They are losing their habitat daily and are getting squeezed into human areas.We have one rule:if you see one crossing the road,help it get going in that direction and let nature take it's course.Locally,I visited a local canal being dried up for roadwork,I knew a large turtle was in there and had him in my grasp but he got away.I visited morning and night for 2 weeks until only muck was left and one night he had climbed completely out of the mud ,about to cross the road and get killed.Guess he knew I was coming 'cause he came out ,up a berm and right into my hands.Got relocated to a wetlands.It was worth the effort.

ok then
 

I am risking too much OT so maybe I will consider giving myself an .....oh wait, I am exempt. Never mind. Anyway, just one more quick turtle story. About 2 months ago my daughter and I were coming back from one of her volleyball practices and we saw a car pulled to the side of the road. As any human will do I slowed way down, then stopped, to see what was going on. There were a few people out of their car looking at a very large snapping turtle. This thing had to weigh 35-45 lbs, which isn't really that huge by snapper standards. At any rate they left and here I was, pulled over to the side of a road, checking out a huge, angry snapping turtle. I put a large tree branch next to his head and he almost snapped it in half. He was probably 50 yrs old or so. He had algae growing from his back he was sold old (and probably sedintary). I called my wife at home and had her bring me an old Coleman steel ice chest and a broom. I kind of pushed him into the cooler and took him home. The next morning I brought him to a fairly large lake that is about 2 miles from my house. He lived happily ever after.....and that my friends is my last turtle tale. Everyone should save a turtle.

Leon,you've just entered "menchdom!"

A Sad Tale
 

Mt Vernon, New York, 1953. I was three years old and was playing with my pet turtle (the little aquarium kind) in front of our home when along came my mother, in high heels no less, and stepped on poor Mr. Tuttle, perforated the poor little guy, then scolded me for playing on the stoop. Scarred me for life. It went downhill from there. She threw away my baseball cards, too. Now I hang around internet chat rooms. A sad tale.

R.I.P. Dorothy Kaiser McDonald 1926-2002

I think I saw this guy set up at the National.

It was Mr. NM-MT. He has the same algae on his cranium

Frightingly, I'm there too
 

I have saved (or at least moved them off the road) in excess of 100 turtles. I've been moving turtles off the road for 30 years. Anymore, I generally bring bos turtles home to my 8 y/o so he can keep them for a couple of days. Sliders and other water-type turtles, the same. Snappers I just try to move.

Leon, based on years of experience, here's the deal with snappers. They can't bite you when you have hold of their tail, so long as you hold them away from your body. Distract them with a stick or something, pick them up by their long tail, and move them off the road. All is then good. Obviously, the big ones are harder. They also appear to be generally crankier. Of course, where I come from some people pick them up and make soup. I personally don't subscribe to that, but I suppose that's the other option.

Kenny

Thanks for all you do,Ken.We need more like you.There is a farm in Nebraska which raises
snappers for meat.I've seen pictures of the shells of the deceased ,stacked like cordwood ,one row on top of the other.I live in Florida where until this month,any person could apply for a permit to catch 20 turtles a day and sell them to an Asian exporter in Tampa.They were being exported for the dinner tables in the Asian peninsula.Twenty a day per man!The softshells especially adults have been fished out.Finally,the public had enough ,so did the governor,and as of Sept. 1st,you are permitted to catch one turtle a day and NOT for export to China.What took so long for this slaughter to end?

I wish I remembered his name
 

But there was a DFW area card dealer in the early 1990's we nicknamed "Aquarium Head" as he was similar to the National dealer described earlier. Darned if I can remember his name; but his nickname lived on for years.

But his closest friends referred to him as "Globehead."

Turtle Guy (David)
 

Turtle guy is in fact David as he states. I have known him for at least
15 years. He is honest, very fine and very fair as I have sent him numerous items I didn't have time to list or send to Mastronet and he did it for me. Every time he sold something for me I was paid, More than once items of mine in his possession were forwarded to Mastronet with the money going to me. I am one of the people he recommended to Mastronet. It not only took several messages for Doug Allen at Mastro but David telling him to contact me before it ever happened. Luckily I was not burned in any way in the last Mastronet auction as I had nothing in it. i had 6 lots in a Legendary auction several months ago. All lots sold and I was paid on time. The payment was short over $1,000.00 as some of my cards needed grading and he sent a bunch to PSA without my knowledge. Apparently he didn't know PSA is available in California. Once again I left messages (2) for Doug and also 2 for Mark Theo. Even the Girl taking the messages (Melissa) was to get info and call back and didn't so I sent him an e-mail that was also ignored. When I used Mastronet and something needed to be graded they paid for it every time. I posted this info on a different thread and was called by Doug. The money will be refunded in full ASAP he told me. Lets see what his description of ASAP is.

David,

I was at work today (I'm a cable guy) and at a job where I needed to raise a line that had come down, I was getting ready to go up on a ladder when I saw a turtle making its way toward me. It was a residential street without much traffic, so I got down from the ladder and got out of the little guy's way as he passed my work area so he didn't get scared by anything I might do.

Once he passed, I noticed that he was walking toward a street that had more traffic on it. Thinking he might be in danger, I took advantage of the fact that I was wearing an orange vest and hardhat and when the turtle went to cross that street, I went out and stopped the traffic so he could get across. 5 cars stopped; only one of them honked.

But as the guy who had honked passed by, I saw his wife giving him an earful about it.

Once he got across the road, he kept moseying on...and I went back on the ladder and finished up. When I left, I drove down the road and didn't see any sign of the turtle, so it looks like he got to his destination safely.

And I thought of this thread once the moment had passed.

Chris ,much like that story posted previous to yours,growing up I probably killed dozens of turtles thru stupidity or lack of education.I bought those Woolworth turtles.Think any of the millions they sold ever made it past their first year?No.I used to get mail order turtles rom the post office in N.J. from a place called Rattlesnake,Florida.The guy would mix a box of both water and land turtles.But it was the dead of winter.Yeah,they all died in my hands.So I love reading about your encounter,a big thank you from those who have no voice.I am doing my part to make up for all the losses I was guilty of.I've raised from eggs about 150 turtles in the last 20 years.Spent $1,000.00 to save one.True story.And drove it 5,000 miles with others I rescued from death in local pet stores to the Sandhills of Nebraska which is where they were taken from.I think they deserved a better life than a slow death in Florida.