Rare Turtle I Encountered in SC

[lenny flank]

The weather here in Columbia SC has been pretty crappy lately—cloudy and chilly. So when the sun finally came out and things warmed up, I wanted to spend a day outside, and made my way to the Congaree National Park. Although it is not a very large park, it is the biggest remaining tract of old-growth lowland forest in the eastern US. Some of the Bald Cypress and Loblolly Pines here are several hundred years old and well over 100 feet tall. The park itself is very recent, being established in 2003.

And while puttering along the walkway, I found something that excited me—a Spotted Turtle. Yeh, OK, maybe a turtle doesn’t excite YOU, but for a reptile guy like me it was like finding a pot of gold. The Spotted Turtle, Clemmys guttata, ranges from eastern Canada all the way to northern Florida. But despite this wide geographic range, it is in serious danger. Since its preferred habitat—lowland forest—has been largely destroyed, the turtle is listed as “endangered” in Canada, and nearly all of the states where it occurs have also listed it as “threatened” or “endangered”. Currently, the Spotted Turtle is under consideration for a listing on the Endangered Species List. Despite a lifetime of wandering around in the woods of Pennsylvania, this is the first one I’ve ever seen in the wild, and I was very fortunate to see it. (I excitedly pointed it out to a few others who happened to be hiking by, but alas they didn’t seem to be too impressed with it.)

So here is a photo of my Spotted Turtle:

It's the simple pleasures that make life worthwhile.   

 

[Matlock]

Other than your turtle's got Skittles...
I hate that commercial... seriously, nice find and thanks for sharing.

 

[lenny flank]

I did let the park ranger know I'd seen it, and showed her my photos. They logged the sighting--she said she had not seen one in the park.

My camera has a 50x zoom, so that functions pretty well as a binoculars.

EDIT: PS--any time I see a Bald Eagle I always stop whatever I am doing to watch. Magnificent birds.

 

[ratfink56]

I'm impressed that you knew what you were looking at. Very cool.

 

[sreesekelley]

I saw a bunch of turtles myself today but i don't know if they had spots. they saw Ruby and all six jumped in the water before i could get a camera out let alone get close enough for photos. We came back later but they were nowhere to be seen.

 

[lenny flank]

I'm impressed that you knew what you were looking at. Very cool.

I sorta cheated: I used to do live reptile shows for school classes as a living, so I've kept well over 100 different species of reptile, amphibian and invertebrate including venomous, and I know all the native reptiles from Pennsylvania and Florida. So i knew immediately what it was.

 

[lenny flank]

I saw a bunch of turtles myself today but i don't know if they had spots.  they saw Ruby and all six jumped in the water before i could get a camera out let alone get close enough for photos.  We came back later but they were nowhere to be seen.

Most of the turtles I have encountered don't seem to mind if humans walk past them: it's when the humans STOP that they get all nervous and slide off into the water. So I have learned to photograph them while I am still walking.  

But Spotted Turtles aren't "water turtles": they can't swim very well, and they prefer to be on soggy areas of land with scattered shallow puddles.

 

[cyndi]

WOW! That's so cool.
Earlier tonight a friendly and I were crossing guards for a known vernal crossing. Stopping cars for blue spotted salamanders and wood frogs.

We got quite screw across the road safely. Watching the salamanders cross safely is like watching paint dry.

 

[lenny flank]

^^^^ As a kid in Pennsylvania, I often watched Garter Snakes peeling road-killed frogs off the pavement.

 

[moorejames]

I used to see those all the time as a kid in NE Ohio. Didn't realize they had become endangered. Very cool you found one.

 

[NoMadYesHappy]

Okay, short story ...

In my working days, I would travel the US pretty extensively ... never got to see much of the US ... I was always head down workin'.

Anyway, on one trip I took OTR with the company's service trailer in tow, my co-worker hollers at me, "Stop ... stop .. stop ...!!!" So, I pull over to the side of the road where he jumps out and runs over to a turtle that had wandered onto the pavement. He gently picks the "beast" up and escorts it back over to the heavily wooded areas well back from the highway. He jumps back in and looks me in the eye, saying, "I love turtles!" ... and so he does! It was actually a very cool thing to witness someone's passion in action!

 

[bullfrog]

During spring rains in eastern Kentucky watched a guy stop to get a huge snapping turtle out of the road. He picked it up by the sides and as the turtle's head and long neck quickly extended back to try to take off his thumb he heaved the heavy turtle several yards into the brush with all the the strenght he had and sat down in the road about to have a heart attack. When I got there to help him up I explained it was best to grab the tail or rear leg. His reply was he was glad it was raining so no one would notice he pissed himself, after which we both had a good laugh.

 

[lenny flank]

I used to keep a big Florida Snapping Turtle that I used for shows. She was .... uh ....... not friendly.

 

[I Like Turtles]

Space turtles are cool to watch because they are skinny and a little unstable when back on earth.

 

[I Like Turtles]

Russians know how to experiment in cool ways.  But they ate them afterwards.  But it was not safe.
Space turtle meat can cause death and other nasty things.
Intestinal muscle clots, brain clots with tiny spots of liquefying brain, and sometimes bad breath too.
Don't eat the turtles.  A good substitute is tofu with corn cut from the cob.

Armadillo taste the same but is also unsafe it will turn you into a leper.

 

[Weight]

It does hurt a turtle to pick it up by the tail. A Common Snapper can bit your finger, but usually not off. Holding both sides the shell near the back end is the way to handle a large turtle. Use gloves to protect from rear claws. Be stronger than the turtle. I relocate them every May and June here in South Jersey. We still have many but protected Spotted Turtles, Two types of Red Sliders, and Musk Turtles found in the ponds and swampy areas. It is also a treat to see the Terrapins come up the tidal creeks to nest their eggs.
"Brave Wilderness" funny episode of being bitten by Snapper.

 

[Cammalu]

My pond turtles are pretty cute. They come in for food everyday. Well I have two snapping turtles that show up everyday. Once in a while a third one.

This years baby red slider

Whenever I see Box turtle in the road I take it to my property

Sometimes the turtles get a ride

 

[johnny b]

Between Dulles Airport (IAD) and Leesburg Virginia along the toll road called 'The Greenway' are a few of these signs:



Years back a woman battled the red tape and then paid 3 grand to have them installed.
Lots of turtle lovers out there it seems.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article...ke-to-turtles-who-use-busy-Virginia-road.html