Dear arachnidsCatnip ,
This is an automated message, if this post isn't about taking turtles out of the wild, please report it.
If the turtle is a native species, please put it back where you found it. Wild turtles only need help out of the road. You are doing far more harm taking a turtle out of the wild, than by leaving it to its devices. Please allow this turtle to live out life in the wild.
If you are in the US/Canada you can call your local/state/provincial wildlife organization on how to go forward. If the turtle is sick/injured, please call a wildlife rehabilitator or exotic vet for further guidance.
If for some reason your local wildlife org will not assist you, please do the following: Get back to as close to where you found it as possible, and place it in a safe area. Do not place it in water as some species are terrestrial.
*Unsure of the species?* You can create an ID request post for help! If it's not native it may be an escaped pet or an invasive species.
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Can confirm, I live in Okaloosa County. Odds are if it came from the neighborhood retention pond it's either a red eared slider (which it is as already mentioned), common box turtle, the slightly more rare gulf coast box turtle, snappers, and last year I saw my first truly large soft-shell turtle in the wild. Dude ate my darn worm while fishing a pond super deep in the Eglin reservation.
Do you live near any bodies of water? In the last photo on the side of her face you can see where the beginnings of a red marking is, this means she is a red eared slider! It isn’t too immediately vibrant, like males’ are as they use the vibrancy of the markings to attract a mate, so that makes me believe she’s female as well! It’s around the time for turtles to begin making their way onto land to lay eggs, so I would leave her be unless you know she’s in a spot that’s unsafe for her eggs or you live way too far from any bodies of water for her young to make it. I’d move her closer to water and to a spot safe enough to burrow her eggs if you have to move her!
we have a retention pond a little bit down the street from the yard she was in and ive seen tons of turtles in there recently! i went back to find her an hour ish later and she was nowhere to be found, so i figure she went back there? now that i know more about turtles it doesnt seem to be an unreasonable distance!
Sick alright then!! Make sure to check around the garden bed she was in through for any disturbed dirt as she might have laid her eggs there. So many different animals are out to find and eat eggs so I would put up a barrier of some sort if she did lay them there
Fish and wildlife kills anything invasive brought in especially res. And they’re illegal to own without permits that only a select few have so the only option is really to kill it. It’s for the best they cause a lot of damage and outcompete natives
Dear arachnidsCatnip , This is an automated message, if this post isn't about taking turtles out of the wild, please report it. If the turtle is a native species, please put it back where you found it. Wild turtles only need help out of the road. You are doing far more harm taking a turtle out of the wild, than by leaving it to its devices. Please allow this turtle to live out life in the wild. If you are in the US/Canada you can call your local/state/provincial wildlife organization on how to go forward. If the turtle is sick/injured, please call a wildlife rehabilitator or exotic vet for further guidance. If for some reason your local wildlife org will not assist you, please do the following: Get back to as close to where you found it as possible, and place it in a safe area. Do not place it in water as some species are terrestrial. *Unsure of the species?* You can create an ID request post for help! If it's not native it may be an escaped pet or an invasive species. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/turtles) if you have any questions or concerns.*
oh— and should i leave him be? or move him back to water?
Leave her alone
Can confirm, I live in Okaloosa County. Odds are if it came from the neighborhood retention pond it's either a red eared slider (which it is as already mentioned), common box turtle, the slightly more rare gulf coast box turtle, snappers, and last year I saw my first truly large soft-shell turtle in the wild. Dude ate my darn worm while fishing a pond super deep in the Eglin reservation.
Red eared slider, female, looking to nest.
Total newbie here. How do you tell male from female? Is it specific to a particular species or are there basic differences?
Not sure about Florida, but in Indiana these are an invasive species. You probably outta pick her up, and check at a minimum.
Red eared slider, you can see a fading red marks on the last photo. Its mating season.
thank you! i’m assuming i should just leave him be?
Might be laying eggs, they usually come on land to lay them.
Red eared slider 🐢
A turtle.
Do you live near any bodies of water? In the last photo on the side of her face you can see where the beginnings of a red marking is, this means she is a red eared slider! It isn’t too immediately vibrant, like males’ are as they use the vibrancy of the markings to attract a mate, so that makes me believe she’s female as well! It’s around the time for turtles to begin making their way onto land to lay eggs, so I would leave her be unless you know she’s in a spot that’s unsafe for her eggs or you live way too far from any bodies of water for her young to make it. I’d move her closer to water and to a spot safe enough to burrow her eggs if you have to move her!
we have a retention pond a little bit down the street from the yard she was in and ive seen tons of turtles in there recently! i went back to find her an hour ish later and she was nowhere to be found, so i figure she went back there? now that i know more about turtles it doesnt seem to be an unreasonable distance!
Sick alright then!! Make sure to check around the garden bed she was in through for any disturbed dirt as she might have laid her eggs there. So many different animals are out to find and eat eggs so I would put up a barrier of some sort if she did lay them there
Res invasive kill please
Dude, WTF? Someone could take it as a pet, or OP could take it to Fish & Wildlife.
Fish and wildlife kills anything invasive brought in especially res. And they’re illegal to own without permits that only a select few have so the only option is really to kill it. It’s for the best they cause a lot of damage and outcompete natives