I Think I’ll Call This One…Absolute Chaos

It's been awhile, what in the world have I been up to??? Keep reading and see!   During my first week of the 2021 field season, I had the honor of joining Lauren in Cape Cod sampling box turtles! After a grueling 17 hour drive out there, the week definitely lived up to my expectations. [...]

I Think I’ll Call This One…Absolute Chaos2021-05-31T23:12:37-05:00

New Year, Same Turtle Team

Hello! Welcome to the 2021 Turtle Team blog! If you're new here, my name is Kelcie Fredrickson and I am a rising third year veterinary student and the 2021 Turtle Team leader. This summer, like every summer, we are doing population based health assessments in Eastern and Ornate box turtles throughout Illinois and Tennessee. Turtle [...]

New Year, Same Turtle Team2021-05-12T15:00:33-05:00

Turtle team’s final week

Katy is introducing our recaptured turtle Rose to trees. During the final week of turtle team's field season, we were joined by a few familiar faces! Fourth years Ivana, Brina and Katy joined us while fulfilling their professional development requirement for clinics. This week, we visited the same sites as we did in [...]

Turtle team’s final week2020-07-29T09:52:39-05:00

Turtle Tour Part 4: Turtle Work-Ups

Throughout all of these posts, you may have been wondering what we do with the turtles after we catch them and hopefully this post answers all those questions! Once we catch the turtles in the field, we place them in pencil cases with a letter associated with their ID. These pencil cases are placed in [...]

Turtle Tour Part 4: Turtle Work-Ups2020-07-21T20:33:17-05:00

So we weren’t in the field this week…now what?

When we don't get to sample cute turtles, we get to catch up on things around the lab! During field weeks, we collect samples such as cloacal-oral swabs, blood and shell swabs which need to be extracted. These samples are used to test for pathogens and diseases that may affect these turtles.    You may [...]

So we weren’t in the field this week…now what?2020-07-11T19:35:47-05:00

Turtle Tour 2020™ Part 3: Blandings Turtles

This week I had the honor of finding and sampling Blandings turtles in Illinois! I got bust out the waders from the storage closet and yes, they did in fact have water in them...STILL. After a three hour drive and coffee break later, it was time to check the traps!   While the traps that [...]

Turtle Tour 2020™ Part 3: Blandings Turtles2020-06-28T20:51:11-05:00

Turtle Tour 2020™ Part 2: Eastern Box Turtles

  After a week in the field, the days following get pretty crazy! The first thing we do upon our return to the lab, is unpack the truck and put the samples in the freezer. Most days, we still have unfinished lab work to complete for the turtles we sampled that day in the field, [...]

Turtle Tour 2020™ Part 2: Eastern Box Turtles2020-06-23T17:22:16-05:00

Turtle Tour 2020 Part 1: Ornate Box Turtles

This week we kicked things off at two locations in Illinois sampling Ornate Box Turtles (OBTs). At our first site, we didn't find as many turtles as we had hoped for but that doesn't mean they weren't there! Our dogs search by picking up on scent trails left during a turtle's morning migration. Due to [...]

Turtle Tour 2020 Part 1: Ornate Box Turtles2020-06-15T20:35:45-05:00

Introducing…Turtle Tour 2020!

We have some exciting news! Next week we will begin our Turtle Tour of 2020 with some sassy yet classy Ornate Box Turtles (OBTs). These last two weeks have been pretty hectic in the lab between packing, ordering last minute supplies, a freezer mishap and animal care but we are finally ready to go! Check [...]

Introducing…Turtle Tour 2020!2020-06-07T23:22:02-05:00

Field Season 2020: Coming Soon to a Turtle Near You

Hi everyone and welcome to the 2020 Box Turtle blog (a.k.a. The BEST blog)! My name is Kelcie Fredrickson and I am a rising second year veterinary student at the University of Illinois. The blog’s main focus will be on our health surveillance program which monitors box turtle population health and will feature my student [...]

Field Season 2020: Coming Soon to a Turtle Near You2020-05-24T22:52:43-05:00
Go to Top