help with turtle please

[rumpig]

A late night knock on the door from next door neighbours they found a turtle on there drive way and i no crap all about turtles so was woundering what is the best thing do with it , apart from a broken toe it looks fine but the only thing that there isnt a creek or river close to here for about 2km and if it walked that far through about 30 back yards he has done well to only have one sore toe not sure if it has walked that far or it has been lost by some one i dont even know what sort it is i have him in a spare tank that i have i might just take him to the wild life hospital.....cheers karl

 

[Scale_Addiction]

it's a murry short-neck turtle, or possibly a krefts (can see the cheek area to tell)
you should feed it turtle pellets (from petshops) until you organise a home for it.
i'd be surprised if it walked 2km.
i would contact the epa and ask for advice as to what to do with it.

 

[rumpig]

cheers mate ..........
are they found in this area
it is friendly does mind being handled it even walks up to you when on the ground.

 

[Scale_Addiction]

thats weird dude, my captive, handraised one still does a runner at any chance.
i guess you could say they are local, i think they were originally from the murry river area.
but i can only they assume they are also in our local creeks.
either way, i would still be in contact with the epa. they obviously have a procedure for
these situations.

 

[rumpig]

will do thanks mate

 

[Dicco]

It's a Brisbane Short-Neck, previously Emydura signata, or a Murray Short-Neck, Emydura macquarii. Brisbane Short-Necks are found on the Gold Coast I'm pretty sure, but I'd say that it is an escaped pet, it has a deformed shell that can cause by calcium problems and poor keeping conditions amoung others. If it is a Murray, weather the useless EPA says so or not, don't release it, don't want it polluting the gene pool for your local turtles.

 

[rumpig]

i have called the epa and they told me hold on to it and they took my details and they said that would call me back on monday with more info as what is going to happen from here on .

 

[Dicco]

Ok, cool, you could also hand it in to National Parks and Wildlife the EPA will probably send it off to a wildlife centre, so it'll have a good home.

 

[rumpig]

i do volluteer work in a wildlife park so i will make shore it has a good home

 

[peterescue]

Im afraid E.signata got the bullet Dicko, Scott hasn't made any recent updates but this link should have the details
http://www.carettochelys.com/emydura/emydura_taxonomy.htm
but yeah, What Dicko said and def an escapee pet.