spring 2022

[mark1]

meteorological spring , our calendar spring is like march 21rst ......... big difference over the last 2 weeks , snow is almost completely gone ......

this thirty gallon cement tub and diy filter was buried under 2-3 feet of snow for more than a month , no heater , just the heat from a small submersible pump......... it's been running for 2 straight winters

 

[mark1]

we got to 70 yesterday , this guy was out so i brought him in , probably never went too deep , warmed up quicker cause of his size , he may not know , but winter will be back here ..... most likely he'd dig back down and survive the rest of it , but he did well , he's pretty small , surprised i saw him ........ wood turtles and the adult box turtles knew not to come out.......

blandings turtle are always out, almost year round

 

[mark1]

ground temp has been 50-52 F for 4 days , i'd think another couple warm days and some box turtles will show up ....... ground here at this time of year is usually around 40 F ..... wood turtles been out since last week ..........

small box turtle that came out a couple weeks ago during a few day warm spell...... this would be my reason i hibernate my turtles , he looks great ...

 

[Len B]

We had some warm weather too. Haven't seen any box turtles but all the local water turtles have been active.

 

[Maro2Bear]

No Box Turtles spotted yet here in Maryland, but like Len, the locals are up & basking.

 

[Jacqui]

Wow you have both Blandings and Woods!! Those are some of my favorites.

 

[mark1]

Wow you have both Blandings and Woods!! Those are some of my favorites.

i started keeping native turtles in 2000 , i had had all these type turtles as a kid , i always liked seeing them ......you need a license here , i had thought it would be a problem , turned out it's easy in ohio , unless your selling or transferring ownership of them ....

No Box Turtles spotted yet here in Maryland, but like Len, the locals are up & basking.

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the instability/fluctuation of river temps over ground temps can be pretty radical here, last week one day it was 70 , 2 days later it was 14 ........ the river by me is pretty shallow and can change temps 10 degrees in 12hrs easily .....what type of turtles are those ? the large one looks like a red eared ?

We had some warm weather too. Haven't seen any box turtles but all the local water turtles have been active.

usually here it's mid april , seems this year is going to be early , we had a long stretch of thick snow cover in february , seems it kept the ground pretty warm ......... this 20 gallon cement mixing tub sunk in the ground ran all winter buried under 2-3 feet of snow , it's now ran 2yrs straight , i think the average temp for feb. 2022 here was 28F ....... i also had the little box turtle come out 2-3 weeks ago , he had to not be very deep ......

tub is right between these two post

 

[mark1]

looking to see any signs of box turtles this morning 37 F

 

[mark1]

this guy should be happy i spotted him 3-4 weeks ago, this is the time of year that's tough on them, here ... he obviously wasn't very deep and came out on a 74F day at the end of a 3 day warm spell ........ was 16F this morning , we haven't been above freezing since last week , tomorrow is supposed to be 70F , next week 23F.......... these guys amaze me , can't wait to see the adults come out .....

 

[jeff kushner]

Boy, that little Box turtle looks fantastic!

I recently watch a documentary about Blandings up in Nova Scotia ....native up there but of course, declining populations mostly due to fragmentation but what a cool turtle......and you've got a whole colony!

Very cool!

 

[Maggie3fan]

Boy, that little Box turtle looks fantastic!

I recently watch a documentary about Blandings up in Nova Scotia ....native up there but of course, declining populations mostly due to fragmentation but what a cool turtle......and you've got a whole colony!

Very cool!

I thought the same thing...they are really cool lookin...

 

[mark1]

Boy, that little Box turtle looks fantastic!

I recently watch a documentary about Blandings up in Nova Scotia ....native up there but of course, declining populations mostly due to fragmentation but what a cool turtle......and you've got a whole colony!

Very cool!

the little box turtle is doing great , i'm a bit partial to him because his light shell is an anomaly here , i'm intersted in seeing how it turns out ...... i left him out the first year until late december , this year i left him out until early march , i'd have left him out all year but he came out during a warm spell in early march , which is too early here for box turtles .....

i had a blanding's turtle when i was a kid ...... they are declining here also ..... i believe the only place they are doing well is nebraska ? i've only had them for 8yrs , 7 of 10 were all hatchlings when i got them ..... their cold tolerance has to be near the top of any reptile , they are active almost all winter , only thing they don't do is eat ...... was 29 degrees this morning and 40 when i took these pics this afternoon ......

was 30F when i seen this girl out in the sun........ the wood turtles came out the water mid march ....

 

[Maggie3fan]

the little box turtle is doing great , i'm a bit partial to him because his light shell is an anomaly here , i'm intersted in seeing how it turns out ...... i left him out the first year until late december , this year i left him out until early march , i'd have left him out all year but he came out during a warm spell in early march , which is too early here for box turtles .....

i had a blanding's turtle when i was a kid ...... they are declining here also ..... i believe the only place they are doing well is nebraska ? i've only had them for 8yrs , 7 of 10 were all hatchlings when i got them ..... their cold tolerance has to be near the top of any reptile , they are active almost all winter , only thing they don't do is eat ...... was 29 degrees this morning and 40 when i took these pics this afternoon ......

was 30F when i seen this girl out in the sun........ the wood turtles came out the water mid march ....

That would scare the heck outta me...I'd be soaking her in warm water lol

 

[mark1]

48F and sunny today
three 6yr old wood turtles were out the water today, i threw them some worms , first time they ate in 6 months .... first look i really got at them , they look in excellent health ....

guy on the brick is 8yrs old , the 2 girls behind him are 7yrs old

bought this one 4yrs ago , don't know the age , probably at least 6yrs .... i find the 3 i got from GS to be really pretty , the difference to the hatchlings i raised is really clear .......

 

[mark1]

70f last friday

today

 

[TortsNTurtles]

They are sooo beautiful!!

 

[Cathie G]

They are sooo beautiful!!

Aren't they though 😊 this time looking and I keep looking,🤗that's the word that kept coming to my mind.

 

[mark1]

was like 20F last monday , today it's supposed to be around 80 , 70-80 for the next 3 days ....... enough box turtles have come out , i dug up all i could find today and soaked them in the sun for a few hours , then put them back in the leaf pile ....... some of them were pretty deep , their spots were still pretty cold (insulated well) .......

this guy has survived here a long time , he was real deep ...... he been here through some brutal winters ....... i was glad to see him .....

put this guy back outside today , found him wandering around march 6th ......

 

[mark1]

got to be 87F last sunday , everybody was out , got down to the 30's wednesday thursday and friday , friday was 27F ...... today 65F and i believe it's gonna be spring here this time .....

 

[mark1]

sunny 57F spring day , feels like spring ......