Salmonella, Harris said. "This is a very serious infection, especially for small children," she added.

The infection is spread from contact with the turtles, but the contact doesn't have to be direct, Harris said. "We have one case where a baby was bathed in a sink that turtle waste was disposed in," she said.

Check out the entire HeathDay story here.

Turtle Breeding

If you have decided to keep your turtles out of doors, in conditions resembling their own natural habitat, and to let them hibernate, chances are your turtles will be comfortable enough in captivity to mate and bear progeny. Obviously, breeding turtles is not for everybody, and only the most adventurous should apply. If you wish to become a turtle breeder, or simply want to let nature take its course, consider the following information:

Most turtles and reptiles (especially snakes), have a hard time adapting to captivity, and it is sometimes difficult to breed them in such conditions. However, if you are highly skilled at taking care of your pets and give the animals a certain degree of freedom, they will think they are in the wild, and hibernate. Most terrestrial turtles, like the box turtle, or the mud turtle, come out of hibernation between March and May, and it is about that time when they begin to mate.

One thing to consider if you own multiple turtles is to make sure they do not become aggressive during that period. Separate smaller turtles from the bigger ones, especially males, since they sometimes have a tendency to bite each other's heads off.

If you are planning on doing this full time, make sure you learn as much as possible about the species you plan to breed, and choose specimens that appear strong and alert as the mating pair. You should not let weak, related, or second generation turtles breed, as it may end up compromising the gene pool and yield deformed hatchlings. Also, mating, especially the formation of the female's eggs is highly stressful and draining, especially when they are just fresh out of hibernation, so keep a close watch on their health and diet.

After mating with the males, the females start looking for a place to lay their eggs. Provide adequate quarters and shelter with plenty of soft soil areas. Make sure there are several places to hide and bask, and that the soft soil areas are surrounded by rocks or logs so that the turtle will feel safe burying her eggs in it. make sure the soil is at least 8 or 9 inches deep, as a turtle can lay up to 5 eggs in that same spot; the eggshells are soft and are made to absorb moisture and heat, and are very fragile, which is why the female buries them. Do not attempt to move the eggs from the holes, but adding a screen mesh cover will help prevent neighborhood dogs, scavengers, and even insects from digging up the eggs. Make sure there is enough moisture going to the soil, add some water yourself if there hasn't been any rain and the soil appears to have dried up.

It should take up to 90 days for the young turtles to hatch, at which time the screen mesh will keep them from wandering out in full view of predators. Hatchlings are very fragile, and since turtles grow at a much slower pace than other domestic animals, you will have to keep them under constant watch, paying close attention to their diet, and making sure they do not get sick. You will also have to make sure each young turtle gets its share of food, and does not fight with the others. Even though the turtles are hatched outdoors, it would be preferable to keep them indoors for at least a year, in a small terrarium.

Here are some web sites, and pages with great info on breeding.

http://www.turtlecare.net/breed.htm

http://members.aol.com/riherps/page3.htm

http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/PICC6224/mycustompage0006.htm

http://www.talktothevet.com/ARTICLES/REPTILES/waterturtlesex.HTM

Another thing to consider before you decide to become a breeder is whether there is enough interest in your are to justify bringing more turtles into the world. Do not assume you can just release them in the wild, even if they are indigenous to the area, as it may upset the balance of the current population. Also, if you think giving them away is the answer, keep in mind that some people will want to take them simply for the novelty factor, and the turtles will eventually be neglected and die. Do your homework before taking your hobby to the next level.

Turtle Feeding

The turtles covered on this web site are all omnivorous, which means they eat everything from insects to lettuce. However, this does not mean you can feed your pet turtle anything, i.e. table scraps, and they do require a healthy, balanced, "turtle diet".

Turtles can be expensive to feed, especially since they are exotic pets, and pet stores do not carry too many brands of turtle food. You have probably seen the words "food stick" appear quite a few times on the site, so let us explain what these are. Buying feeder fish can be quite expensive in the long run, food sticks can help keep your turtle healthy. One brand we recommend is

Among the better commercial foods for aquatic and semi-aquatic turtles are Tetra Reptomin floating Turtle sticks. Again, these are expensive, so you can get creative and mix in other fish food, and bits of meat, fruit and vegetables.

It is important that you keep a close watch on your turtle's diet, and if you own more than one turtle, make sure they both get to eat equal amounts of food. Turtles are generally messy when they eat, so make sure to keep the water clean and free of debris, as small decomposing particles of flesh can get trapped under rocks and logs and contaminate your turtle's environment.

If you notice your turtle seeming lethargic and having cloudy skin patches, or milky eyes, it may be because of poor nutrition or disease. Make sure you take your turtle to a veterinarian who knows about reptiles to determine whether the animal's diet is too blame, or if there are other factors involved.

