The fishhook was easily removed from May’s mouth without causing any further damage.  He/she was immediately started on antibiotics to help fight infection and given fluids.  Tramadol was prescribed for pain management within two days of his/her arrival.   At first, all of the fracture wounds on the plastron and the carapace were treated daily with medihoney (a sterile form of honey) and waterproof bandaging.  May couldn’t swim, so he/she was placed in a kiddie pool with very shallow water and foam padding covered with towels, which we call a ‘waterbed.’  A CT scan was performed and showed a fracture his/her first vertebrae.

May would not eat when he/ she first arrived and had to be tube fed regularly.  Because he/she wasn’t eating, we had to provide nutrition and medication through fluids, tube feeding, and injections.

We offered May seafood (shrimp, squid, mackerel and herring) and greens (cucumber, bell peppers, and lettuce) three times a day hoping he/she would show interest.  At first, he/she simply ignored the food offered or moved away from it.  Finally, May ate seafood and greens for the first time on January 25, 2013, more than a month after his/her arrival.  After that, May ate on his/her own regularly, and we were able to discontinue tube feeding.

Every morning, he/she would be placed into a kiddie pool with deeper water to test his/her ability to come up for air.  Someone would stay with May for a few hours to keep an eye on him/her during this process and help him/her come up for breaths.  When May could finally come up for air without help, he/she could stay in shallow water all the time.  As he/she improved, the water depth was slowly increased a few inches every day until May was ready to be placed into one of our larger systems in April.

About two months after her arrival, we began treating her wounds with RediHeal, a bioglass based fiber, and bone cement.  Bone cement can be mixed with antibiotics and hardens onto the wound, making it more waterproof.  As his/her wounds healed, May’s debridement’s and bone cement changes were reduced to once a week.  The wound healed up enough to stop all treatments in March, and he/she is now only receiving check-ups (regular physical exams).

This sea turtle’s gender is unknown as there is no external way to tell until they are adults.  We could run blood tests or do an internal procedure to find out, but this is both expensive and stressful for us and the turtle.  As it doesn’t effect their treatment, we don’t do either of these unless necessary.  And, in a case like May’s, when we were trying to get her to eat and recover from a serious injury, we want to keep his/her as relaxed as possible.

May was given his/her prerelease exam on May 7th, marking him/her as ready to return to the ocean.  He/she will be released this Friday during Amelia Wild.  And now, five months after his/her arrival, May is swimming around with ease and ready to go home.  He/she was given the name May because he/she originally stranded in Mayport, and also because of this sea turtle’s aMAYzing recovery.

A boy picking through marine debris.

Many of the turtles that come to the GSTC have been effected by humans; some have been hit by boats or cars while others have ingested trash, also known as marine debris, or been entangled in fishing line and other string like materials. NOAA defines marine debris as any man-made object discarded, disposed of, or abandoned that enters the coastal or marine environment. It is estimated by the National Academy of Sciences that about 14 billion pounds of trash enters the ocean per year. Many of us have probably contributed to that trash on accident, from things such as: that napkin or plastic bag that was  lost in the wind during a beach picnic, a balloon that was  allowed to floated away, or even just the fishing line that was  forgotten to be pick up when leaving the beach for the day.

Most people do not think about how long it takes for their forgotten trash to decompose once it is in the ocean. It can

Some beaches have large amounts of plastic wash up giving them the name "plastic beaches."

often take a lot longer than you would imagine. Plastic bags, like the ones you get from your local grocery store, can take up to 20 years to decompose, cigarette butts can take up to 5 years, aluminum cans can take up to 200 years, and Monofilament fishing line can take up to 600 years. With all of this trash floating around in the ocean marine animals have a pretty good chance of coming in contact with it.

One of our current sea turtle patients has a very amazing story that involves marine debris. Mahi, a juvenile green sea turtle was brought to the center late one evening in mid January with monofilament fishing line wrapped around his/her left front flipper and another piece of line coming out of his/her mouth. When Mahi was found the end of the line was wrapped around a tree branch and a picnic table. After looking over his/her wounds we quickly removed the line around his/her flipper and then began emergency surgery to remove the line from his/her GI tract. Luckily there was not a hook attached to the end of the line in Mahi’s GI tract, but just a ball of tangled line. Unfortunately the line wrapped around Mahi’s flipper had cut down to the bone and had cut off the circulation to the flipper tissue for too long. The morning after his/her arrival we decided we needed to amputate the flipper. Mahi recovered from his/her surgeries very quickly and began eating and swimming strongly within a few days.

