'Little shelled friends': Keeping Texas turtles and tortoises safe in the summer
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The weather is warmer, and it is now getting into that time of year where you might see some more turtles or tortoises roaming around.
Red-eared sliders, river cooters, three-toed box turtles and the Texas tortoise are native to the Central Texas area, said Brenda Bush with the Central Texas Tortoise Rescue.
KXAN’s Tom Miller and Sally Hernandez spoke with Bush to get more details on how to safely rescue one if you see them in the road, or even in your backyard.
Read a transcription of the interview below, or watch in the video player above. Some responses were edited for clarity.
Tom Miller: So let’s first start with tell us who you brought today, and just tell us what species do we have here in Central Texas?
Brenda Bush: Well, we do actually have quite a few species in our area. A lot of what you see on the roads around us are red-eared sliders and river cooters, which we don’t handle at our rescue. So I didn’t have available to bring to you, but those are the ones you see a lot. You also might see some of these little guys. This is a little box turtle. This is a three-toed box turtle who’s being very shy right now, so he’s not going to show you himself. This is a Texas tortoise. This is our only native tortoise in Texas, and they’re actually native south of San Marcos. But they’re actually protected species, so you’re not supposed to take these from the wild. You’re not supposed to pick them up. You’re supposed to just leave them, let them be. If they are walking in a roadway and being a little, you know, dangerous, you can get them across the road. Help them finish crossing the road. Help them get the way they’re headed. Otherwise, they’ll just keep trying to get that way. So help them get across the road and get there, and then just leave them be, because they’re a protected species. Baby Sulcatas are very popular in the pet trade, but they do get very large. They get up to 200 pounds. So this is a baby. And they will live nearly 200 years, 150-200 years in captivity. And they’re huge, but they’re so popular in the pet trade, and people sometimes will get them not being well informed about what they’re getting into, and then they end up bringing them to us, or they outlive their owner. So therefore they get brought to us because the owner has, you know, passed away, and the other the family members, like, “No, I can’t do this.”
Sally Hernandez: For the people who are at home, the difference between a tortoise and a turtle?
Bush: They’re all chelonians, which is the scientific term for all of these little shelled friends. But most turtles like water. Box turtles will actually spend a lot of time in and out of the water. But tortoises tend to stay more on the land and stay and they do need water, though, that’s a myth. That they don’t need any water. They get it all from their food. Actually, that’s a myth. They need a lot of water. This guy, if you pick him up out in the wild, he might eliminate, he might urinate, and then he’ll he’ll be dehydrated, so he needs to find water pretty quickly after that to rehydrate himself. That’s why it’s not a good idea to pick them up from the wild.
Miller: What should you do if you’re in your backyard and you see a turtle or a tortoise?
Bush: If you know that, it’s a native species, like these two guys here, just let them go along their way. Red-ear sliders, river cooters — just let them go along their way. Leave them alone, as long as they’re not in danger. If they’re in danger again, you know, help them. Help them get to safety. But if they’re a pet tortoise, like this little Russian right here, or the Sulcata, or a giant Sulcata — any of those little guys, then we want you to to contact us or a wildlife rescue — and we will help you get them to a place that can get them a new home like us.
Hernandez: I want to talk about this rescue, because it’s really important that you even exist. Tell us about history, what you’re doing. And there is a call for volunteers, right?
Bush: We welcome volunteers to come and help us clean enclosures, plant new cactus, because they love cactus, all of those kinds of things. And we need, we need adopters like crazy. That’s what we need the most of is adopters, because we are a rescue. We work like a shelter. We take in tortoises and box turtles that need new homes and help them find new homes. So that’s what we need. We get a lot of them turned over to us, and they need new homes all the time. So we need new adopters. There is frequently a wait list to get animals into our shelter or our rescue. I have 12 foster homes across Texas, so thank goodness for our foster homes. They take in tortoises and turtles for us as well. But at my location near Pflugerville, we have over 20 tortoises and turtles right now. All of our places are at private homes, so we work by appointment. But yeah, we need adopters. That’s the main thing we need.
Hernandez: If you do choose to adopt, how is it? How do you care for them at home?
Bush: They have to have an outdoor enclosure. That way they’re the happiest and healthiest they can be. So building an outdoor enclosure, and we have guidance on our website, at texastortoiserescue.com. There’s lots of guidance on what the enclosure should look like, or can look like, as well as how to feed them, because they eat different things. This little guy is an omnivore. He loves to eat worms and snails. And this little guy, his primary diet is nothing but cactus. But these guys can’t be pets. We have a permit to keep him to teach people these guys are complete herbivores. Russians are complete herbivores. They like to eat just the grasses in your yard and things like that. So building a nice, healthy grassy planted enclosure is what’s needed.
