Ornate Diamondback Terrapin Rescue

Here at MOSI Outside, our main focus may be butterflies and moths, but in reality we deal with a wide variety of wild animals. Birds, armadillos, snakes, beetles, bees, turtles and more... it's all in a day's work for our staff. We're often called in to other parts of the museum when a guest or staff member finds, well, just about anything that respires. We've rescued and relocated doves, songbirds, alligator snapping turtles, and Muscovy ducks who've wandered a little too far from home, just to name a few. So when we found this little creature on the sidewalk outside the Flight Encounter after several days of heavy rain last week, we knew it was up to us to find out what it was - and what it was doing there.

A few minutes combing through websites eventually led us to an identification: this is an Ornate Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin macrospilota), a Florida subspecies of a widespread North American turtle. The seven subspecies of M. terrapin can be found from Massachusetts south to the Florida Keys, where they spend their time in brackish coastal swamps. Brackish water is a mix of salt and fresh, often among mangroves or tidal rivers. Which begged the question - what on earth was this little terrapin doing here at MOSI Outside, at least 10 miles of urban pavement and heavily trafficked roads from the nearest brackish swamp? And what on earth were we going to do with it now that it was here?

Fortunately, the world is full of good people who want to help animals like our little turtle find. Another quick web search turned up the site for Turtle Rescue U.S.A, a non-profit rescue facility in Central Florida specializing in turtles and tortoises. We sent an email to the contact on the site and had a response in less than 5 minutes! Our find was indeed an Ornate Diamondback Terrapin, and the facility would be glad to send someone out to pick it up and help relocate it back where it belonged. We placed the turtle in a tank of water, per their instructions, with some rocks for perching and a cut-up earthworm for snacking. By the end of the day, our turtle had been picked up and was on its way to a new and more appropriate home.

There's no doubt this little terrapin was awfully cute, and we enjoyed having the chance to interact with it. But it's important to note that we never once thought of keeping this turtle as a "pet", even with our reasonably large turtle habitat. This turtle came from the wild, and needed to be returned there as soon as possible. For one thing, though Diamonback Terrapins can survive for awhile in fresh water, this species needs brackish water to be happy and healthy. Our facility cannot provide these conditions. More importantly, animals that come from the wild don't make good pets, nor should they. This wild creature (which the rehab specialists speculate may have been dropped here by a bird who picked it up but dropped it before reaching its destination) is an important part of its ecosystem, and keeping it for our own amusement, because we thought it was "cute", would have been short-sighted and selfish. Those who love nature should always seek to respect and restore it whenever possible.

To learn more about why turtles don't make good pets, visit the Humane Society's website for some compelling arguments. If you find an injured turtle or tortoise, or know of one in need of a new home, contact Turtle Rescue U.S.A. for assistance.