Mahi on arrival (top picture) and a few days after surgery (bottom picture).

Other turtles at the GSTC have come in with fishing hooks in their mouth, plastic in their GI tract, fishing line around their appendages and in their GI tracts. Unfortunately, not all of these cases end up being a happy ending like Mahi’s. Marine debris can end up looking like food items, such as jelly fish, after being tossed around in the ocean. If a turtles is eating a lot of these food item look alikes they end up feeling full, but not getting the nutrition that they need. These items are also often very hard on their GI tract and hard for them to pass, making the turtle feel sick.

Plastic grocery bags can look a lot like a Jellyfish when floating in the ocean water.

A balloon from the ocean next to a Jellyfish.

So what can you do to help limit the amount of marine debris in our oceans?

• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

• Use reusable shopping bags, sandwich and snack containers, and water bottles

• Make sure you dispose of your trash and fishing gear after a day on the beach.

• Participate in a beach clean up.

By Husbandry AmeriCorps Member: Emily Mitchell

Terrapin crossing the road in search of high/dry ground to nest

It’s starting to feel like summer finally which means that the nesting season for terrapins is quickly approaching! Typically starting around the first of May, terrapin females will begin migrating from their aquatic homes, traveling much further than they normally would in search of high/dry ground to lay their nests (they’ve been known to travel several miles in order to reach optimal nesting grounds.) Every year females cross the causeways on Georgia’s Barrier Islands (Jekyll, St. Simons, and Tybee) and are killed by motor vehicles. On Jekyll alone we have witnessed 944 dead terrapins in only 6 seasons.

CLICK TO VIEW JEKYLL CAUSEWAY TERRAPIN LOCATIONS (2009-2012)

Jekyll’s causeway is only about 6 miles long. This means that on average, each of those 6 miles sees 26 dead females every single season. It’s clear that management is needed for this species. By protecting the mature females we can hope to save this species from further decline.

Early May means the GSTC (along with UGA students) will seine local creeks to help determine the status of the population around Jekyll. This is an annual event that entails pulling a seine net through specific creeks in the marsh at the right tidal time.

In the past we have witnessed a male to female bias of about 4:1. Other studies, on the other hand, tend to witness ratios of about 2:1. Since Jekyll witnesses so many female deaths annually it is little surprise that the population around Jekyll contains less females than in other, healthy populations.

A lot of work, but also a lot of fun

On May 1 we will also begin monitoring the causeway regularly, making sure we monitor during the high tide (specifically half an hour before to two hours after).

Turtle van on the causeway getting ready to patrol for terrapins.

Since terrapins do not own very good calendars, May 1 is only an average date. In reality nesting behavior is most likely based on a combination of temporal and climatological factors (it will be interesting to see if our late cold spell delays the first nesting event). Monitoring will continue throughout the season (usually until late July). The turtles come out through all periods of the summer but a trend has been noticed demonstrating two or three peaks within the season. These peak days, along with the peak times can witness 30-40 animals within an hour!

It’s not uncommon to hear visitors and locals comment that they no longer see terrapins on the causeway. For some this has meant that the problem is solved, for others it meant the damage was already done, but the reality is that terrapins are still being hit on our causeway in large numbers. The difference now is that the dead terrapins are being taken off the causeway very soon after being hit as part of our research. We want to stress that the lack of turtles on the road does not mean that the situation has ended. So keep your eyes peeled and slow down when traveling on causeways crossing marsh habitat because there may be an expectant mother in the road!

NEW FOR 2013: As mentioned in a previous entry, this year we have the new flashing signs to warn drivers of peak terrapin activity. These lights are programed to flash during those high tide times when we’ve witnessed most of the terrapins coming up on the causeway to nest.

Flashing turtle crossing signs will flash during high tide.

