15 new ones

[Yvonne G]

I took in 15 box turtles today. The lady who had them suffered a stroke recently and is now not able to care for the turtles. She also gave me six cans of dog food!!! So you know how they were cared for. But they seem healthy. Its hard for me to tell if they're crosses or luteolas. A couple are ornates, but the rest of them its just hard for me to tell. Tomorrow I'll get a picture of one of the females. She's REAL light colored. I'm wondering if she's one of the hypo, hyper thinga ma bobbers.

Here's a picture of some of the ones I can't tell if they're crosses or luteolas:

And here's one of the ornate females:

 

[Jacqui]

I love this new term: "hypo, hyper thinga ma bobbers." !

I feel sorry for the woman who had to give them up. I sometimes think about my own future and how hard it would be to give up my critters, even with knowing it's for their own good. By the way, how is Mister doing? This sorta reminded me of his situation.)

Are they all adults? No young ones?

 

[ewam]

Why did this lady have 15 box turtles for?

 

[dmmj]

Why did this lady have 15 box turtles for?

Some people have lots of box turtles, it is more common than you might think, we have quite a few members of the CTTC who have more than 20

 

[fbsmith3]

I can see how someone can "hoard" box turtles. They really are wonderful. I only have one, but she is such a wonderful soul and if I had the money and space. I would take in as many as possible.

 

[ewam]

I can see professional turtles and tortoise keepers who really know what there doing have 15 box turtles but I don't think she should have had 15 of them.

 

[Jacqui]

I can see professional turtles and tortoise keepers who really know what there doing have 15 box turtles but I don't think she should have had 15 of them.

Interesting, why?

 

[ewam]

Interesting, why?

Well she was feeding them dog food.

 

[fbsmith3]

My post needs a better phrasing. Although I understand why someone would want to hoard Box turtles, I can not condone having so many. I imagine 15 turtles/tortoises is a lot of work.
Anyone who can properly rehab, give injections and force feed these guys is a saint and observing each one for changed must be extremely difficult. Keeping them is one thing, really taking care of a large group is entirely something different.

 

[yagyujubei]

Really? How many should I have? You know nothing about the previous owner. Why do you bandy the word "hoard" around so freely? From the pictures, I see nothing to indicate that they were mistreated in the least. Don't be so quick to judge. Perhaps you can explain to us exactly how many we can have before we're labeled "hoarders"

My post needs a better phrasing. Although I understand why someone would want to hoard Box turtles, I can not condone having so many. I imagine 15 turtles/tortoises is a lot of work.
Anyone who can properly rehab, give injections and force feed these guys is a saint and observing each one for changed must be extremely difficult. Keeping them is one thing, really taking care of a large group is entirely something different.

 

[dmmj]

Sorry for going OT once again but I have always thought of hoarding as a mentality and not numbers, I honestly believe you can be a hoarder with just 2.

 

[jaizei]

Sorry for going OT once again but I have always thought of hoarding as a mentality and not numbers, I honestly believe you can be a hoarder with just 2.

I agree, it's not about numbers but care. I think "hoarding" animals applies when someone keeps animals they cannot care for properly.

Sorry for going OT, Yvonne. Looks like you're gonna have your hands full.

 

[dmarcus]

I think if you have a big enough enclosure 15 is nothing, I would love to have that many when I have the space, they are cool to have around and even interact with...

 

[Turtle Guru]

Good for you Emyemys I'm glad for you you are doing a great thing.

 

[fbsmith3]

I am sorry for my use of words. I was hoping my previous post would explain my position. I am by no means an expert, but I didn't like how the shells looked in the pictures and due to their diet, I came to quick conclusion about the previous owner. I am sorry for this.

Back to the topic; emysemys you are a great person, thank you for caring so much and taking in all these new freinds. In makes me so happy to see Turtles/Tortoise being taken care of so well.

 

[Jacqui]

Interesting, why?

Well she was feeding them dog food.

Keep in mind, that was more then likely not all she was feeding them. Also this being an older person, I expect she became active in owning turtles when dog food was as readily acceptable form of food as say Mazuri is these days. You might be surprised at some of the things that we use to think was okay or even good to feed to our turtles and tortoises. We have come a long way since then in understanding their needs, but we still have a long way to go and a lot of folks to try to convince to try the "new fangled ideas and ways".

 

[Torty Mom]

I have an ornate male, wanna have babies???

 

[terryo]

Years ago when I had my first turtle garden I never took in any eggs and in the Summer I would find 5 or 6 babies that were born the previous Summer. At one point I had way more than 15 in the garden. When you walked into my garden you wouldn't even know there was one in there as they spent the day hiding under shrubs....until I brought the food. I never had a sick box turtle...really...they all lived outside and hibernated. That was a long time ago, and now I only have about 8, and am looking to get more. I always feed canned venison, which is a high grade of dog food, at least once a week. Two weeks before hibernation I only feed the "dog food". I've been doing this for thirty years now. Oh sorry...my old Ornate was sick a few times as she couldn't take the cold weather.....forgot about that. Hoarding is a sickness, but does not necessary apply to people who own a lot of animals.
Anyway...keep up the good work Yvonne...I want to see a picture of that light one you were talking about, and keep us posted.

 

[Jacqui]

I always feed canned venison, which is a high grade of dog food, at least once a week.

So Terry your venison is sold as dog food? Here I was thinking it was human venison.

 

[Yvonne G]

Actually, the space she kept them in was really too small for that many turtles, however, there were six different hiding places, a really nice cement watering hole with a drip pipe in it and a constant supply of fresh water. She didn't even know how many she had. She thought five or six...because she never saw all of them at the same time. She must have fed more than dog food, I'm sorry I gave you that impression, because she did mention that they like fruit and won't eat veggies. They were outside all the time, and hibernated in the ground out there. It was a very nice, secluded, walled-in turtle garden with many plantings.

Because the hiding places were made out of rocks, the shells are pretty scuffed up, making it hard for me to see the patterning. I'll put some oil on a couple tomorrow and maybe you all can help me I.D. them.