I released three young box turtles today. Watch the video at the end of this post for all the details. The first two releases were hatchlings that I hatched from rescued eggs in the nature center–scroll down to read my previous blog posting and photos of these tiny turtles hatching and read more about their story.  Check out this photo of one of the hatchlings just before I released him–you can still see his tiny little egg tooth–the white thing on the end of his nose–that he used to slice his way out of the egg!  It will drop off soon.

In the second part of the video I release Betty the head start box turtle. Below is a photo of Betty just after her release.

Betty the turtle was rescued a couple of years ago by Betty the human who is a friend of Meredith’s. Betty the human was walking along a remote dirt road in the forest when she found a nest of box turtle eggs that had been overcome by ants. The ants had eaten eaten all but one of the hatching baby turtles–Betty the turtle. Betty the human took the little survivor to Turtle Mom Meredith who took care of her for a time before delivering her to me so that I could care for her until she was older and better able to defend herself from predators like the ants. Betty stayed with me for several years in the nature center and today I have released her into the wild only a few feet from her hatching location. Now that she has grown she will not be eaten by ants–she will eat them!

Good luck Betty!

Thank you Betty and Meredith for saving this little turtle’s life.

Watch the video below of the release of two of the three young turtles. If the video does not show on your computer then just follow this link to my Youtube Channel.