New England Wildlife Center
Preserving New England's Wild Legacy
Our Patients: Baby Painted Turtles
By: Greg Mertz, DVM

Painted Turtle being held

Two months ago, a female painted turtle came to our clinic with very severe traumatic wounds after being hit by a car.  Female turtles are commonly victims of car strikes in the late spring and early summer as they are crossing roads to look for suitable habitat to lay their eggs.  Unfortunately, she had to be euthanized, but shortly after she died we collected 6 eggs from inside of her.

Just yesterday they started to hatch!  They are only the size of quarter when they are born and are very cute.

Remember to slow down and keep an eye out for crossing turtles in the summer months.  If you find one on the road, move it off into the grass — but make sure you move it in the direction it was headed.

8 Comments to “Our Patients: Baby Painted Turtles”

  1. Jill says:

    Are they going to be released or adopted out?

  2. fran cartoceti says:

    Good job Andrew! How nice these babies made it!

  3. George Granger says:

    how are the babies?

  4. Andrew says:

    Thanks for the very thorough explanation!

  5. Andrew says:

    Cute little guy…or girl?

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