*dons a flame-proof suit*
I'm a middle school science teacher and we have a young sulcata. The students take it out for walks to allow it to forage and exercise outside of it's turtle table (6 ft by 3 ft, two levels). We have a portable pen for it with a built-in shaded area that we also use when nobody is directly supervising it. That way it can continue to forage on grass/weeds/nearby bushes/fallen flowers on it's own during most of the school day.
Once in a while, a student gets distracted and the turtle almost gets stepped on by a passing student/staff or somebody picks up the portable pen, not seeing the tiny turtle that it's containing and moves the pen somewhere else, leaving the turtle to roam freely around campus. We have been lucky in always being able to find the turtle but I don't want to keep pressing our luck. I would like to be able to secure something very visible to the turtle's shell until it gets larger. A little flag, a reflective ribbon, a brightly colored piece of yarn...
Taken from another thread, and thought this would deserve it's own thread. I like Stephanie's thinking, and it shows I'm not the only one who's wondering how to best and most safely do this.
As a diver, I've seen satellite transmitters on their shells so I did some research. I got the below from the Bald Head Island Satellite Telemetry Project website at http://www.fieldtripearth.org/article.xml?id=920
What are your thoughts and ideas? I wouldn't be using as much epoxy as they use, and wouldn't use the wooden blocks either...
-Paul
I'm a middle school science teacher and we have a young sulcata. The students take it out for walks to allow it to forage and exercise outside of it's turtle table (6 ft by 3 ft, two levels). We have a portable pen for it with a built-in shaded area that we also use when nobody is directly supervising it. That way it can continue to forage on grass/weeds/nearby bushes/fallen flowers on it's own during most of the school day.
Once in a while, a student gets distracted and the turtle almost gets stepped on by a passing student/staff or somebody picks up the portable pen, not seeing the tiny turtle that it's containing and moves the pen somewhere else, leaving the turtle to roam freely around campus. We have been lucky in always being able to find the turtle but I don't want to keep pressing our luck. I would like to be able to secure something very visible to the turtle's shell until it gets larger. A little flag, a reflective ribbon, a brightly colored piece of yarn...
Taken from another thread, and thought this would deserve it's own thread. I like Stephanie's thinking, and it shows I'm not the only one who's wondering how to best and most safely do this.
Stephanie Logan said:Paul, if you find out a good way to keep track of your tort, let me know. I bought a red, light velcro strap for my 6" Chaco tortoise to make it easier to find her when she gets the exploration impulse in our big back yard. It doesn't stay on though when she crawls through tight places or thick foliage. I put bright nail polish on her last year before I knew that wasn't good for her shell, so I took it off. I might try a piece or yarn or soft cord next--she's significantly pyramided so that might actually help to secure the string in place between her scutes.
Welcome to the forum! How lucky your torts are to have such attentive keepers and ideal micro-climate.
As a diver, I've seen satellite transmitters on their shells so I did some research. I got the below from the Bald Head Island Satellite Telemetry Project website at http://www.fieldtripearth.org/article.xml?id=920
First it was very important to make sure that the turtle’s shell was clean and free of any loose matter. Loggerhead sea turtles in particular tend to have lots of different animals and plants growing on their backs such as barnacles, anemones, seaweed, worms, ghost shrimp and crabs. Once the turtle's shell was been scraped clean and rubbed down with sandpaper, it was washed with a soap pad and then wiped over with nail varnish remover. Sounds strange? Nail varnish remover contains acetone, which is excellent for removing grease from hard surfaces! Once the turtle's shell was clean, we could start to apply the glue.
There are three main ways to attach satellite transmitters to sea turtles: one is to put them on with straps, like a big turtle backpack; the second is to use fibreglass strips and resin; and the third is to use marine epoxy. The harness method has not been shown to work well for hard-shelled sea turtles like the loggerhead, so we prefer to use the second and third methods.
Our team has had many successful attachments using epoxy, and that is the method we used in this study. Epoxy is a special two-part glue that, when mixed together, gets very hot and then hardens to a very strong finish. The glue is first mixed on a floor tile to allow the majority of the heat reaction (or exothermic reaction) to take place, and is then spread onto the turtle's back using a putty knife. As soon as a nice even layer is in place, the PTT is placed on the turtle's back at the head end of the shell, in the middle.
We also place two small wooden blocks in front of the PTT to prevent it from being damaged if the turtle scrapes her shell against underwater ledges or rocks. Loggerheads often do this, so we find that these wooden blocks are vitally important. We then mix up some more epoxy and smear it all over the wooden blocks and the PTT to hold them in place and keep them well-attached. Care must be taken to make sure that no glue gets onto the saltwater switches at the front of the PTT; these switches tell the PTT to transmit to the satellites when the turtle comes to the surface to breathe.
This whole procedure takes about an hour and can be started from when the turtle is laying her eggs on the beach. This means that when she has finished laying, covering and camouflaging her nest we have to keep her on the beach for a further time, up to 40 minutes. We do this using a large square box that is placed over the turtle like a pen. Most turtles don’t seem to mind this too much, and the turtles at Bald Head Island were very quiet and stayed nice and still for us. When we are happy that the epoxy has had long enough to set and that the PTT and wooden blocks are firmly glued, we lift the box and let the turtle go.
What are your thoughts and ideas? I wouldn't be using as much epoxy as they use, and wouldn't use the wooden blocks either...
-Paul