I found an injured ornate in the middle of a road last October. I took
him to the vets for treatment of his shell, got him antibiotics and
nursed him back to health over the winter. He appears to have
recovered well, eats from my hand and has good mobility. I'm not sure
of his age.
Now that it's Spring, is it best to release him or keep him? I've
gotten attached to him, but I want to do the right thing.

kat

If you have any other reptiles then it's best to not release him back
into the wild, because he could have picked up something from the
other reptiles that you are not aware of and by releasing him, you
could end up spreading this new disease into the wild population. When
my organization does rescues, we won't keep the animal for more than
absolutely necessary, and if we can't release it right away for any
reason, (like yours) we won't release it back to the wild. Besides the
risk of spreading unknown diseases, the turtle might not know where it
is and be lost. The more they find out about reptiles, the more they
know that any that live around 20 years or more (as a species) tend to
rely on situational memories and where food can be found, where
shelter from the hottest part of the day can be found and various
other things necessary for their survival. I would say that if it is
legal in your state to keep a native reptile, then keep it. If it is
not legal to keep the turtle, then release it near where it was found
or turn it into the local Game & Fish office.If it is a non-native,
then do NOT release it anywhere, keep it for a pet.

Talk to you later,
Katsnake.

Thanks for the reply.

The turtle is native to this state. We do have other reptiles that are
kept in seperate tanks.
The snakes and lizards we have are healthy, but your point is well
taken.

The reptile vet we took the turtle to last October recomended that we
kept the turtle through the winter. The vet's reasoning was that it
was getting cold, the turtle was probably crosssing the road looking
for a place to hibernate and the weather was about to get much colder,
plus we needed time for the turtle's puncture wound to heal.

My concern now is that the turtle appears to have gotten used to being
handled and handfed. I don't feel comfortable to let him go where I
found him because he might get hit by a car again. I was thinking of
an area out in the sticks somewhere, away from any traffic. However,
as you stated, I sure don't want to abandon him if he can't readjust
to the wild.

While still in his hide that he now uses as a shelter, I put him
outside the other day (before it got cold again). Within minutes, he
closed up the hinge on his shell! I havn't seen him do that since I
found him injured on the road. Maybe this is natural for them to do
when outdoors, but it concerned me.
Thanks again for the advice, and I'll take care of him unless I get
more information that convinces me to release him.

chris mcmartin

I'm not a fan of releasing animals once you've taken them in. Like you
said, there's a good chance he'll try to cross the road again if released
where found, and if released somewhere else, he might wander aimlessly
looking for his home territory, and cross many more roads.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

silly dummy

<jimdep1@yahoo.com> > My concern now is that the turtle appears to have
gotten used to being handled and handfed. I sure don't want to abandon him
if he can't readjust to the wild.

If you ever had planned to release the turtle, then why were you handfeeding
it?

No doubt you have traumatized the turtle as much or more than being run over
by a car. Once again, a well-intentioned human has corrupted a wild
creature.

This is a perfect example of why the Federation always commanded the members
of the Star Fleet to engage in minimal interaction with primitive cultures.
I hope you have not been teaching your turtles how to use weapons.

As explained to me by the herp-vet, he had some healing to do, and
could not be re-released into the wild until Spring.
If I didn't hand feed him, he wouldn't eat.
I followed the advice of the vet.

More than being run over? Sure, buddy.

Please return to outer space.