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What is the best way I can help turtles?
A turtle laid eggs in our yard. What should we do?
I can’t take care of my pet turtle anymore. Can I let it go?
If I see a turtle crossing the road, what should I do?
Q: What is the best way I can help turtles?
A: In our opinion, protecting intact blocks of habitat is the most effective conservation tool, not only for turtles but all other flora and fauna. Ways to work toward habitat protection include becoming involved in your local land trust, contributing to other habitat preservation organizations (such as Trustees of the Reservations in Massachusetts). Go to meetings of your town’s zoning, wetlands, and conservation commissions.
Q: A turtle laid eggs in our yard. What should we do?
A: The first thing to remember is that turtles have made more turtles just fine for millennia without our help. That said, your dog and raccoons are very likely to dig the eggs up within the first 72 hours. Cover the nest site with a board weighed down by a rock and remove after a few days, ideally when it is raining to help dilute the nest’s scent.
Depending on how warm the summer is, the eggs will hatch in around 70 days.
Do NOT dig up the nest if you think it has been too long. Painted turtle hatchlings overwinter in the nest.
Should you see the hatchlings in your yard, it is fine to move them to a moist area in the area you suspect the mother turtle came from. But they will find their way fine by themselves. Again, they managed just fine without us.
Q: I can’t take care of my pet turtle any more. Can I let it go?
A: No. Because:
1) Disease transfer to wild populations is a real risk. You say your turtle is healthy? So were the Europeans that infected Native Americans with deadly small pox.
2) Red-eared Sliders (that start out as those little green turtles) have become such an invasive species that they are stressing native turtle populations.
3) Even if your pet turtle is a native species, you still have the risk of disease introduction plus the introduction of an animal not sharing the "local" genetics of a local population.
In summary, once a captive, always a captive. You took the animal into your care (or let your kid get it.). It is your responsibility to continue that care of find someone willing to take over that responsibility.
Q: If I see a turtle crossing the road, what should I do?
A: Move the turtle to the side of the road it was headed, even if there is a nice big pond in the other direction. It is likely a female leaving the pond to nest. Assume the turtle knows where it wants to go.
Large snapping turtles do pose a challenge. We suggest the "keep pushing with foot" method. Don’t lift them by the tail. It is no different to lifting a large dog by the tail, with injury to the animal almost certain.
