Time to start watching the roads for migrating turtles! Really, I always watch out for turtles, but spring and fall are the big moving days. Turtles are creatures of habit and go back and forth between sites cyclically. I have read that moving a turtle outside their known stomping grounds could send the reptile into a lifelong circle of trying to find its way home. I don’t know if it is true, but it is heart wrenching to think about. Herpetologists recommend not removing the animal from the area, and if it is in physical danger (road, cars), move it straight across the road in the direction it was headed. Here is some good advice from the US Fish and Wildlife site.

We have a turtle that crosses our property. We have seen it on the trail cam, and on occasion it makes its way under our fence and into the yard. This year the dogs found it first, and after I took them inside and let the turtle have some time to move on, I found that it had cornered itself behind the catio. Hm.

Since I wasn’t about to take the turtle through the house, I put it outside the fence near where the dogs found it. My eldest watched it for a time, but the turtle knew it was being watched and didn’t move. We gave it space for about twenty minutes, and when we checked, it was gone. Like, gone, gone, can’t find it anywhere. It is amazing how far they can go when they are on a mission.

By the way, I have “stop for turtles” vinyl decals on my Etsy shop. Yup, I’m that kind of person.

I know, it doesn’t look that big in the picture, but my dog weighs about 50 pounds, and that turtle was about 20 feet away from him. Trust me, it was a big turtle. The thought did cross my mind to get in for a closer picture, but I like my dog’s nose whole, and myself whole for that matter. (We are in Texas, we are nearly country, and walking into someone else’s yard is grounds for getting shot. I respect that. Turtle pictures can wait.)

Spring also means that the turtles are on the move. This old lady (?) was crossing the road in our neighborhood. We only noticed her because Sophie, our outside cat, went over to investigate.

I can’t leave turtles in the road, I just can’t, so we helped her across so she didn’t get hit. I persist in calling her a “her” because of this article by U.S. Fish and Wildlife, which says the females go on the move to look for a place to lay eggs. Since this is not a young turtle, I assume she is going to lay her eggs and not going to find new territory. She wasn’t overly concerned about us. Probably not her first assist.

And in doing my research I found a new app “HerpMapper”, which of course I had to download and add our observation. Must contribute to science.