Another good practice is to feed your turtle live fish at least once a week, to make sure it gets to exercise. Turtles like to hunt, and it is also great fun to watch them dive in after small fish.

Make sure to have a water dish in your turtle's terrarium or pen, since it will be a clean source of water from it to drink from, as its swimming water is mostly contaminated with urine and feces.

Both aquatic and terrestrial turtles have similar feeding habits, although aquatic turtles seem to keep eating meat even when they are older, whereas terrestrial turtles have a tendency to eat more vegetation. Older turtles eat less meat because they require less protein, therefore, special care must be taken not to overfeed turtles with protein rich food. As for vegetation, turtles like berries, and some leafy vegetables, including lettuce, cabbage, alfalfa, and clover.

Turtle Care

Like many other reptiles and amphibians, turtles are fascinating to children. However, many people buy turtles based on their "novelty factor", never taking into account the animal's special needs. When you purchase a cat or a dog, there are always several costly procedures that must be taken to ensure their good health and longevity; shots, operations etc., not to mention crates, toys, dog houses, and grooming products. Turtles aren't as complicated to care for, but many die in captivity because they aren't treated with the same degree of care and attention their fur-bearing counterparts. If they are properly cared for, turtles can live for many decades, but this requires you pay close attention to their diets, living arrangements, and treatment.

Making sure a turtle has enough room to live in, making sure it has enough light, shade, and moisture, clean water, and a basking lamp are just a few of the steps you need to undertake to keep your pet turtles healthy.

In some cases, people choose to try and recreate a turtle's natural habitat as authentically as possible, and this sometimes mean setting up a turtle pen outside. Doing so means your turtle will hibernate in the fall, which is great if you plan to breed turtles, since their natural cycles aren't being tampered with. Also, turtles which do not hibernate have been known to develop liver diseases. If you have small children, it would be best to make sure they do not disturb turtles attempting to hibernate by digging them out. This also means you won't be seeing your turtle until late spring, when it comes out of hibernation.

Some people use refrigerators to try and recreate ideal conditions for the turtles to hibernate. This practice is not recommended for the simple reason that in the event of a power failure, or a sudden rise in temperature, the turtle's slumber will be interrupted, and in some cases, that could be fatal. It is best not to let your turtle hibernate at all if you are planning on keeping it indoors.

When you keep a turtles indoors, it is important to consider the following: Your turtle's tank capacity must be at least 40 gallons. There must be enough room to put a land area, and a water area. Your turtle should also have a place where it can bask in the heat of a sun lamp. The ideal temperature for your turtle's habitat depends greatly on the breed, as terrestrial turtles can maintain body heat longer than aquatic turtles. In general, keep the tank around 80º during the daytime, and 70º at night. It is a good idea not to take the turtle out of its tank to show it off or play with it. These sudden changes in temperature can affect the immune system of reptiles, since they are cold-blooded animals and take longer to adjust to the changes.

Also, remember to wash your hands after handling your turtles, in order to avoid contamination. Not all turtles are carry salmonella, but it is safer to maintain good hygiene when dealing with pets and their habitats. This goes for the turtle too, as you should keep its tank or pen clean and keep its water fresh and free of waste.

As far as water is concerned, avoid using tap water for your turtle tank, as chlorine and fluoride are present in tap water, and can disturb the ph balance. Use natural spring water for your turtle's drinking water, and de-chlorinated water for the swimming area. You can remove the chlorine from water by letting it sit for 24 hours before putting it in the tank. Some people ague that using chlorinated water helps prevent deadly bacteria from forming, but we'll let you decide.

Also steer clear of using tree bark or wood chips in the turtle's dwelling. These are fine for rodents, but can cause problems with turtles who may ingest them. Furthermore, these will get contaminated very fast, and favor the growth of mold and fungus. It would also be a good idea to try and reproduce natural lighting conditions in the turtle's tank. Try and place the tank in a room where the lighting does not change too often. Turtles generally require 12 hours of sunlight, and using a proper UV lamp will help the turtle get the amount of vitamin D3 it requires to stay healthy. This is why turtles bask in the sun out in the wild.

Your turtle should also have a simple shelter to retreat too when it gets tired of being out in the open. This can easily be made out of wood, or carefully selected stones. If you want to add vegetation to your turtle's tank, make sure these plants are non-poisonous to the turtles, since there is a strong chance they will try to eat them.

Keep your turtle out of the way so that small children, or other house pets cannot get to it. Remember to stay attentive to your turtle's behavior, and take care of it as you would take care of any other pet. A turtle is not a novelty item, it is a living being, and it is also intelligent enough to know who its friends and enemies are. A happy turtle can provide years of enjoyment for your whole family, and is a great way to help teach younger children about responsibilities.