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Chrysemys picta
This is "Lucky" I saved her while she was trying to cross Tittabawassee Rd. in Saginaw, MI...for non locals, this road is pretty much a highway, and extremely dangerous. When I stopped to help her cross the street, once I picked her up I realized she was injured. I was to concerned with her well being to take a real before picture, but in the first photo I have listed for her, you will see I found a picture and edited it on paint to show you what her injury looked like. After cleaning out the wound, numbing it with oral gel, and placing it back together and applying her bandage, I released her two days later in the Shiawassee Flats, a game reserve located 20 miles from the road I picked her up from, but is protected and far away from cars. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus Chrysemys, which is part of the pond turtle family Emydidae. The adult painted turtle female is 10–25 cm (4–10 in) long; the male is smaller. The turtle's top shell is dark and smooth, without a ridge. Its skin is olive to black with red, orange, or yellow stripes on its extremities. The subspecies can be distinguished by their shells: the eastern has straight-aligned top shell segments; the midland has a large gray mark on the bottom shell; the southern has a red line on the top shell; the western has a red pattern on the bottom shell. The turtle eats aquatic vegetation, algae, and small water creatures including insects, crustaceans, and fish. Although they are frequently consumed as eggs or hatchlings by rodents, canines, and snakes, the adult turtles' hard shells protect them from most predators Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_tur...
The painted turtle is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Sources: Wikipedia
Spotted on Aug 2, 2013
Submitted on Sep 18, 2013
6 Comments
The patch was perfectly water proof, I had spoke to a turtle rescue who stated it was imperative that the inside of the shell stayed dry (other than her own bodily fluids of course) to prevent infection and ultimate death. I kept her for two days, and let her do a couple test swims in the tub before her release, there were no air pockets, and her patch, which consisted of a dried baby wipe, and super glue, was as hard as her own shell prior to her release. I even put a little more glue on the patch prior to her release just in case. I am hoping she fared well also, as stated I released her in a wild life reserve, so hopefully motor vehicles haven't been a threat to her. I was also concerned that she hadn't laid her eggs yet, so I am hoping if she did lay her eggs, the wound on the fleshy part of her body didn't break back open, so I am really hoping when I picked her up off the street she was coming back from laying her eggs, vs. on the way to laying eggs. Wish the was some way I could have tracked her, but im an average Joe, lol, can't afford technology like that.
Thanks for correcting the picture, Amanda. I also like the second close up :-)
It is a shame what happened to the poor turtle and so nice that you stopped and took care of her, thanks for this. I hope the turtle fared well after you released her.
Sorry about that, took care of it and I always forget if turtles are reptiles or amphibians, my apologies.
Dear Amanda: it is a lovely story. Thanks for sharing with us. I would recommend to use the last picture as first, where we have a nice close up of Lucky. Because as Ashley says below in PN we prefer to use pictures with no text content. If you have explained your story in the description then it is sufficient for people to learn what happened to Lucky.
As for Wikipedia: in my own experience I use parts that I consider relevant from their description and adapt them to the text in my own spottings. It is licit to use parts of text from another source while quoting (referencing) the source. It may not be needed though to add all the contents of their description.
All said, I want to welcome you to Project Noah! many thanks for sharing your rescue story. We are looking forward to hear about more from your side :-)
Hi amanda, first off, please move to this to the reptiles category. Also, we don't encourage pictures like your first one that are a bunch of pictures together, especially with writing. If you feel it is necessary to keep up, then please move it away from the first position and move another picture to where you can actually see the turtle to the first position.
And there is no need to put the entire description from Wikipedia in your description. You describe the animal, you describe the habitat, then there are spots for the links on the right side of the page when you are editing the spotting, and you just put the w Wikipedia link there and those who want more information just go click on the link. Please read our FAQ at the bottom of the page for more info, and we look forward to seeing more spottings from you in the future. Thanks!
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