Turtle stories in Lubbock

Ushio is in Japan for vacation (I think that's how her name is spelt). Her project, being temporarily orphaned, has been taken over by her prof's daughter. And I tagged along just to know what's being done, and how it's being done. And no, its not easy.

Ushio's project has something to do with the effect of Lubbock's urban ecology on the local turtle population. She compares and analyses the data she collects for a specific result. Since I'm not exactly sure about the details of her project, I won't elaborate.

Sara, (who's nanny to the project now), picked me up in one of the department trucks. I felt good sitting in the truck. Arrogant you might call it. It says 'Dept of Natural Resources, Texas Tech University' on both sides. It is dented, clawed, and scraped. It has tons of stuff in the back, amidst which a bright yellow, albeit huge thing sticks out.

Now I know what it is. But then, I was wondering.

The High Plains of Texas are known for their numerous 'Playa' Lakes. Lubbock itself has about 135- 140 odd lakes. Now you can't go swimming in these lakes, because the mud sticks. The bottom of these lakes is clayey, and when you step a foot, it takes anytime between 10 min to half an hour to pull back your feet. The depth varies from 2 to 7 feet. It has fish, turtles, ducks and geese. And we were to go turtling.

We pulled up at a quiet lake in a quiet neighbourhood. I noticed something floating in the center of the lake, and thought "It's probably a piece of garbage." 

"Hey, can you give me a hand with the boat?"

Ohk! So the yellow was a boat. Nice.

We carried the boat, paddle, a bucket and some rope to the lake.

After half an hour of untangling the rope by the lakeside, Sara hooked one end to the side of the boat. "When I wave at you pull back the rope, OK?"

She got on to her tiny boat (a one-person boat), and started paddling. She pushed at the sticky mud with all her might to get her boat in motion. After dragging through the mud for a little while, the mud gave way, and the boat started to float. She paddled up all the way to the centre, hooked the rope from her boat onto the floating 'piece of garbage' and waved. OOps! My turn to act now. And I pulled at the rope.

It looked like a trap of some kind, with a net (which was all slimy with the mud and.. well.. slime).

"That's a floating trap," she explained.

"Grab the turtles, and put them in the bucket."

What? Are there turtles in there?

I looked closely. Two of them.

After I placed both of them into the bucket, Sara explained what needed to be done. "We need to measure 'em. Plastron length, width, back width. Same with the carapace. We need to weigh 'em, measure the body height, tail length, and get a blood sample."

And we got to work. I left the handling needles part to her, because I was a bit queasy about poking needles into the poor turtle.

In order, we noted down the lake number, turtle number, identification, gender, etc etc etc. Red-eared Slider turtles.

Tail length! I didn't know turtles were this strong. This little lady turtle wouldn't let me hold her tail, let along even touch the tail. She withdrew into the shell so much I thought she'd never come back out. But that was done. Now for the blood.

"Try to get her hind leg out. Behind the knee there's a vein, and that's what we need." Sara prepared the syringe.

Ok. Leg out. Wait a min. I did see a leg. Where the hell is it. Ok! I saw a claw. Oh no, Now I can't. Oh no.There it is. Hold on. Hold on. Tap the other leg so the turtle relaxes this one. Ok. Good girl. go on. go on. Yikes! Phew! I almost lost the leg. OK come on now. Out with the leg.

After 45 min of trying, I finally had the leg outstretched. Sara poked at the 'vein' spot a couple of times. I saw blood in the syringe, and I knew that the day's work was over.

Or no! We still  had the other one left!

An hour and a half later, we were done. After fiitting the front of their shells with coloured wires, we were finished. Ok Turtles! Free to go now.

We placed them by the edge of the lake, and they waited for us to go away. But we weren't leaving until we made sure the turtles entered the water. Slowly, they moved, and then they scampered. 

It was a great first time, and now I'm better at it. 

The beginning of many more to come my way.