Turtle Journal

Female Diamondback Terrapin #2074

Andy Koch, the Town of Wellfleet shellfish warden, rescued a severely cold-stunned diamondback terrapin from Chipman’s Cove during the low tide of Saint Patrick’s Day.  This mature female turtle had been unearthed from her winter hibernaculum and had become exposed to frigid nighttime conditions on the Outer Cape.  Andy called Mass Audubon‘s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary to report the find and graciously offered to transport the critically injured animal to the sanctuary for treatment and rehabilitation.  You may recall that another frozen female terrapin had been rescued from Chipman’s Cove in late February (see Frozen Diamondback Terrapin Rescued from Near Certain Death in Wellfleet Harbor).  This turtle, #2102, is fully recovered and waiting impatiently to be released once waters in Wellfleet reach 55 degrees F.

Burst Blood Vessels from Freezing

Even a cursory examination of her condition indicated that her greatest exposure to freezing conditions had involved her head and forelimbs.  Several times in the spring when Don has observed terrapins emerging from brumation (reptilian hibernation), he has spotted them still partially buried with head and forelimbs exposed, as though they had burrowed into the mud tail down and head up.  In this turtle’s case, she exhibited fresh bleeding from both eyes and her mouth.

Eyes Still Show Effects of Burst Vessels

Later, after she was cleaned and gradually warmed, her eyes still showed the effects of burst blood vessels, presumably from the freezing cold.  Also, she began to exhibit signs of earlier subcutaneous bleeding in her forelimbs, indicating that they too had been exposed to freezing conditions.  We worry about the bleeding in the eyes because in several previous cases, it has been an indicator of some sort of brain damage that prevented the animal’s full recovery.  In these cases, the turtles were unable to navigate when released into the  wild.  They would either move endlessly in circles or later be found back on shore motionless in the spot where they had been released.

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Examination of Cold-Stunned Turtle After 72 Hours of Rehab

72-hours into her rehab, she is moving slowly, but independently, and she is tracking light and movement.  Obviously, you can see from the video clip that this severely injured animal has a long way to go.  But she’s a reptile and reptiles are extremely resilient critters.

Nesting Trek for Diamondback Terrapin #2074

We were able to identify this mature female as a previously captured and marked terrapin.  Wheaton College interns had originally found, measured and marked #2074 on June 27th, 2005 on a nesting run at Anawan Road off the Fox Island Wildlife Management Area to the south.  To reach this nesting location from her brumation site, #2074 would have had to make a one-way 4.5 mile trek.  Since Wellfleet terrapins generally nest twice annually, separated by an average of 17 days between clutches, and since they generally return to the mating aggregation in Chipman’s Cove between nesting runs, #2074 would have made this 4.5 mile trek four times a year.

In 2005, #2074 measured 18.1 cm straight-line carapace length, weighed 1041 grams with eggs, and was assessed as 10 years old.  On March 17th, 2009 she had grown to 19.0 cm carapace length and weighed 1231 grams without eggs.  Obviously, she still sported the same split 5th vertebral with three scutes (see photograph at beginning of post), a nice anomaly that helps to confirm her identification.

Three-Year-Old, Cold-Stunned Diamondback Terrapin

Those weeks between the depth of winter’s freeze and the arrival of spring temperatures in April present real risks to Outer Cape diamondback terrapins that have spent the cold, dark days since October buried under the oozy bottom of Cape Cod Bay estuaries, such as Boat Meadow Creek in Eastham.  Not often, but with enough frequency to effect at least a handful of these threatened turtles each year, terrapins become dislodged from their hibernacula either through severe natural conditions or human intervention.  Once exposed to the air and unprotected from nightly freezes, these critters face certain death unless they are discovered and rescued.  (See Frozen Diamondback Terrapin Rescued from Near Certain Death in Wellfleet Harbor from February 21st.)

Low-Tide Drained Tidal Flats off Boat Meadow Creek in Eastham

Around four o’clock on Monday afternoon a call came into Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.  A local twosome, Donna Cary and Roger McKenzie, were enjoying a sunny afternoon beachcombing along the tidal flats when they were surprised to find a small, distressed turtle mid-way down the tidal flats.

Roger McKenzie and Donna Cary with Cold-Stunned Terrapin

As Donna noted, “It just didn’t seem to belong right there on the beach.”  They scooped up the obviously troubled critter and brought it back to their nearby cottage.  Having followed Mass Audubon‘s work with cold-stunned sea turtles, they laid down a towel on the floor and placed the terrapin in “dry dock” while they called for help.

