About 24ornateboxturtles

Erika is a rising second-year DVM student who is interested in zoological and conservation medicine. Her research will be on herpesviruses in ornate box turtles in Illinois this summer! Maddie is a rising second-year veterinary student researching health parameters in ornate box turtles by surveying proteins in the blood!

Find Your Perfect Shellmate

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 [...]

Find Your Perfect Shellmate2024-06-28T13:44:52-05:00

Turtles of The Arboretum

  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, [...]

Turtles of The Arboretum2024-06-25T10:12:13-05:00

Tune in to the Trials, Triumphs, and Tribulations of Telemetry Turtle Tracking

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 [...]

Tune in to the Trials, Triumphs, and Tribulations of Telemetry Turtle Tracking2024-06-14T12:39:46-05:00

Meet the Nachusa Wildlife

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 [...]

Meet the Nachusa Wildlife2024-06-08T13:47:30-05:00

Meet John Rucker

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 [...]

Meet John Rucker2024-06-05T08:47:06-05:00

Meet the Dogs

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 [...]

Meet the Dogs2024-06-03T06:12:53-05:00

Meet the Ornate Box Turtle Team

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 [...]

Meet the Ornate Box Turtle Team2024-05-20T20:22:50-05:00
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