OCEAN CITY — Diamondback terrapins are emerging from below ground in Ocean City and other barrier islands, trying to make their way back to the bay.
With bodies the size of a quarter, their journey in the spring and summer makes the odds of their survival low as they are trapped by street curbs and in storm drains and squashed beneath tires on streets.
They also can die from exhaustion when trapped on the hot asphalt or be eaten by a range of predators.
These little creatures can use a helping hand if they are stuck, but keep in mind it is illegal to keep them as pets. Leave hatchlings alone if they are in a marsh, but it found on a road or in a yard, here are quick tips to save them:
1. Gently pick up the hatchling and move it off the road.
2. Place it in a container with about a quarter-inch of room-temperature water, just enough to cover its feet, so it can rehydrate.
3. Take it to the nearest marsh as quickly as possible.
4. Find a location with lots of hiding places such as thick grass at the edge of a marsh.
5. Place the terrapin there in some fallen grasses — not in the water — to hide it from predators such as gulls, crows, foxes and raccoons.
For more information, contact the Stockton Vivarium at (609) 652-4581, the Wetlands Institute (wetlandsinstitute.org or Margate Terrapin Rescue Project (margateterrapinrescue.org).
In just part of an afternoon last week, volunteers working for the Stockton Vivarium, who are permitted to collect the hatchlings, found and saved about 40 little terrapins in Ocean City in just a few hours of looking carefully over a few streets.
Ones found in storm drains (captured using small nets on long poles) were to be taken to the Vivarium. Those found on the street or by curbs were placed in shallow water to be released into the marsh.
Diamondback terrapins are the only North American turtle to live in brackish water, according to the volunteers.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
