[Rapture]

I just took my dogs for a walk and there was a tiny little turtle, maybe 1" in size on my walkway. I want to help the little thing but don't know what to do. Can someone give me advice? There is a creek behind my property, should I bring the turtle closer to it?

[Blutime]

If it's in harms way just move him out of the way of dogs or other hazards. Don't move him too far. He will do best if not relocated, so if there are no immediate hazards just leave him where he was found. Many people will move a turtle out of a road without consideration for the direction he was heading. If put on the side they had just left, they will attempt in many cases to recross the road.

[Rapture]

I live on over an acre and he was not in harms way but very far from water. I guess I answered my own question because I just brought him near the water but thanks! What a cutie, here's a picture.

[Blutime]

What a cutie!

[Woof Woof Woof!]

Cutie!

Last year I was driving down a main road when I saw this thing that looked like a miniature dragon with a spiny top in the middle of the road!!!! Amazing that I even spotted it.

I turned around and came back and found it again, this time all the way to the curb on the other side of the road, but too small to get up the curb. It was a small black baby snapping turtle! I thought, what the heck??? Anyhow, I picked him up and put him in the pond in the back of where I live. I hope he is still there swimming around with the beavers.

Normally you are not supposed to move turtles too far, but sometimes I do anyway. A few years ago I found a much larger (quite large, actually) snapping turtle trying to cross Route 2 near Concord Mass. For those unfamiliar, Route 2 is a highway, and this turtle was on her way to becoming a pancake. I pulled over and grabbed her and threw her in the trunk of my rental car. I say "her" because I'm sure it was a female searching for a place to lay her eggs. Turtles will travel a long distance to lay eggs. She was extremely smelly, as snapping turtles are (keeps them safe from predators) and she kept trying to bite me! I found a pond somewhere down the road and released her into the water. Again, I hope she's okay!

W.

[ShelbyGirl1]

That's a little red-eared slider....remember they use to sell them in pet stores when we were kids....then they stopped because of salmonella. He came from the creek...so putting him back down there would be ok.

[mrs1885]

Originally Posted by ShelbyGirl1

That's a little red-eared slider....remember they use to sell them in pet stores when we were kids....then they stopped because of salmonella. He came from the creek...so putting him back down there would be ok.

Totally agreed. He's just a hatchling and a favorite snack item of birds of prey, raccoons, etc. If you can find a little bush of some kind at the water's edge that would be perfect for him.

[brokencrayola]

That is a water turtle, so put him next to the creek and he should do ok.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Good job, Rapture!

Originally Posted by Woof Woof Woof!

Cutie!

Last year I was driving down a main road when I saw this thing that looked like a miniature dragon with a spiny top in the middle of the road!!!! Amazing that I even spotted it.

I turned around and came back and found it again, this time all the way to the curb on the other side of the road, but too small to get up the curb. It was a small black baby snapping turtle! I thought, what the heck???

I once found a black snapping turtle in the gutter, apparently the babies end up there quite often. I just left him alone because it was a quiet street and he was not far from water. I did pick him up to inspect him, and that little head whipped around, trying to snap at me.
Our first summer here, they were bulldozing down the street and a couple of gopher tortoises were disturbed. I moved one in the direction she (it was late May, I do think it was a she) she was going, to some uninhabited woods.

[Connecticut Pam]

Yes bring the turtle to the creek near your property but be careful...if he is a "snapper" baby or not, he could latch on to a finger. Don't know what kind of turtles you have in SC, just be careful. I'll bet he was cute, huh?

I am a true creature lover...except for SNAKES...yuk,