Juvenile Terrapin Shell Shows History of Hard Life in Eastham

This y0ung turtle showed signs of a fairly hard life in Eastham’s Boat Meadow Creek.  A substantial break in the shell between the third and fourth left costal scutes resulted from some earlier trauma such as a boat or instrument strike, since the wound had healed.  She had scrapes and scratches on carapace and plastron. 

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Cold-Stunned Juvenile Terrapin from Boat Meadow Beach

But her immediate problem is cold-stunning.  The most worrisome sign is the bleeding around the eyes, which she has yet to open.  Previous experience with terrapins that have endured cold-stunning has taught us that when the blood vessels in their eyes have popped, the chance of full recovery for release into the wild is vastly diminished.  It may be an indicator of irreversible brain damage.  Still, we never give up until the turtle gives up, and 24 hours is too soon to make a definitive prognosis.

Close-Up Image of Three-Year-Old Cold-Stunned Diamondback Terrapin

The close-up photograph above provides a clear view of her annual growth rings in the first left costal scute with the original hatchling ring in the center and three yearly growth strips leading to the suture.

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Recovering Cold-Stunned 3-Year-Old Terrapin in Rehab

This seriously impaired turtle is resting comfortably in rehabilitation “dry dock” in a warm, humid environment.  Every few hours she is bathed gently in warm, fresh water to maintain her hydration while she recovers. 

Cold-Stunned Juvenile Terrapin Resting Comfortably in Rehab

Diamondback Terrapin Siamese Twin Hatchlings

Conjoined terrapin hatchlings emerged from a nest in Eastham on the Outer Cape in August.  These Siamese twins were first documented on Turtle Journal in the posting entitled “Two-Headed Diamondback Terrapin Hatchling” in late August and updated in mid-January in an article called “Two-Headed Diamondback Terrapin Update.” 

Plastron of Two-Headed Diamondback Terrapin

As noted in earlier postings, their shell appears relatively normal with an enlarged, split nuchal on the carapace and an extra, middle gular scute on the plastron. The left head seems to control the left two limbs and the right head appears to control the right two limbs.  After five months, the Siamese twins had still not been documented eating, despite presented food, and their activity levels had declined.  As you can observed in the image above, the yolk sac has largely been absorbed, leaving these hatchling with little energy reserve.

Measuring Carapace Width of Siamese Twin Terrapin Hatchlings

On February 20th, the Turtle Journal team offered to help out with a more aggressive approach to get these special critters to begin eating, to increase their activity levels and, after their viability has been established through observation and medical examination, to find them a safe, permanent home.

Recording Weight and Measurements of Siamese Twin Hatchlings

We recorded baseline numbers for the Siamese twins on February 20th as 5.6 grams weight, 2.573 centimeters straight-line carapace length, 2.405 centimeters carapace width, and 2.367 centimeters plastron length.  We’ll use these figures to judge the success of aggressive efforts to improve their viability.

Siamese Twin Hatchlings Learning to Eat

The first step is to get the twins to eat.  Easy?  Nope.  Unlike snapping turtles that seem to pop out of their shells with mouths agape, necks extended and voraciously hungry, diamondback terrapin hatchlings demand time and lots of patience to get started eating.  The most successful formula we’ve employed involves raising the hatchlings’ body temperature to 78-to-80 degrees (F) and offering them plentiful brine shrimp for 30 minutes once a day in a separate eating container filled with about an inch of warm water.

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Two-Headed Hatchlings Begin Eating

After rejecting offered food for 10 days, the twins began eating last night, March 3rd.  The left head snagged the first brine shrimp; the right head got the hint and began munching nearby food.  As typical with terrapin hatchlings, they did not immediately gorge themselves, but picked a little and rested a lot.  Hopefully, their appetite will improve now that they know what those lips are supposed to be used for.  Still, yesterday marked a moment of celebration.  Without eating, the survivability of these precious youngsters would have been nil.  Now they have a fighting chance.

 “Snappy” — Juvenile Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentine)

Snappy, the star reptile in the fresh water tank at Mass Audubon‘s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, offered a practical lesson last Friday on how not to handle a snapping turtle when attempting to relocate it from one place to another.  It’s all a question of the turtle’s “business end.”  How long  is a snapping turtle’s neck and how far down its shell can that neck be stretched?  Clearly, it’s best to learn these lessons with a young juvenile as teacher.  While an adult snapping turtle would teach the same subject, its lesson might be a tad more permanent.

