Turtle Monitoring at The Wilderness Center

Blog has moved

2010-03-11T10:44:00.001-08:00

We have consolidated out blogs - all future salamander monitoring posts can be found here, on our Wilderness Wanderings Blog. Please visit us there!

Turtle Day

2008-07-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

These pictures are from the turtle day last Friday (July 11). We saw both snappers and softshells in the lake, but it wasn't until we moved up to the pond that the real fun began! The map turtle, which I knew should be here at TWC, but hadn't been able to get a real good look at, was basking on a log, snapping at passing damselflies. We were also able to watch a snapping turtle swim right into the trap! These pictures are from the marking of that turtle. Thanks so much to all of you who came to help - many hand make light work as they say - and allow me to keep all my fingers! Also, thanks to Pam Feagler for taking all these great pictures!

photos by Pam Feagler

1st turtle of 2008

2008-05-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

This is MOW, the first turtle of O8. MOW was found at the back door of the interpretive building.

More turtle recaptures

2007-08-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

The Southeast Science Club came on Wednesday to help catch and mark turtles. The students remarked BOW, a painted turtle, and JMN, the snapper pictured below.

Finally, Turtles!

2007-07-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

June was a very slow month for turtles at TWC. Even though LOTS of people came for turtle week activities, we only caught 1 snapping turtle all month. Things are picking up now, however. We have spotted LOX swimming near the pier today. I also caught MOX today for the first time this year. She was also swimming near the pier.

Our first baby

2007-05-29T12:31:00.001-07:00

This hatchling is the first one captured here during our monitoring. It was swimming near the shore of the pond this afternoon. Hatchlings don't have a very high survival rate, but hopefully, we'll be able to follow this turtle's life for the next few years. It's shell was still soft and pliable - it will harden as the turtle gets older. We've marked this one JKL (Jackal) since it was so ferocious looking!

Baby Turtles

2007-05-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

Today a family brought in a baby painted turtle they found swimming at Atwood Lake. He was smaller than a quarter - and very cute (as all baby animals are!). As much as we would have liked to let him go here, it is not allowed. Reptiles in Ohio cannot be releases into the wild in a new location or after they have been held for more than 30 days. This is an important law - turtles that are released in new locations or after time in captivity can carry and transport diseases. We were able to get some great pictures though - they will be perfect for our turtle presentations this summer.

Painted Turtles usually nest mid May to mid July; eggs usually hatch sometime in mid August. Some hatchlings may overwinter in the nest and emerge in the Spring. Painted turtles (as well as many other types of turtle) have temperature-dependent sex determination; that is, turtles that develop at the mid range of temperatures (22-27 degrees Celsius in painted turtles) will be males, turtles that develop at the extremes of this temperature range will be female. The hatchlings mature in 4-5 years for males, and 6-10 years for females. Painted turtles can live for around 20-30 years.

BOW

2007-05-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems that BOW is going to be the "pig" of the turtle population again this year. Last year, Bow was the first to show up at the pier whenever bread was being thrown. This year, Bow was caught in the hoop trap baited with liver on My 11th. Today, May 19th, he was the only turtle caught in a hoop trap baited with bread. This is one turtle who definitely doesn't seem to be on a low-carb diet!

New turtles

2007-05-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

This week has been a fantastic turtle week! I set out hoop nets for the very first time on Tuesday. I baited them with hot dogs the first day - no turtles, but the hot dogs were gone. On the second try I baited with beef liver. We caught the first three turtles in the trap on Friday. Two were turtles we marked last year (AIM and BOW), and one new one (AKL).

On Wednesday, Sherrie, Pam, and Heather - graduates of the Ohio Volunteer Naturalist Program- volunteered to help me. We captured and marked three turtles caught in the basking trap at the pond. LOX, HIP, and HIK were originally captured and marked in the lake. This answers one of the question I had when starting this project. The turtles are moving between the two bodies of water.

AKL

2007-04-04T06:11:00.000-07:00

AKL's club foot

AKL was captured Friday in the hoop net at the lake. She is the first new turtle caught with the new nets. She has a club left front foot. We don't know what happened to it - it may have been bitten by a snapping turtle or other predator. It certainly doesn't hinder her movements - she won the race to the pond when the turtles were released.

New Species

2007-04-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

I nearly tripped over this unassuming turtle on my way to check the basking trap. It was walking slowly along the lake bottom in about 8-10 inches of water, looking very much like a slow-moving rock. This is the first musk turtle we have captured during our study - there is only one old record of this turtle being spotted here in the past. Musk turtles, also called stinkpots, do not bask often, and are non-bouyant, spending most of their time cruising along the soft lake bottom. Musk turtles secrete foul-smelling musk from special glands on their tail.

2007-04-03T13:33:00.000-07:00

This turtle, HWX, was found literally at our doorstep. She was sitting in the shade at the back door of the interpretive building. We hope to catch her again someday so we'll know where she was headed. She is also the first turtle we have marked with the new notching tool - a battery-powered Dremel. This makes the nothing process much faster!

First Turtles of 2007

2007-03-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we caught the first turtles of the year. They were caught using our basking trap. The turtle of the right is CHI - we caught him last year. The middle turtle is HIL, a new male we haven't seen before. The tiny turtle on the left is MOP, a 1 or 2 year old. MOP is the smallest turtle we have caught during this study. Watch for these turtles as you walk the pond trail at TWC - and let us know if you see them!

Trap preparation

2007-03-09T05:58:00.000-08:00

The ice is melting and turtle season will be starting soon! Over the next couple of weeks, these hoops and netting will be made into hoop nets. Hoop nets are cylindrical nets with a funnel-shaped throat. The traps are baited and turtles that enter to get bait cannot swim back through the throat. We hope these traps will be efficient for capturing more turtles this season.

2007-01-26T13:51:00.001-08:00

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