Hey, everyone! It's been a super busy past couple of weeks, as we've been in the field quite a bit, tracking our own ornate box turtles and helping out with the last week of Eastern Box Turtle Team! Just wanted to pop in and give some updates on what we've been up to. Last week [...]
The compound urushiol is found in poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac, which causes a contact allergic dermatitis in the majority of the population. We’ve both suffered from some pretty gnarly poison ivy this summer, so we are here to provide our favorite tips and tricks to surviving poison ivy when working outside! First [...]
What does a week of aquatic turtle work look like for an ornate box turtle gal? Pretty much just a lot of water... Marg and Maddie This past week, one of our ornate team members, Maddie, joined Lake County veterinary students and biologists and competed in this year’s Blanding’s Bowl! Blanding’s Bowl is [...]
Welcome to Find Your Perfect Shellmate, the newest way to find your match online! Be sure to browse through the 14 eligible bachelors and bachelorettes we are featuring today! Who knows? Keep an open mind and maybe you’ll find your soulmate down below! Please share with the lonely turtles in your life! We [...]
Hey, everyone! This week we wanted to talk about some turtles that are right across the veterinary medicine campus at The Arboretum! This summer, we have been helping an international graduate student on her Master’s project. She’s been trapping turtles in the pond and we’ve been going out to help her work them up, [...]
Welcome back! Today we wanted to talk about how we use radio telemetry to track ornate box turtles, as this year we have been and will continue to track 50 turtles over the active season! When we head into the field for the first time during the field season, we bring the turtle dogs with [...]
Our first week in the field was scheduled at Ayers Sand Prairie State Nature Preserve and the Nachusa Grasslands in northwestern IL. This coming week, Maddie and I will be going back to these sites to recapture some telemetry turtles that we will be following over the entire active season this year, until they go [...]
This week, we want to introduce you to “The Turtle Dog Man,” Mr. John Rucker! John is from North Carolina and before training a famous team of turtle dogs, he was a high school English teacher. However, when visiting his family’s North Carolina home, his dogs started bringing him turtles on his land and he [...]
Howdy, everyone! Last week we told you a little bit about us. This week, we want to introduce you to our biggest helpers in the field, the turtle dogs! They are Boykin Spaniels who are owned and trained by Mr. John Rucker. They go into the field with us for every Ornate and Eastern Box [...]
Over the next several weeks, Erika and Maddie will be bringing you along some of our summer adventures, as we work with ornate box turtles, or OBTs for short. We will be going to various locations across Illinois and are excited to share our journey! In this first blog, get to know a little bit [...]