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Snappy Shows Off His Long and Powerful Neck

They don’t call them snappers for nothing.  Not only can a snapping turtle reach halfway down its carapace (top shell) to express its displeasure with human interaction, but a snapper can “quick draw” its neck faster than the Lone Ranger can unholster his six-shooter and fire a silver bullet.  Lucky for Don, Snappy has yet to master this aggressive technique in the safety of his life in paradise.  We suspect, though, that the next time he’s handled so casually, someone will pay the price of admission … so to speak.

 

Snappy with Neck Fully Extended

Where does Snappy put all that neck when not in the snapping mode?  A snapping turtle retracts its neck into a vertically bent S-curve within the protection of its shell when not capturing prey or warding off too curious humans and other similarly foolish critters.

Rescued Female Diamondback Terrapin #2102

Tragedy turned into dramatic rescue for a threatened diamondback terrapin yesterday, February 20th, on the Outer Cape.  Applause goes to a very conscientious Wellfleet shellfisherman who made all the right moves to ensure the animal’s survival and to an extremely responsive Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary that kicked into action when the call came.  In combination, they saved the life of a mature female terrapin from near certain death in the still frigid conditions of Wellfleet Harbor.  As a bonus, this turtle was an old friend whose rescue added significant scientific detail to our three decade longitudinal study of terrapin populations on Cape Cod.

The call reached Mass Audubon‘s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary around 4 o’clock.  Clint Austin, a Wellfleet shellfisherman, had been harvesting in low-tide drained Chipman’s Cove off Wellfleet Harbor.  Emptied of water, the winter bottom of the cove consists of “black mayonnaise,” an oozy mixture that more than justifies its name, atop a thick, frozen substrate that has been under ice for more than a month.  In the summer, it’s hard to find any bottom under the black ooze that mimics the sucking quicksand scenes from every Saturday matinee Tarzan adventure. 

Terrapin Under Thin Layer of “Black Mayonnaise”

Terrapins brumate (the reptilian equivalent of hibernating) in Chipman’s Cove, as well as other estuaries throughout Wellfleet Bay.  As winter lengthens and the ground freezes, they squirm deeper and deeper into the insulating ooze to avoid freezing.  Unfortunately, the 15-foot tidal range between lowest low and highest high tide leaves these estuaries and coves exposed and vulnerable to storms and the scraping of icebergs that drag through the black mayonnaise like ploughs.  And there’s always the unlucky terrapin that chooses just the wrong spot.  So, in February’s thaw as the ice sheet begins to melt, a few terrapins become unearthed from their hibernacula by these forces and succumb to freezing temperatures.

 

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Frozen Female Terrapin Rescued from Chipman’s Cove

Fortunately, Wellfleet shellfishermen go out to harvest during these breaks in the ice and many keep a sharp lookout for the harbor’s signature reptile as they gather clams and oysters.  Clint did more than maintain a sharp lookout.  He found the terrapin just beneath the surface in the oozy middle of Chipman’s Cove.  Clint had the foresight to mark the spot with a thin white tube before he called into the Sanctuary with the report of his discovery.  Without that marking, the chance of finding this vulnerable turtle again would have been nil.  To the contrary, following his directions and locating the marker, we discoverd Terrapin #2102 under a fine layer of black mayonnaise with just her bright rear marginals showing.

Ice-Cold Female Terrapin Unearthed from Brumation

How cold was she?  This turtle was so cold to the touch that my fingers nearly froze through my gloves as I carried her back to the car.  We instantly recognized her markings and remembered her from her nesting run on Lieutenant Island’s 5th Avenue this last summer.

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Cold-Stunned Terrapin Returning to Life in Rehab

Back at Turtle Journal Central, the process of gradually returning Terrapin #2102 to life began.  We slowly raised her body temperature through the night, as we began to clean off layers of frozen ooze.  When she started to act normally, we took weights and measurements to compare with her last observations on June 22nd, 2008.  Clearly, she had enjoyed a very good summer because she had gained 90 grams and added about .25 centimeter to all her linear dimensions in just a few short months.

Terrapin #2102 4.5 Mile Trek from Brumation to Nesting Site

Interesting from the standpoint of terrapin movement within Wellfleet Bay was a comparison of her brumation site with her nesting location.  While Terrapin #2102 brumates in Chipman’s Cove to the north in the winter and had been observed previously in the Chipman’s Cove mating aggregation in the spring, she nests on the south side of Lieutenant Island, a trek of 4.5 miles one way.  Observations of terrapins that deposit two clutches annually in Wellfleet Harbor show that they return to their mating aggregation between nests.  For Terrapin #2102 that would involve 18 miles each year for the two 9-mile roundtrips.  Not bad for a non-migratory species!

Cheers to Clint Austin!  Cheers to Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary!  And good luck to Terrapin #2102.