Bob the Box Turtle
I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. I would like to send out a special thanks to all of our troops, veterans and their families!
It was terribly hot here, but we are very fortunate to belong to a local pool. We had a busy weekend of birthday parties, family and house projects (with some pool time mixed in). Yesterday morning we came downstairs and noticed the our cat Spot was in the back window staring at something outside (normally she is stalking the bunnies in the back). We were very surprised to see something all together different. It was a fairly large turtle all the way up on our bulkhead to the basement looking towards us.
Turtle in its Temporary Accommodations
We aren’t sure exactly what type of turtle he is, he is the shape of a box turtle, but the wrong color. He is the right color of a mud or a musk turtle, but too big. His shell was somewhat beat up, we are guessing that he is an older box turtle (fortunately he wasn’t a snapping turtle). We searched online for native turtle to PA without a lot of luck. Mom-What do you think?
Underside of Turtle with Hinged shell underneath
We have NO IDEA how he got to our yard, except that maybe he got lost in all of the rain from the last couple of weeks. We are 6 blocks from the closest stream and quite a few yards and streets and he looked too weathered to be someone’s pet.
Sam was very excited to meet Bob
Mr. S. put him in a bucket so the kids could see him. After visiting with him we decided to take him to a park about 1/2 mile away that has some low land and and stream. The kids decided to name him Bob. Sam put on his gardening gloves and helped put him in the grass near the stream. Hopefully Bob is happy in his new home.
Anyone out there no what type of turtle or tortoise Bob is?
Bob looks like a handsome box turtle. I like his copper tones. Looking at his under shell, he appears to be a male. Even if “he” were a “she”, you would not have to worry about “babies left behind”. Turtles don’t take of their young. I’m glad the children got to see him in their own yard. I’m glad you took him back to the woodlands too. Although he doesn’t have flippers & swim, they do like to forge around water. mom