gavindr
New Member
In short, I need some help identifying the species of a turtle or tortoise I saw as a kid on some land I inherited in the far northwest corner of Kansas. It had a tall shell and slight fluted humps to clear its legs. The shell was solid dark olive green. It looked like a smaller turtle hiding under a WW2 helmut. It didn't stand so I don't know what it's feet look like, geez, sorry. I know that's critical but I didn't think I could pick it up and I thought it needed to eat or rest. Not be traumatized.
My aim is to get some babies and gown ups, breed them and learn so I can reintroduce some marriage material to (perhaps) the offspring of that big turtle and get their numbers up. Turtles are a blessing on the land, and they bring good luck and bless the land if they are happy. It was my grandparents land at the time and they had a lot of compassion for the little creatures. My brother just didn't have the same genes as me or something. Anyway, I'd like to know it's diet as there aren't a lot of fruits and vegetables laying around on the dry brown prairie. In fact, the only thing that lays around on the ground to eat is cow poop, fire ants, bugs. I just spent all day writing about why I believe that cow poo and rabbit poo is my best guess for growing a turtle up huge like the one I saw. It's the perfect turtle survival food. If turtles ate grass, how'd they chew it up? Look, they just aren't equipped to roam the prairie cutting, mashing up the hard dry "buffalo grass" and digesting it with an enormous enzymatic bacterial disintegration tank of a belly like cattle, but the image sure makes me laugh. Rabbits are small and they get along but they are busy all day cutting, chewing, dropping turtle pellets. I believe it lived smart. It used animals to cut, chew, process the vegetation and begin the bacterial breakdown and conversion of cellulose to sugars and proteins. The cow's digestion is pretty good but consider all the people on earth who flatten and dry cow turds and use them for fuel. There's tons of concentrated energy in a fresh, steamy cow turd and it's all warm and ready to go down. No chewing required, as if it could. I bet it's turtle heaven for a frigid reptilian tortoise in the morning. It's the breakfast if tortoise champion survivers. The turtle likely has more powerful bacteria at it's disposal too like salmonella. It doesn't get sick on it but it's so active, it'll make a cow turd like a glass of milk and orange juice. It's instant energy.
One commenter on here said that his turtles would wait until the dog poop was gray and falling apart before the turtles ate them. See? They know exactly what they're doing. The turd is sitting there in the sun, bacteria is breaking it down further and further until it loses the stuff it didn't want anyway and what's left is perfectly broken down and soft. Dog's saliva kills many "germs" so it may be waiting for that saliva to break down before it can use its own arsenal of reptilian bacteria to finish that cake off. For a creature without teeth, what do you think it eats in the wild? Carrot juice? I'm deleting the rest because it's so long. It's just a plausible theory. I'll be feeding them turtle food.
I just need help to identify the turtle so I can start and do it right. I don't want to introduce some kind that can't live there.
OK, I moved its description to the very start because I went a little crazy about writing. It's exciting to have people to write to who are turtle heads. I'm just a turtle but. Once I learn more and get some to hatch, maybe I'll be awarded a turtle head sticker.
My sister and I as kids, took a walk in our grandparents pasture one day near Norton Kansas, far north west corner of Kansas. It's a very dry place, but the terrain is less flat than you're probably thinking if you've had the misfortune to drive across the state. We saw a really huge turtle that day and it stuck in my mind ever since. I've always had a fondness for turtles. Now, I want to help them breed before I die.
The turtle had a tall, smooth, unmarked, green shell with light fluting around the legs. It looked like a WW2 helmut, I thought. It did not show me its feet, so I'm sorry for the lack of that info. Yes, I said this at the beginning but at first it was just down here where people quit reading. I can't say if it was a tortoise or turtle but it's too dry for a turtle, unless it lived in a pond upstream, or the creek downstream. There used to be a lake made by digging out a place where large sections of land drain into and then the dirt was made into the dam. Water leaks around the top and the whole thing really needs fixing even 40 years ago. But it could have lived in or near what was left of it. It still held some water. When it rains the frogs or toads come out and croak like crazy and there are tadpoles in every pond and some actually grow legs before the pond dries up. There's also a creek down stream from the turtle about half a mile. It may be that it sensed the storm and began walking upstream along the side of that gulley like that. That matches the direction it was facing at the time. Ok, so it could be either one, a tortoise or a type of pond turtle. When I see pictures of the Blanding's turtle, it reminds me of its shell shape and solid olive green shell. He had a very calm disposition, even though this rainstorm must have been pretty scary. Every little feature of the earth came alive with water. Every ravine and draw, gulley or even what were once cattle trails long ago, were now torrential waterways. I'm sure it remembered many of these so that explains its calm. I came close and he just poked it's head closer to take a look. I think that's when I fell in love and I went to the house to find something for it to eat. It must have been through a lot that night. I couldn't find it when I returned with food. I've hoped ever since that it didn't jump in the water. That was dangerous water. He may have just hid behind a fencepost and dug a hole. No clue.
What a tenacity for life !! I have so much respect for that turtle. I hope it's still alive but that'd make it 70 years old. I hope it has offspring. Well, I don't have any offspring so I'm giving him offspring one way or another.