Thanks for watching out for the turtles,
Dan Quinn (Diamondback Terrapin Member)

Join us at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center as we Shell-e-brate Earth Day on Saturday, April 13^th from 11am to 3pm.  This fun, family friendly event is included with paid general admission.  Activities include crafts, exhibits, games, Earthly magic and even live animals!  Don’t forget to meet Scute and bee on the look out for the Bag Monster Display!  Sea how you can help sea turtles and keep the oceans healthy.  Find out why honey is so important to sea turtles.  Don’t forget to sample an Earthly treat that you’re sure to enjoy.  Additional food will be available for purchase by HoneyBaked Ham of Brunswick.

For more information, click on the button below.

SEA YOU THERE!

To celebrate AmeriCorps Week, several GSTC AmeriCorps members spent a day helping out Sapelo Farms in Brunswick, GA.  Sapelo Farms is one of the last remaining farms in Glynn County. The farm has open pastures and fields of sustainable agriculture. Sapelo Farms sells seasonal produce through a Community Supported Agriculture Program. The farm also maintains honey bees, cattle, goats and chickens.

During our day on Sapelo Farms, we were able to help prepare potatoes for planting, plant potatoes in hilled rows and cover the freshly planted potatoes with hay. After the potatoes were planted, we spent the afternoon building wire fences. These fences will be used by the farm’s tomato plants. Other activities of the day included feeding the goats and then spending some time playing with all of the baby goats on the farm this year. It was a great day of service where GSTC AmeriCorps members were able to help an important component of our local community and learn a little bit more about sustainable farming!

AmeriCorps Volunteer Member Caitlin Sampson and AmeriCorps Education Member Morgan McCall with two of the Sapelo Farms goats.

My name is Kristine Fisher and I’m an AmeriCorps Education Member serving a year at the GSTC. I hosted a meeting of my fellow AmeriCorps Members in order to put together some care packages for deployed Marines. I wanted to create an opportunity for the GSTC to show support of our troops. Who wouldn’t have their spirits lifted by a package full of goodies and pictures of adorable sea turtles? Though the meeting was held on January 31^st we have finally got the packages heading out in the post. The project was a major success.

After a month of writing donation letters, making phone calls, collecting donations, and boxes I was able to acquire enough resources to send 14 care packages to answer the requests of Marines serving inAfghanistan. Now they are shipping off. I could not have done this without the assistance of this amazing website: anymarine.com and the selfless contributions of donors.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people and businesses that donated to this project: Winn Dixie, Harvey’s, Harris Teeter, Jekyll Island IGA, Alicia Shell, Sally Fisher, Catherine West, Beth Walters.

I also want to thank those who have volunteered to sponsor the shipping of a package: Alicia Shell, Beth Walters, Gary Buckles, Richard and Rosemary Umpleby, Cliff Kevill, Ben Carswell, Rachel Thomas, Anita Crockett, Nicole Blevins, Gloria Zocchi, and Richard Chewning!

Thank you for getting these packages to the people who need them!

Because of these donations and sponsorships we were able to send much needed items like protein bars, jerky, canned meals, powdered drink mixes, hygiene products, and other desired items to some of our troops. We also included letter writing materials, prepaid envelopes, a personal letter, photographs of some of our sea turtle patients, and their stories.

Thanks for reading!

-Kristine Fisher

My wife Kathy and I moved to Pooler, Ga. from Massachusetts in 2005 and to Brunswick in 2007.  We have one son, one daughter, and one granddaughter, all of whom live in Massachusetts. My career has spanned 33 years, nearly all of which has been in Management. Kathy has worked at the Hampton Inn and Suites on Jekyll Island since it first opened and loves it. My hobbies are spending time with my wife and our five dogs, gardening, golf, tennis, fishing, and anything that involves the out of doors.

My interest in all animals began as a child. I was always out looking for turtles, snakes, toads, frogs, anything that got me into the out of doors. Also, I have maintained as many as seven aquariums, both salt and fresh water, simultaneously.

