Mountain Tails Wildlife Rehab

06/15/2026

Marybeth has had to shut down raccoon intake, but these seven were an exception. So, so little, she knew she had to help.🥺

06/15/2026

THE WHITE MARBLES IN YOUR MULCH WERE NOT FERTILIZER.
THE SHOVEL OPENED THE SKY TOO SOON.

You saw them when the shovel turned the bed.

Small white balls.

Soft with soil.

Half-buried under mulch.

Maybe you thought they were fertilizer pellets.

Maybe mushrooms.

Maybe something rotten.

Maybe snake eggs.

Maybe you almost tossed them into the trash with the weeds.

But the white marbles in your mulch were not fertilizer.

The shovel opened the sky too soon.

I am a mother box turtle.

You may never have seen me there.

I came quietly.

Slowly.

Across the yard.

Past the fence.

Past the dog smell.

Past the bright place where the grass had been cut too short.

I searched for soft soil because my children needed darkness before they could ever need light.

I dug with my back legs.

One scrape.

Then another.

Then another.

My shell could not bend.

My body could not hurry.

The sun moved while I worked.

The ground took the shape of my hope.

Then I laid them.

Round.

Pale.

Silent.

The only children I could give the summer.

I covered them carefully.

Not because I did not love them.

Because turtle mothers do not warm their young with feathers.

We do not carry them in a pouch.

We do not feed them with milk.

We give them to the earth.

And we leave because the earth becomes the mother after us.

But your shovel did not know that.

Your rake did not know that.

Your garden glove did not know that a place can look empty and still be holding its breath.

When the soil opened, my children had no way to tell you they were alive.

No mouth.

No cry.

No tiny hand reaching up.

Only white shells in a world too bright.

And if you rolled them, they could not say:

“This side was sky.”

If you washed them, they could not say:

“That soil was my blanket.”

If you carried them inside, they could not say:

“My mother chose this temperature, this darkness, this place.”

Please stop when you find eggs in soil, mulch, sand, gravel, or a garden bed.

Do not shake them.

Do not wash them.

Do not turn them over.

Do not let children play with them.

Do not put them in water.

Do not toss them away because you do not know what they are.

If you know the way they were sitting, keep that same side up.

Cover them gently with the same soil if the nest can stay safe.

Mark the spot so no one steps, digs, mows, or parks there.

Keep dogs, cats, chickens, and curious hands away.

If the eggs are broken, scattered, or the nest cannot stay where it is, call a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, turtle rescue, herpetological society, or your state wildlife agency.

Because the mother may never come back to explain.

She already gave everything she could give.

A hole.

A covering.

A chance.

And then she walked away with an empty body, trusting the ground to remember her children.

To you, it was one strange handful in the mulch.

To her, it was the whole summer buried alive.

05/25/2026

Marybeth had seven little stinkers come in this week and we couldn’t be more in love! Skunks are so much fun to watch, their big personalities in such tiny little bodies. We just love how silly they can be!

Two came in with serious fly strike (fly eggs/maggots🤮) and we weren’t sure they would make it. Both were so lethargic they stayed curled up in a ball, even while being bathed and placed in the incubator. We are very happy to report that both are now thriving and we are so relieved!

We did get word, however, that someone found five babies outside, left there for days. We talked the Finder through how to care for them overnight but they were all gone in a couple of hours.

PLEASE, let this be a lesson to step in and protect ALL animals, as sometimes we humans are the only chance they have at survival. Had these babies gotten to Marybeth days prior, they would all have been thriving as the other two littles are. Time is always of the essence, especially with babies.💔

05/23/2026

Super cute picture but not a cute reason:

ALL raccoon intakes are closed until further notice.

We will update when Marybeth can go to bed without crying from exhaustion and able to accept more babes.

In the meantime, please continue to support formula for these babies! Funds are running low (as they do every year), but with over 100 bottle babes at the moment, it is lowering even faster.

PayPal: [email protected]
Venmo: -Rood

05/14/2026

We had a quick "rehab" today!

This poor guy had a hook in his beak and was so entangled in fishing line he had limited movement of his neck. Once contained by another animal lover, he was taken to Marybeth where she was able to remove the multiple hooks, fishing line and lure. Some pain meds, antibiotics and a few hours of R&R and he was ready to be returned back where he was found!

May he never encounter fishing garbage (or any kind of garbage, really) again!

05/11/2026

Meet “Chewbacca!”

Chewbacca has QUITE the beaver-tude! Aptly named after throwing a fit, slapping his/her tail and chewing the bars on the carrier, Monica fell in love and decided to sponsor him/her. She is great supporter of Mountain Tails and a huge advocate for wildlife!

Thank you, Monica, we can’t wait to watch Chewbacca grow and have you at his/her release!

05/01/2026

How cool is this?!?!?🦫🦫🦫

05/01/2026

This is why Stan & Matilda like to have their shells scratched!

Unlike cartoons where tortoises can slip out for a bath, a tortoise's shell is a permanent, living part of its skeletal system. The shell is made of over 50 fused bones, including the animal's ribs and spine.

Tortoises have nerves running through their shells and can feel touch, pressure, and pain.

Many tortoises actually enjoy gentle shell scratches or being brushed with a soft toothbrush, as they can feel the sensation through the bone.

A tortoise's shell grows with them throughout their entire life. Unlike many aquatic turtles that shed their scutes, tortoises generally do not; their shells simply expand as they age.

05/01/2026

Please do not try to relocate a turtle/tortoise, either.

05/01/2026

Please never hold a turtle by its tail.

Spring is the season of movement for turtles. Every female snapping turtle, painted turtle, and box turtle in your region is on the move from now through early July, looking for sandy soil to dig a nest in. 🌿

This is where most of them die.

Every year, the number one cause of adult snapping turtle and painted turtle death in eastern North America is being hit by cars. A female snapping turtle is old. She may have hatched in the 1980s. She is traveling, on average, a quarter-mile from water to find the exact nest site she has been using for years. If you swerve, you save a forty-year-old life.

But if you move her from the driveway, there are two rules that matter more than anything else:

🐾 Rule 1: Move her in the direction she was walking.

Not back to the water. Not to what looks "safer." The direction she was going.

Turtles have territories. They have maps in their heads. If you put her back in the direction she came from, she will immediately turn around and cross your driveway again. If you move her in the direction she was heading, she keeps going and finishes her journey.

🐾 Rule 2: Never pick up a snapping turtle by the tail.

It dislocates her spine. You cause a serious injury doing this — the turtle will look fine walking away and die of the spinal injury over weeks.

🪴 The right way to move a snapping turtle:

- Place a car mat, a rubber floor mat, or a large piece of cardboard behind her.

- Gently, from behind, coax her onto the mat. She will hiss. That is fine.

- Drag the mat across the driveway in the direction she was heading.

- If you must lift, use both hands at the back of her shell, near the tail base, with her body hanging forward and away from you. She can bite objects eight to ten inches in front of her face — not at her sides.

🌱 For painted turtles and box turtles:

- You can pick them up gently with both hands on the sides of the shell, body held low to the ground. Still — in the direction she was heading.

- Never take her home. Never move her to "a better spot." Every turtle in North America is on its way somewhere specific, and moving her to a new place almost always ends with her dying looking for home.

The slow things crossing your driveway this spring are as old as you are.

You have ninety seconds. Don't hit her. Don't change her direction.