Ellen and I did about 6 miles on forest roads today to find more pieces of the Adventure Loop. We found this pretty little turtle on a real county road, though. We stopped, and I moved it to the side of the road it was headed for. I hate seeing turtles get smashed in the road.
This is the common painted turtle, Chrysemys picta. This is the species that used to be sold by the thousands for pets, before so many of them were associated with salmonella. This one is low-average size for a wild turtle- about 4 inches long (shell only) and 3 inches wide. I've seen a lot of larger ones though.
What might be surprising is how fast these animals can move when they want to. You can see those long legs when he wants to stretch them out.
I'm really tired tonight... off to bed.
 | See Ruby Creek is Golden for the wood turtle
See The Secret Pond and an Amazing Turtle for the Blanding's Turtle |
8 comments:
I love these turtles. There is a pond I visit that is just full of them.
I thought 'twas painted intentionally. Silly of me hah..!! LOL I remembered those days when I was still about 3 or 4 years old. Grandpa had a pet tortoise.
Nice of you to help the guy across the road. It would be a shame to see him get run over. I had one of those turtle as a pet when I was a kid.
Ooooh, we had little ones when we were kids--complete with little plastic bowl with an island and fake palm tree. Poor things, living like that!
I want a turtle for my pond, but I'm afraid he'll walk away. And yes, I know how fast they can walk!!!
Thanks for saving him. I try to do that here too when I see them in the road.
Hm. A colorful and fast turtle! Will wonders never cease!
I love these reptiles they are fascinating to watch, we have no native tortoise or terrapins - what we do have are quite a lot of large terrapins in our lakes, lodges & ponds, these were unwanted pets from the 70s & 80s, they were imported by the thousands (poor things) not many survived but the terrapins we see are large and can be a pest to nesting birds.
that's a cutie, i love seeing turtles, but have not seen them moving fast yet unless they are in water, they move quick to hide from me :(
Ratty- they are the most likely to see, and there are often many of them together.
sheren- well, it sure looks like someone decorated them, doesn't it?
Ann- I'm probably a road hazard myself because I just have to stop and move turtles.
Lin- If there is not much natural water nearby a turtle might stay near your pond. What would Hobbes do with a turtle!!!
Ferd- don't you have pretty ones? I think you have box turtles- they have nice orange patterns on the shell.
Carol- well, I certainly have learned something through this... I had no idea that England doesn't have turtles. So, I guess the tortoise and the hare is not a British tale?
betchai- they can all move quite quickly when they want, but I think the painted ones are faster than the ones with heavier shells.
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