My interest in the Georgia Sea Turtle Center is simple; I can educate the public about Mother Nature’s creatures and play a small part in some of the miracles that happen there on a daily basis. My wife and I began as regular visitors to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and I became a volunteer in August of 2012. Since then I’ve been privileged to work in Education, Husbandry, and even a Dawn Patrol. I have been able to utilize my college degrees to learn, and understand, more at the GSTC, thus aiding my ability to communicate our Center’s mission to the public. Being an individual who asks many questions, I am grateful to Dr. Norton and the entire Staff for not only answering my inquiries, but taking the time to explain their answers. My favorite experiences are the first time I was allowed to touch a Sea Turtle, I was shaking like a leaf the entire time, feeling a Loggerhead’s breath on my forearm as he/she exhaled, and the feeling of a Sea Turtle’s nose.

I absolutely treasure all of the friends and partnerships I’ve formed at the Center and look forward to many more years of working with these incredible individuals.

Well…. almost everyone. Earlier in the year, a co-member and I started to notice that for children under the age of 5, there certainly were a lot of words in our gallery, and not too many activities. So we came up with a little idea. The idea was called “Scute’s Corner” and it is a place where once a week, children can come and do an arts & crafts project with us, then watch our world famous puppet show (Scute’s Ocean Adventure) or have storytime. 

We had the first Scute’s Corner on the second Wednesday in January (of 2013). And it was a fairly small turn out. Two boys and their mother, but wow, did they have the time of their life. They saw the puppet show and then colored puppets of Scute, and they stayed for two hours. We were able to go up and show their favorite turtle, Kathy, their new creations. They must have enjoyed it, because they have been back every week since.

The activities change every week; sometimes we do puppets, coloring sheets, Valentine’s Day turtles are coming up, and we alternate between a puppet show and a

story. The amount of children who have joined us increases a little bit each week, but we have also increased our marketing for this weekly event. One thing we have started is taking photos of our activities every week and posting them to an album in Facebook. We make sure to not only get a waiver signed, but to tell the parents so that if they want photos, all they have to do is check out our page. Our hope is that they will show there friends, and eventually more local parents will bring their kids to Scute’s Corner.

Another marketing strategy that we have started is posting flyers and small handouts on the island. When people arrive for their for their vacation, one of the first things they will see upon check-in now is an advertisement for Scute’s Corner. Most people who visit the island debate stopping at the center at one point or another. We are hoping that this flyer will show visitors with younger children that there is really something for everyone at the center. We are also hoping to expand this form of marketing in the near future. We have received some interest from local “stay-at-home-mom” groups and have reached out to several blogs; all in all hoping to reach our target audience in as many ways as possible

The success and amount of fun we have seen the kids having, and we have had, at Scute’s Corner has definitely been worth the preparation. Scute’s Corner allows the kids to get creative, but it also enables them to be exposed to sea turtles and marine conservation early on. Scute’s Corner is the 2nd and 4th Thursday in March and April and is included with your admission to the center. Hopefully our “regulars” increase, because we are very excited for this program to become a weekly staple at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. If you yourself have questions about Scute’s Corner, please feel free to contact us here at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center!

-Morgan McCall

AmeriCorps Education Member

Luckily, treating Cadet has gone smoothly. His/her water temp was slowly raised about 5 degrees per day throughout a few days until it was up to about 75 degrees, warm and perfect for healing sick and injured turtles. We also have been checking on his/her amputation site to ensure that it is continuing to heal and that there are no signs of infection or other issues. Now, Cadet is swimming, diving, and eating great. S/he is anemic though, has a low concentration of red blood cells, but the presence of new red blood cells in his/her blood is a sign that s/he is recovering now.

At the center we get one big question about Cadet, as well as other sea turtles missing limbs. Can a turtle missing a flipper be released? The answer is YES! Turtles in the wild are sometimes found missing flippers. Although we do not know how Cadet lost his/her flipper it would not be uncommon for a turtle to lose one to a predator such as a shark or sometimes even losing a limb due to having monofilament fishing line wrapped around it, cutting off circulation and essentially starving the limb of nutrients and oxygen. Luckily Cadet is a strong swimmer and will be ready for release when his/her anemia is resolved and when coastal water temperatures are warmer.

-Andrew Nystedt AmeriCorps Husbandry Member 

Terrapin hatchlings swimming in an exhibit tank

As many of you may know, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center has had a significant amount of diamondback terrapin hatchlings (280 since our doors opened in 2007!).  What some of you may not know is how we get these little turtles.  During the spring/summer (May-July) nesting season many females are hit by cars while attempting to find high and dry ground to nest on.  Some females aren’t hit until crossing back over the road (and thus have no eggs to collect).  The terrapins that are hit when crossing the road the first time still have eggs in them.  Most of the time eggs are completely crushed when a female is hit by a car, however it’s still not uncommon to see a hit female that still has intact eggs. In 2012 we found that 29.6% of hit females that hadn’t nested before being hit still had intact eggs.

