First, some quick introductions of our two veterinary students working at Lake County this summer!

My name is Varun Seth (aka Vroom) and I just finished my first year at UIUC Vet Med. I’ve been looking at Blanding’s turtles in Lake County for 2 weeks now. We’ve been tracking turtles, trudging through swamps, and having an awesome time doing it! These turtles are endangered in Illinois, so Caroline and I are looking at their overall population health, as well as the success of Lake County’s long running headstart program. My own personal project will look at osmolalities, essentially the concentration of ions in our blood. Establishing a reference range for this species will be important when these turtles present to wildlife clinics – this information can help to address dehydration.

My name is Caroline Terry and I just finished my second year at UIUC Vet Med. I have learned how to track turtles by radiotelemetry, set up traps, and identify native wildlife in Illinois. I have particularly been looking at Blanding’s turtles which are an endangered species. This summer, I will be evaluating the overall population health of Blanding’s at Lake County, IL as well as the success of the headstart program of Lake County. My personal project is on crossmatching between Blanding’s turtles which will help determine the success of giving blood transfusions during hospitalization. 

Week 0:

All of us WEL folks spent an entire evening packing all of our summer supplies from the lab, both for our fieldwork and labwork. The weekend after finals, we also moved into our new house and lab at Turtle Town!

Week 1:

We got to meet everyone at Turtle Town; wildlife biologists, technicians, and our baby headstarts! We spent Day 1 learning radiotelemetry (aka turtle tracking), and worked up our first Blanding’s.

We spend the rest of the week setting and checking traps, sampling more turtles, and being terrified of ticks. WEL’s own Dr. Kaitlinn even came to work with our headstarts to get them ready for release!

Week 2:

Monday and Tuesday were reserved for more headstart work with Dr. Kaitlinn. Once we finished our exams and labwork,  our wildlife biologists and technicians were finally able to fit them with transmitters and release them!

The rest of our week was a little dreary and cold, with some rain, but we made the most of it and kept sampling! Vroom finally got to hold a snapping turtle, and Caroline found the most beautiful painted turtle. We’re getting into a groove, and loving every minute out in the field.

Keep an eye out for weekly posts, and even some vlogs from the field!