Can anyone tell me what kind of turtle this was by the location, description of the turtle and it's rugged living environment? How did it survive SO LONG? What has it been eating all these years, in other words? There's nothing to eat. it's so barren. I mean, NOW it's barren. I sincerely thank anyone who reads my story and I hope we can identify what turtles or tortoises are native to this location and maybe we can narrow it down from there. THANK YOU ALL
My aim is to get some babies and gown ups, breed them and learn so I can reintroduce some marriage material to (perhaps) the offspring of that big turtle and get their numbers up. Turtles are a blessing on the land, and they bring good luck and bless the land if they are happy. It was my grandparents land at the time and they had a lot of compassion for the little creatures. My brother just didn't have the same genes as me or something. Anyway, I'd like to know it's diet as there aren't a lot of fruits and vegetables laying around on the dry brown prairie. In fact, the only thing that lays around on the ground to eat is cow poop, fire ants, bugs. I just spent all day writing about why I believe that cow poo and rabbit poo is my best guess for growing a turtle up huge like the one I saw. It's the perfect turtle survival food. If turtles ate grass, how'd they chew it up? Look, they just aren't equipped to roam the prairie cutting, mashing up the hard dry "buffalo grass" and digesting it with an enormous enzymatic bacterial disintegration tank of a belly like cattle, but the image sure makes me laugh. Rabbits are small and they get along but they are busy all day cutting, chewing, dropping turtle pellets. I believe it lived smart. It used animals to cut, chew, process the vegetation and begin the bacterial breakdown and conversion of cellulose to sugars and proteins. The cow's digestion is pretty good but consider all the people on earth who flatten and dry cow turds and use them for fuel. There's tons of concentrated energy in a fresh, steamy cow turd and it's all warm and ready to go down. No chewing required, as if it could. I bet it's turtle heaven for a frigid reptilian tortoise in the morning. It's the breakfast if tortoise champion survivers. The turtle likely has more powerful bacteria at it's disposal too like salmonella. It doesn't get sick on it but it's so active, it'll make a cow turd like a glass of milk and orange juice. It's instant energy.
One commenter on here said that his turtles would wait until the dog poop was gray and falling apart before the turtles ate them. See? They know exactly what they're doing. The turd is sitting there in the sun, bacteria is breaking it down further and further until it loses the stuff it didn't want anyway and what's left is perfectly broken down and soft. Dog's saliva kills many "germs" so it may be waiting for that saliva to break down before it can use its own arsenal of reptilian bacteria to finish that cake off. For a creature without teeth, what do you think it eats in the wild? Carrot juice? I'm deleting the rest because it's so long. It's just a plausible theory. I'll be feeding them turtle food.
I just need help to identify the turtle so I can start and do it right. I don't want to introduce some kind that can't live there.
OK, I moved its description to the very start because I went a little crazy about writing. It's exciting to have people to write to who are turtle heads. I'm just a turtle but. Once I learn more and get some to hatch, maybe I'll be awarded a turtle head sticker.
My sister and I as kids, took a walk in our grandparents pasture one day near Norton Kansas, far north west corner of Kansas. It's a very dry place, but the terrain is less flat than you're probably thinking if you've had the misfortune to drive across the state. We saw a really huge turtle that day and it stuck in my mind ever since. I've always had a fondness for turtles. Now, I want to help them breed before I die.
The turtle had a tall, smooth, unmarked, green shell with light fluting around the legs. It looked like a WW2 helmut, I thought. It did not show me its feet, so I'm sorry for the lack of that info. Yes, I said this at the beginning but at first it was just down here where people quit reading. I can't say if it was a tortoise or turtle but it's too dry for a turtle, unless it lived in a pond upstream, or the creek downstream. There used to be a lake made by digging out a place where large sections of land drain into and then the dirt was made into the dam. Water leaks around the top and the whole thing really needs fixing even 40 years ago. But it could have lived in or near what was left of it. It still held some water. When it rains the frogs or toads come out and croak like crazy and there are tadpoles in every pond and some actually grow legs before the pond dries up. There's also a creek down stream from the turtle about half a mile. It may be that it sensed the storm and began walking upstream along the side of that gulley like that. That matches the direction it was facing at the time. Ok, so it could be either one, a tortoise or a type of pond turtle. When I see pictures of the Blanding's turtle, it reminds me of its shell shape and solid olive green shell. He had a very calm disposition, even though this rainstorm must have been pretty scary. Every little feature of the earth came alive with water. Every ravine and draw, gulley or even what were once cattle trails long ago, were now torrential waterways. I'm sure it remembered many of these so that explains its calm. I came close and he just poked it's head closer to take a look. I think that's when I fell in love and I went to the house to find something for it to eat. It must have been through a lot that night. I couldn't find it when I returned with food. I've hoped ever since that it didn't jump in the water. That was dangerous water. He may have just hid behind a fencepost and dug a hole. No clue.
What a tenacity for life !! I have so much respect for that turtle. I hope it's still alive but that'd make it 70 years old. I hope it has offspring. Well, I don't have any offspring so I'm giving him offspring one way or another.
Can anyone tell me what kind of turtle this was by the location, description of the turtle and it's rugged living environment? How did it survive SO LONG? What has it been eating all these years, in other words? There's nothing to eat. it's so barren. I mean, NOW it's barren. I sincerely thank anyone who reads my story and I hope we can identify what turtles or tortoises are native to this location and maybe we can narrow it down from there. THANK YOU ALL