We bring all injured and dead females back to the center and if they have eggs we will collect them from her. Terrapins that are still alive are induced with Oxytocin after they are stable so that they will lay their eggs naturally. Once we have the eggs in hand we will take measurements (mass, length and width) and place them in an egg container filled with a substrate.

Eggs on substrate in containers before being placed in an incubator

These egg containers are then placed in our incubators and the eggs are checked periodically for signs of mold, non-viability, and hatching.

Egg containers in incubators.

Terrapins, like all other turtles, display temperature dependent sex determination.  Male terrapins are produced when incubating eggs at temperatures below 82˚F and females above 86˚F.  Between these two temperatures a mixture of genders will appear in a clutch. In order to make up for the loss of females on the causeway and to help aid the 4:1 male biased population around Jekyll (most likely caused by female road mortality) we set the incubators at 86-87˚F.

This year we hatched 44 terrapins between July and August for our rear and release program.

Terrapin hatchling. 1 week old.

Once they hatch they are monitored for a week while their umbilicus (the remnants of the yolk sac) absorbs into their body.

Amy Hupp (Rehab Technician II) cleaning umbilicus of newly hatched terrapin.

From there they are put into small white tubs with water and the salinity is gradually increased.

Terrapins being water tested (may take up to two months to finish all individuals)

Once they are eating well they will be put in a larger display tank.  For the next 8 or 9 months these girls will be cared for and monitored.  The goal is to get them to a substantial size so that they have a greater chance of survival in the wild (this is especially important for turtles).  The hatchlings are fed a combination of krill, turtle pellets and reptomin every day in individual containers so that we can monitor their food intake.  Most are pretty voracious and start to grow pretty fast!  They grow so fast in fact that we can’t keep them all in our display tanks.  We have to make larger tanks for them and as time passes we start to add natural plants to their tanks and offer them small fiddler crabs (a main food source for wild terrapins).

Terrapin hatchlings soaking up some UV in the "Dagobah" system. 6 months old.

Finally, from May-June we will systematically release all of our hatchlings into the wild as our next batches of eggs begin to come in to start the whole process over.  There is nothing more gratifying than watching these animals that you’ve cared so long for, from the first time you saw them on the road still in their egg, to witnessing their birth as they poke their head out of the shell, to watching them swim, eat, and grow, being released back out into the marsh.

2011 terrapin hatchlings being released into marsh habitat by AmeriCorps members.

For all this work, our goal is simply to collect eggs that would not otherwise hatch, rear the hatchlings, and release them to help minimize some of the damage to the local population by ensuring that at least some of the young survive.  This is not to say that hatching terrapin hatchlings will make up for the losses however.  Sadly, even though we have managed to raise 44 hatchlings, 130 adult females died on the causeway last summer.  Even if every one of the 44 makes it to maturity, it still will not make up for even half of the losses.  Adding to this fact is that adult females are the most important demographic in turtle populations since they take the longest to reach maturity, can reproduce for many years and are less susceptible to predators.  Losing one adult female terrapin could actually mean losing upwards of 30 future clutches and, with an average of 8 eggs per clutch, this equals 240 potential hatchlings.  Yes, 1 Adult = 240 hatchlings.  This is about how many hatchlings the center has released since its inception.  We have seen 944 female deaths on the causeway since 2007 (given what one female can lay in a lifetime and given that not all of them are first year nesters, this is equal to 113,000 potential hatchlings minimum since 2007 that never made it).  These sobering facts demonstrates that increasing hatchlings in the wild, while important, is not the grand solution for conservation of the species.  Rather, conservation involves considering a suite of variables.  For diamondback terrapins around Jekyll, we must focus on increasing the number of hatchlings and reducing the female mortality through mitigation research, public education/awareness, rehabilitation of injured females and rearing of hatchlings.

-Dan Quinn (Diamondback Terrapin Member)